Artistic talent will flower with Nelum Pokuna - Anthony

Rasika Somarathna

The Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa theatre would go down in history as the first performing arts theatre in the country, to be opened by a Head of State in post-independence Sri Lanka, renowned artiste cum media personality Jackson Anthony said yesterday. Speaking during the launching of the website of the theatre by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday, Anthony said that the facility would fill a long-standing void for an international standard centre for performing arts in the country.

Jackson Anthony noted that earlier Sri Lanka could not stage world renowned opera’s and symphonies due to the absence of a suitable theatre.

Artistic talent would flower with the Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond).

“It definitely ranks among the best such facilities in the world” he added.

He said that the website launched yesterday would help to propagate the theatre both among the local and international community as a viable international centre for performing arts.

Sri Lanka’s prominent existing centres, for performing arts, such as, the Tower Hall and the Elphinstone were opened in 1911 and 1925 respectively.