Unearthed resurfaces!

It means that most of the time I am eager, longing for the possibility of telling you.

That these possibilities might seem frightening, but not destructive, to me. That I feel strong enough to hear your tentative and groping words. That we both know that we are trying, all the time, to extend the possibilities of truth between us.
- Adrienne Rich: On Lies, Secrets and Silence, Selected Prose

Unearthed premiered in December 2012, running for two nights with a total of five sold out shows. Created by Ruhanie Perera and Sally E. Dean in November 2012, Unearthed was an international and cross-cultural collaboration where a team of producers, costume designers and performers not just from Sri Lanka, but also Germany, Spain, Peru were an integral part.

A moment from Unearthed Picture by Menika van der Poorten

Due to the positive response and popular demand of the production in its first showing, Floating Space Theatre Company presents a rerun of Unearthed this month on February 16 and 17 at Dharmapala Mawatha, Madiwela, Kotte, at 5.30 pm, 7 pm and 8.30 pm.

Unearthed – in many ways – is about journeys: journeys into and through inner and outer worlds of lies, secrets and silence, journeys through stories told through text and movement, journeys from the public into the private and journeys through spaces and sites. With Unearthed , Floating Space Theatre Company invites its audience on a journey through scenes of minimalist and absurdist nature, performed using text, movement, sound and costume. One of the creative stimuli for Unearthed is the poetry of the American writer Adrienne Rich, who died in Spring 2012, in particular Twenty One Love Poems .

Unearthed certainly challenges the concepts of performance, performance making and audience perception.

A private house in Kotte is the venue for Unearthed : it’s various rooms, indoor and outdoor spaces lend frames for scenes of lies, secrets and silence, performed using theatre and dance by a cast of emerging and established Sri-Lankan theatre and dance artists comprising Jake Oorloff, Sulakshani Perera, Tracy Jayasinghe and Venuri Perera. For Floating Space Creative Director Ruhanie Perera choosing this site for Unearthed and performing in a private house is “a risk, but also an exciting decision”.

“We are working to de-centralise the presentation of our work in Colombo, reach out to new sites and invite our audience to literally come on a journey with us to explore unusual and new settings for theatre. Unearthed is of private and intimate nature and we feel strongly about reflecting this through the venue at the same time, making the venue a part of our process andcreating work in response to it,” she said.

Unearthed in its initial run was made possible using public funding by Arts Council England and British Council andthrough the support of Floating Space Theatre, Sally E. Dean Performing Arts, Inc. as well as individual backers.