Come December brings Colombo Theater Festival
Colombo Theater Festival for Young Audience 2012, a collection of popular theatrical production will go on the board from December 5 to 9 at the Lionel Wendt Colombo.
Presented by Play House Kotte and Assitej Sri Lanka, the festival will kick off with veteran playwright and theatre expert Somalatha Subasinghe’s ‘Hima Kumari’ on December 5 which follows ‘Bernadage Sipirigeya’ produced by Priyantha Sirikumara on December 6, Ruwanthie De Chickera’s ‘Kalu Maali’ on December 7, Somalatha Subasinghe’s ‘Vikurthi’ on December 8 and Kaushalya Fernando’s ‘Sanda Langa Maranaya’ on December 9.
Targeting the children audience during December school vacation, the festival presents original plays like ‘Hima Kumari’, ‘Kalu Maali’ and ‘Vikurthi’ and Sri Lankan production of world renowned plays like ‘Bernadage Sipirigeya’ and ‘Sanda Langa Maranaya’. ‘Bernadage Sipirigeya’ is based on Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca’s ‘House of Bernarda Alba’ and it is played by Kaushalya Fernando, Chandani Senevirathne, Chamila Pieris, Nadee Kammallaweera, Duleeka Marapana, Samadhi Laksiri, Malkanthi Jayasinghe, Nilmini Buwaneka, Yamuna Weerasinghe and Sudharshani Galanigama.
‘Sanda Langa Maranaya’ is the Sinhala version of ‘Blood Wedding’ - one of a famous trilogy based upon Spanish society, written by Lorca in response to a newspaper article concerning a local murder in rural Spain. ‘Sanda Langa Maranaya’, was the maiden directorial creation of Kaushalya Fernando.
The maiden Sinhala play by well-known English playwright, Ruwanthie de Chickera ‘Kalu Maali’, which presents under the tagline ‘a fairy tale for grown-ups’ is played by Iranganie Serasinghe, Peter D’Almeida, Kaushalya Fernando, Lakmini Seneviratne and Nadie Kammallaweera.
Somalatha Subasinghe’s Vikurthi (Distortion) is a satirical exposure of hapless generation of youth whose lives were dominated by incessant struggle between the parents’ aspirations and the youth’s abilities and preferences.
Vikurthi cast includes Kaushalya Fernando, Namal Jayasinghe, Prasannajith Abeysuriya, Geetha Alahakoon, Mayura Kanchana, Pujitha de Mel, Sanjaya Hettiarachchi, Nimmi Priyadharshini and a number of newcomers to the national theatre groomed at Play-House Kotte.