MUSICAL THEATRE FOR FAMILY IN TANGALLE FROM TOMORROW

Somalatha Subasinghe’s Lanka Children’s and Youth Theatre Foundation - popularly known as Play-House Kotte - in association with the Committee for the Development of Art Appreciation by Children in Tangalle presents a Musical theatre for the family at the Tangalle Town Hall from March 12 to 14 for the first time.

Punchi Apata Den Therei (We Know it Now) and Toppi Welenda (The Hat seller) will be staged on March 12, Himakumariya (Snowwhite) on March 13 and on Vikurthi (Distortion) will go on the boards on March 14 at 8.30 a.m. 11.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.

This festival is also in honour of Mrs Subasinghe’s commitment to Sri Lankan theatre and her contribution to the enhancement of the Sri Lankan child’s imagination, for over five decades.

Punchi Apata Den Therei and Toppi Welenda are based on well-known folk stories and are produced as musicals and in the adaptations, new characters and situations have been incorporated particularly to communicate with the Sri Lankan child.

HImakumariya: based on the original classic – Snow white and Seven Dwarfs – this play has been masterfully localised and recreated within the Sri Lankan fairy tale tradition with a haunting and enchanting original sound track, lots of songs and dance, dark forests, timid fairies, funny dwarfs, jealous stepmothers and anxious mirrors.

Vikurthi (Distortion) is a satirical exposure of hapless generation of youth whose lives were dominated by incessant struggle between the parents’ aspirations and the youth’s abilities and preferences. In the 1980’s, at the time the drama was conceived, the wide spread social tendency was that the aspiring parents trying to achieve the missed opportunities of their own lives through their children. Consequently, the children were forced to study for competitive government examinations such as GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L), specifically in the Science Stream disregarding their aptitudes and available resources at respective schools and the universities.

All plays are written and directed by the living theatre legend, Mrs. Somalatha Subasinghe while the music is driected by M.R. Chulasinghe.

The cast comprises Kaushalya Fernando, Prasannajith Abeysuriya, Wickrama Seneviratne, Mayura Perera, Sulochana Weerasinghe, Dilum Buddhika, Geetha Alahakoon, Dasun Pathirana, Pramod Edirisinghe, Dilip Kumara, Thilina Perera, Palitha Abeyratne, Yashodha Rasanduni, Kumudu Wickramathanthri, Rumali Chmathka.