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Electrifying youth dramas

Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they’ll only see their narrow range reflected in it. - Ben Okri

As the Youth Drama Festival 2009 unravelled at the Lumbini Theatre, out of the limited number of plays that I was able to watch, two dramas in particular caught my attention, as they portrayed exceptional quality and a charm of their own, that also brought in a neat intellectual thought process, leaving the spectator with something to think about, long after the lights at the theatre were put off for the day.

Hewage Bandula staged Kumarawaru Ewith (The Princes Have Returned) - a play discussing the dilemma faced by present day youth as they try to establish themselves in the corporate world.

In a well structured, creatively designed script, Kumarawaru Ewith discusses many contemporary issues including employment, relationships, commercialization, moral choice, sexuality, environmental issues, economic conditions, etc.

Boldly drawing his material from many sources such as the Arabian Nights, many tales of mystery and wonderment are woven in to everyday mundane reality as this well researched play dwells on the advertising industry and the commercialization of life itself, as the chief protagonist of the play – the talented young man – continuously thinks up concepts to sell products to the gullible consumer.


Scenes from Gendagam Uyana

In a fine mix of reality and fantasy, the three princes from Arabian Nights, whose characters the young man has brought alive through a commercial which he initiated but did not conclude due to a disagreement with the management, come to confront him, once begging and then also threatening him to complete the sequence and allow the completion of the assignment, so that they could fulfil their mission in having been resurrected.

Finally, seeing the dark side of life as he thinks up his storyline to a conclusion, but, of course realizing that the commercial would require only the rosy-hued beautification rather than the dark reality, he agrees to conclude the commercial to its end, completing yet another commercial of high calibre, as is customary to him.

As the story weaves its way through the drama, many different aspects of life is exposed and revealed, finally leaving the spectator / consumer with heightened knowledge of the world and society.

As the young man conforms to societal norms and life completes its cycle, to go in to the next and possibly many more commercials to come – keeping the spectator / consumer well confined within the entangled mass that is life.

The strength of the script is finely brought out in the production which is well laid out with precision in acting and timing.

Lakmal Chaminda and Ayesha Dissanayake in a joint production titled Gendagam Uyana based on the short novel, A Doll for the Child Prostitute by Kamala Das was another outstanding theatre production that was staged for the Youth Drama Festival this year.

Centred around a brothel house where several young women and under-age girls are stationed, it discusses many social issues and the struggle for survival of the society at large.

Distinctly bringing out the individuality of each character including the owner of the place of disrepute, the drama goes on to reveal how each person attempts to deal with the circumstances of their life.

With electrifying female energy that radiates from within, the drama is commendable for the restraint and control over its subject matter.

Ironically, having been censored prematurely at the State Drama Festival 2009, supposedly due to explicit language and subject matter, this finely woven drama discusses many social issues in an in-depth and influential manner.

Furthermore, superbly cast with engaging performances and fine costume designing, the use of curtains and shadows form an inherent mechanism in unravelling the story to the audience.

Art works such as these, with underlying thought processes and many subtle nuances being exposed to the spectator, are a treat to the discerning theatre goer who brings in a ‘wide range of’ experiences themselves as they step in to the theatre.

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