Children's Theatre Festival:

Somalatha to focus on that 'special person'

A two-day Festival of Theatre for the children and young audiences will be held on December 22 and 23 at Elphinstone Theatre. Play House-Kotte presents this festival in collaboration with HNB Assurance Ltd.

Veteran dramatist Somalatha Subasinghe always believes that children should be allowed to express themselves freely and that theatre could help to mould the character of a child.

She explains that the child became important as an individual in the twentieth century, leading to the development of children's theatre.

"The child is a special person," says Somalatha who is a veteran playwright for children and Youth and the founder of Lanka Children's and Youth Theatre Organisation (LCYTO), on children's theatre.

LCYTO or better known as the Play House-Kotte, a voluntary organisation that was founded in 1981, is the only professional institution that produces plays for the younger generation with this aim in mind.

The objective of the LCYTO is to further the cause of children and youth theatre in Sri Lanka.

Somalatha further emphasises that Theatre for Children and Youth as a mode of entertainment conducive to the generation of original ideas in children and youth, takes on a highly educative role.

Playing to children is different from playing to adults. It needs a separate idiom, a more refined one. Artistes are especially trained to play for children and to understand their minds, she explained.

For 25 years LCYTO has invested time and effort to make the public aware of the significance of theatre for children as a mode of developing their ethics, their morals, and of giving them knowledge, so that these children will grow up to be more compassionate and responsible citizens.

She stressed that in other countries a large amount of funds and resources are annually allocated at the State level to develop and maintain theatre for younger generation.

"But the situation in our country is slightly different. Many pressing and persistent problems have taken the attention of the State. Supporting Theatre for the young is not its priority.

Individual organisations like the LCYTO have taken the responsibility to produce Children's Theatre. The hardest part however is to take theatre to children.

So far, the generosity of friends and State and private sector organisations has assisted LCYTO in reaching a wider audience at least within the district of Colombo.

She noted that this year has been a difficult year for Sri Lanka, especially after the tsunami. A lion's share of the resources has been directed to rebuild affected areas. "Less resources and space for entertainment activities such as theatre made it hard to organise our annual festival."

She commended the assistance extended by HNB Assurance Ltd which came forward to assist them to organise a two-day festival for the young audience. "With its assistance, LCYTO is able to offer theatre tickets priced at an affordable rate for the average income families."

They are all musicals, full of songs, dance, acrobatics, fun and frolic through which many valuable ideas are communicated to the child.

The professional theatre group of LCYTO handles all aspects of the productions, ranging from acting, choreography, lighting, stage management etc.

A number of plays for children and youth presented by LCYTO have gained international recognition due to their high artistic quality. In 1989,

Punchi Apata Den Therei (We know it now) and Thoppi Velenda (The Hat seller) were staged at Theatre of Young World in Leipzig, Germany with German actors taking part.

After that LCYTO has represented Sri Lanka at International Children's Theatre festivals in France, Korea, Bangladesh, India and Australia.

Randiya Dahara re-screened

RANDIYA DAHARA (Shower of Gold), the award winning film by popular director Udayakantha Warnasuriya will be re-screened from next Friday (23).

The film which was first screened last year December won a number of Sri Lankan and international awards.

However, Udayakantha says most of the local film patrons were deprived of the opporunity to experience the film due to the tsunami catastrophy.

The film is woven around a woman who makes a fradulent attempt to obtain compensation entitled to an army officer who has gone missing in the war. But the officer suddenly turns-up and she has to face many hazards.

The film won the best actress award (Geetha Kumarasinghe) and best supporting actor (Mahendra Perera) at the 2004 Presidential Film awards.

The film won the best actor (Jackson Anthony) and actress (Geetha Kumarasinghe) awards at the 2004 Sarasaviya Film Festival organsied by the Lake House.

It also won awards for best supporting actor, best lyricist and a merit award at the same festival. The film also won an award at the 38th Houston International Film festival.

It also stars Sanath Gunathilake, Kamal Addaraarachchi, Jeevan Kumaratunga, Tony Ranasinghe, Anula Karunathilake, Buddhika Jayaratne etc.