By Dimithri Wijesinghe
The Tower Hall Theatre Foundation is hosting a stage drama festival from August 19th to 15th September, featuring a whopping 52 stage dramas at the Tower Hall Theatre, Panchikawatta Road and the Elphinstone Theatre in Maradana.
Director General of the Tower Hall Theatre Foundation Douglas Siriwardana, Attorney at Law shared that they chose to host the festival due to the lengthy period that performers have undergone without the opportunity to perform.
He said that they chose both the Tower hall and Elphinstone theatres due to their facilities which allow them to carry out the mandated health and safety precautions provided. Mr. Siriwardana shared that after the height of the pandemic, while cinemas have been allowed to open, theatre production required a little more time considering that there human lives involved at both ends – the performer and the audience.
He shared that a majority of the performing arts community had their reservations as well about going back into performing for an audience; especially as when they are performing protective gear would not be an option for them. Mr. Siriwardana said that they made an appeal to Director Health Information, Dr. Anil Samaranayake and they have now received this go ahead to host stage productions.
Douglas Siriwardana said that the primary reason that they are hosting this festival is primarily to provide an opportunity for the islands performers, these actors and directors have not had the opportunity to showcase their art and thereby make a living. He said that both the venues will not be charging any fees for the use of their property and the entirety of the ticket sales will be given to the production.
In addition to the initiative encouraging artist to perform and showcase their productions, the tickets have been priced at highly reasonable rates with the prices ranging from just only Rs.200 to Rs.500/- at a maximum where under normal circumstances these tickets would be around Rs.1000 to Rs.2000/-. He said that this pricing was also in order to encourage audiences to patronize the theatre productions. He hopes that the sheer volume, verity and convenience of the festival would incentivize audiences to return to the theatre.
The Tower Hall Theatre Foundation had also gone a step further in facilitating this festival as they allow provided a rehearsal space for these productions, considering that the theatre school at Tower Hall is currently closed the studio rooms have been let out for the crews to rehearse for the festival.
The productions that will be featured are dramas that were either available for viewing prior to COVID 19 or those that were scheduled and prepared for release and audiences were not afforded sufficient time to view it as the pandemic set in.
We spoke to some actors and directors who will be taking part in the event, and veteran actor Rodney Warnakula who is featuring two productions at the festival – ‘Nari baena’ and also ‘Saranga Naven Avith’ which he directed will be featured, the latter of which will be the final production which will be the closing event of the festival, Rodney shared that it is a fantastic thing that the Theater foundation is doing, a much needed relief for performers in the country, and he said that it is particularly meritorious as they are offering these venues free of charge so that the performers can be compensated for their efforts. He also added that Lankan theatre can really benefit form this and this event could possibly act as a kick start to get things going once again.
Directors Chalaka Ransooriya who will be featuring his production ‘Maaraka linde sawaariyak’ and also Priyankara Rathnayaka who will be featuring his production ‘rathu wes muhunu’ also shared Rodney Warnakula’s sentiments that this could serve as a great kick start to the theatre scene in the island and that they are happy to feature their productions at the festival.
