BY NADIRA Gunatilleke

THE final round of the National Drama Festival 2005 jointly organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Drama Panel of the Sri Lanka Arts Council will be held from March 15 to 24 at the John de Silva Memorial Theatre, Colombo 7 for the 34th time, a Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Ministry spokesman said.

He said nine stage dramas have been selected for the final round from 16 stage dramas. `Janakaraliya mobile stage' is now in the Nomads ground, Colombo and will be used for special activities related to the National Drama Festival. Janakaraliya drama festival commenced yesterday marking the official commencement of the National Drama Festival.

The Janakaraliya drama festival commence with staging Parakrama Niriella's 'Charandas' on March 10 at 6 pm at the Janakaraliya mobile stage now at Nomads ground, for the invitees.

The drama will be staged on March 11 at 6.00 pm again for the public and Mangala Senanayake's 'Andaramal' will be staged on March 12 at 6.00 pm. 'Erukalampu' (the Tamil translation of Andaramal) will be staged on March 13 and Cyril C. Perera'a 'Makarakshya' will be staged at 6.00 pm.

On March 15 the R. R. Samarakoon's 'Kaputu Bo', March 16 th Sunil Chandrasiri's `Don Juwan', March 17 Buddhika Damayantha's 'Parana Ayage Kathawak'(A story of old ones), March 18 M. Shafir's 'Mama Ipadune Iye Nemei'(I did not born yesterday), March 19th Hemantha Prasad's `Malsara Bisaw', March 20 Noel Wijeratne's `Mitiyawathe Geethaya'(The song of the valley), March 21 Priyantha Kaluarachchi's `Me Hineta Namak Denna'(Give a name for this dream), March 22 Kaushalya Fernando's `Sanda Langa Maranaya' and March 23 Rajitha Dissanayake's `Sihina Horu Aran'(Dreams taken away by thieves).

Janakaraliya is conducting the drama festival with the sponsorship of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Ministry and Tower Hall Theatre Foundation. National Drama Panel of the Sri Lanka Arts Council and the Department of Cultural Affairs jointly coordinated the event.

A series of programs has been organised on parallel with the National Drama Festival. A series of seminars has also been organised to felicitate the students who study drama for the Advanced Level and university undergraduates.

The seminar series will be held daily from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm at Janakaraliya mobile stage. The seminar series is open to the public.

A drama workshop introducing `Applied Theatre' will also be conducted at the Janakaraliya mobile stage. Exhibition stalls will be open from March 10 at Janakaraliya. Tower hall will also open an exhibition stall.

An exhibition of drama photographs will be held with the sponsorship of the Udeni Alwis. A religious ceremony will take place on March 26 to mark the third month of the tsunami disaster.