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| Wednesday, 10 March 2004 |
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Walas Pawula comes to the Lionel Wendt
The latest children's theatre production 'Walas Pawula' (Bear Family) presented by the Play House in Kotte, the leading children's play producer in Sri Lanka, will go on the boards on March 14 at the Lionel Wendt theatre. Base on the fairy tale "The Three Bears and Gollidilocks", the script has been developed adopting it to suit the local audience by veteran children's playwright and theatre director Mrs. Somalatha Subasinghe who is also the founder chief of 'Play House'. 'Walas Pawula' is directed and choreographed by Dr. Chandana Aluthge, an artiste of the new generation groomed at the Play House in Kotte. The show is sponsored by Ceylon Biscuits Limited. The Munchee scholarship awards too will be held at the same venue on that day. The director and script writer of 'Vikurthi', 'The Hat Seller', 'We Know it Now' 'Rathmalee', 'Gamarala Going to Heaven', 'Yadam', 'Antigone' and 'Himakumariya' plays that were staged both locally and abroad, most of Somalatha Subasinghe's scripts have been presented to the child and youth audiences while adults equally enjoyed them. Children She has worked mainly with children and youth both as a teacher and as a director cum artiste. Later this gathering of youth was formed into an amateur theatre foundation as 'Play House' which produced most of her plays and trained artistes from all over the country on performing arts. The director and the actors of 'Walas Pawula' are products of this theatre group who have been trained and moulded under the guidance of Somalatha. Being a performer of the 60th decade, she instills to preserve our traditional art and is one of those who remember to add its features to all her creations. Chandana, a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Colombo, has been one of the senior members of 'Play House'. An actor, vocalist, dancer, lighting designer and now a director, he has also excelled in many other aspects relating to stage productions throughout his career as a theatre artiste. Choreographer 'Walas Pawula' is the debut play directed by Chandana while he was the choreographer, lighting designer, and artistic director in several plays presented by the 'Play House' previously. His skills in directing of stage lights has won many national awards for him and the outcome of 'Walas Pawula' will witness his choreographing, lighting and directing talents altogether. With Kaushalya Fernando, the eldest daughter of Somalatha Subasinghe, Chandana has shouldered the task of taking the 'Play House' forward to the future generations, largely contributing with their skills on stage. The most promising young composer of the day, Tharupathi Munasinghe, with Chandana and Sangeeth Wickramasinghe, has added a sense of beauty to the feelings generated on stage by the young actors. Composition The composition of music for 'Walas Pawula' has been based also on our traditional melodies which are modified and adopted into the present context. The language of 'Walas Pawula' is both musical and performance based whilst the magnificent stage props designed by Namal Jayasinghe and costumes by Kaushalya Fernando and Pujith de Mel of the 'Play House' have added lure to the play. Charm The story of 'Walas Pawula' revolves around a father bear, mother bear and baby bear who live in a little house in the woods and perform in a circus for living. On the other side of the woods lives a little lass called Ruwanmalee who has two dancing dolls, six tin soldiers, and two singing parrots. Tired of playing with her toys at home and feeling lonely, she decides to go out and enjoy nature's charm in the forest. From there onwards the play is about humanity, love and care and will undoubtedly be an attract to child audiences while young and adult crowds will take pleasure in the beauty of childhood, animal world and nature as the case with all productions of the 'Play House'. 'Walas Pawula' is a musical and the production style of the play has been developed so as to give the whole family and aesthetic journey of entertainment. Choreography, lighting, costumes, stage props, and music of the play have been carefully crafted to convey the children a sense of basic art forms and meaningful entertainment. According to the director of the play, the production style of the play has been developed in manner to inculcate in children a sense of pride in our own culture as well as to promote the importance of family. Nature The lessons of love, humanity and care for nature taught by Somalatha and her 'Play House' add beauty to life and make it livable with grace. Walas Pawula cast comprise of Wishvajith Gunasekera, Sanjaya Hettiarachchi, Chamila Peiris, Prasanna Mahagamage, Niranjala Manjaree, Sharmain Gunaratne, Suresh Fenando, Mayura Kanchana, Nayomi Gunaratne, Thilokanee Gunasekera, Chamila Priyanka, Dinuki de Silva, Pramudi Karunaratne, Hiran Abeysekera, Ishara Wickramasinghe, Champika Kannangara and a number of new actors trained at Play House in Kotte. **** Back **** |
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