Thidora brings Theiyath Tha:

The theatre therapy

 

Jayanthi Liyanage
 

Theiyath Tha’s press preview at Jana Kala endraya Auditorium combined on stage, two ‘firsts’ for the local intellectually disabled.

That “this is the first time they perform Gini Sisila, the low-country fire dance,” Kalasuri Rohana Deva, co-director of the playlet, has much to be excited about. “This is also the first time they play as a musical band,” Rohana Deva added. Financial aid for the play had been pumped in from the Ahimsa project of America.

The performance was memorable for the very fact that it was acted out by those whose mental facutlties were found in want by normal standards. Watching them on stage, at times it was hard to believe that the performers were intellectually disabled and the amount of training that had preceded the performance was truly commendable.

“These children love the rhythm of music. The moment you begin to play music, they start dancing.,” said Gayan Ganakadhara who composed music for the play. “Singing is difficult to them as that involves memorising words.”

“This is not a stylized drama,” explained Prof. Sunanda Mahendra, a Governor of the Board of THIDORA.

Professor Mahendra has extricated precious time off his compact schedule of lecturing, authoring and reviewing to adapt Brecht’s narrative poem ‘The Journey of the Prophet’ into Sinhala as Theiyath Tha and engage in the highly sensitive and complex task of training ‘special children’, as he calls them, to perform in the playlet.

“This is a need-based play, specially adapted for these special children. This is one way of doing the play while there are other ways of doing it. I hope this will be the most seen play in the country!”

While the guardsman in the plot have nothing to do with the army or the police, the script had been adjusted to emanate an indigenous feeling.

Prof. Mahendra had followed a course in directing and writing for the stage when he was in Poland attached to the Grotowski Theatre Foundation and had seen the play. “Rohana Deva knew I had undergone this training. I have learnt to be patient as directing the play with special children needs a lot of patience.” But the venture turned out to be easy, with performers turning to him as their “Guru”.

“This is a group with a lot of latent talent,” said the Professor. “Theatre can help them such a lot to develop their aesthetic facilities” He recommends that the playlet be shown to groups in orphanages, homes for the aged, youth clubs, schools and religious organizations.

The direction has been an experiment for the Professor. His insights had been to discard stage props and use the children as human props on stage. “They had no lack of understanding. They even had their own interpretation in the most independent manner possible. After performing in the play, they were behaving normally!” Prof. Mahendra voiced his trend of thoughts that he wanted to do away with the term ‘disabled’.

Ramani Damayanthi, wife of Rahana Deva, who also performs in the play, described the special children as those with autism, down syndrome and those with hearing, speaking and seeing disabilities. “THIDORA children are from 14 years upwards. A norticable

behaviour trait would be that they feel intensely the states of hunger, anger and sexual feelings.”

Kandulu Diye Mal Pipila, Onchili Waram, Piyamba Noethi Ibbo, Thisara Geethaya and a prayer for peace are among THIDORA’s previous productions from which about six plays have performed overseas.

“Many look at disabled children as those who cannot do anything,” says Rohana Deva. “Their biggest difficulty is communication. They cannot fathom out their own selves and how to conduct themselves at social events. We provide them with experience in the form of drama on improving their behaviour.

Some of our children did not even know how to feed themselves. After being with us, now they can conduct their daily lives. None of our children are housed in Homes. They come from their own homes as all of them require love. It is still difficult for them to engage in income-generation activities.”

THIDORA

Thidora, in Buddhism, means the Mind, the Body and the Word. A human being, wanting to succeed in this world, must discipline these three doors, with an understanding of how that should be done. As in Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It,” all the world is a stage and to act these different roles, we should grasp the four types of expressive gestures (Abinaya) as Bharatha Muni, the ancient scholar on Dramatic Arts stated.

The first three gestures are those of thidora. The fourth is Aharya Abinaya which are gestures made through costumes, backdrops, lighting, sounds, etc. These are not controlled by the actor but are subject to influences such as culture, nature and performing conditions and to the director’s guidance. THIDORA believes that Drama Therapy will offer a methodology to help participants develop skills and abilities necessary for other expressive arts of literature, music, dance, movement, sculpture and painting, including audio-visual arts.

THIDORA’S main teaching tool is Drama Therapy and it endeavours to listen more than to hear, perceive more than to see and think more than immediate thoughts would allow. Its doors are open to those who are disabled by birth or circumstances and disadvantaged by culture, gender, ethnicity, class and other social factors. THIDORA’s concept began as a project in 1987. Its new phase was implemented in 2008. The original name of the project was Natya Shilpa Shalika, initiated by veteran dramatist the late Dhamma Jagoda.

The present Chairman of THIDORA, Kalasuri Rohana Deva, succeeded Jagoda as its Director. Wolfgang Stange, founder of AMICI Dance Theatre Company in London, focused the project towards the disabled in Sri Lanka. The project joined Sunethra Bandaranaike Trust to form Butterfly Threatre Company in 1998.

THIDORA’S ongoing workshops are conducted free of charge every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to 3.30 pm for the disabled and every Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm for the disadvantaged, at its main auditorium at No.1136/B5, Pannipitiya Road, Thalawathugoda. (www.thidoratheatre.org)

Thidora - Theatre Institute for Disability Oriented Research and Advocacy which looks after around 70 disabled and disadvantaged persons, kindly invites annual donations of Rs.1,000 either by cheque or by deposits to its bank account No.022001003012 (swift code: NDBSLKLX) at National Development Bank-Pelawatte.

Plans are afoot to establish a mini-theatre and a hostel for the disabled and disadvantaged.

The tale of Theiyath Tha

This is a narrative poem by Bertolt Brecht, adapted to suit the temperaments of alternatively abled children. The main character is a prophet who wants to leave his country on seeing social corruption and misdeeds of his people.

He informs his pupils who do not want to lose their great master who taught them to gain more wisdom.

As the prophet reluctantly leaves to a neighbouring territory, he meets a guard at a checkpoint. The prophet and his pupils are questioned and the guard shows signs of learning. The Master teaches the guard and his wife on such aspects as power, wealth hatred and kindness. When lessons end, the master brings out a book full of wisdom of everything. Then it occurs to him that he should go back. The audience too realises that even if the great Master brings out knowledge, there must be a person to take it out. This playlet is full of group happenings and team participation.

[ Cast and crew]

The Prophet Anura Fonseka

Script Prof. Sunanda Mahendra

Direction Prof. Sunanda Mahendra and Rohana Deva

Choreography Ramani Damayanthi

Music Gayan Ganakadara

Costume and Make Up Prema Jayantha Kapuge

Low-country Dance taught by Karunadasa Olaboduwa

Lyrics Jayampathy Algama and Rohana Deva

Music recorded by Tharindu Jayathilake

Music Editor Dayananda Perera, ERX Studio

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