Musical theatre for the family in Tangalle

Somalatha Subasinghe’s Lanka Children 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 will present a musical theatre for the family at the Tangalle Town Hall from 12 to 14 March. This is the first time that a festival of theatre for children is going to take place in Tangalle.

On 12 March, ‘Punchi Apata Den Therei’ (We Know It Now) and ‘Toppi Welenda’ (The Hat seller) will hit the boards followed by ‘Hima Kumariya’ (Snow White) on 13 March and ‘Vikurthi’ (Distortion) on 14 March, at 8.30 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.  

This festival is also in honour of Somalatha 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. In the adaptations, new characters and situations have been incorporated particularly to communicate with the Sri Lankan child. The production style of the plays has been developed to give the young audiences, as well as the whole family, an aesthetic journey of entertainment.  

The plays provide the opportunity for an intellectual and entertaining discourse with children. Both plays have been performed at international children’s theatre festivals in France, Bangladesh and South Korea and have toured in India and Australia.

‘Hima Kumariya’, based on the original classic Snow white and Seven Dwarfs has been masterfully localised and recreated within the Sri Lankan fairytale tradition. With a haunting and enchanting original soundtrack, lots of songs and dance, dark forests, timid fairies, funny dwarfs, jealous stepmothers and anxious mirrors – Hima Kumariya will entrance your child and take you back to your own childhood. In addition to the beauty and power of the fairytale coming alive in front of your eyes, Hima Kumariya is also a very educative and important piece of theatre for children of our times to see.  

‘Vikurthi’ (Distortion) is a satirical exposure of the hapless generation of youth whose lives were dominated by incessant struggle between the parents’ aspirations and the youth’s abilities and preferences. In the 1980s, at the time the drama was conceived, the widespread 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. The play discusses in depth how this anti-social process denied youth of their own lives, which in turn deeply affected them in many ways. The production is a semi-musical, providing a familiar theatrical experience to the local audiences.  

All plays are written and directed by the living theatre legend Somalatha Subasinghe. All these plays illuminate their creator’s vision of educating and nurturing the children and youth of this country through the medium of theatre to be humane and compassionate beings. The music for the plays has been composed 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 and Rumali Chamathka.