Mano’s 15,000 days in theatre
‘Dawas Pahalos Daha’ (fifteen thousand days) is the title of veteran playwright cum actor Dr. Jayalath Manoratne’s theatre festival that will be held from March 17 to 23. The festival will showcase a collection of eight plays representing different periods and issues and produced by Dr. Manoratne himself.
Starting with ‘Lokaya Thani Yayak’ on March 17, the festival includes ‘Sellam Nirindu’ on March 18, ‘Thalamala Pipila’ on March 19, ‘Buruwa Mahaththaya’ on March 20, ‘Guru Tharuwa’ on March 21, ‘Andarela’ on March 22 and ‘Puthra Samagama’ on March 23. “Since I came to Colombo from my hometown I have been in the capital for 15,000 days and that is why we titled this festival ‘Dawas Pahalos Daha’”, Dr. Manoratne explaining the title of the festival.
“Some of the plays in the festival are in the examination syllabi and there are school children who want to see them,” Dr. Manoratne said. “a festival of this nature creates a sub-culture where theatre lovers would meet and other culture related events are also organised,” he said. Questioned about the lack of support for the theatre with no theatres available for playwrights and the lack of facilities in the existing theatres, Dr. Manoratne said “This is a problem we have been trying to find a solution. In fact we have intimated this to the President also,” the veteran actor said.
“Sometimes there are no basic facilities like water, toilets in some of the theatres we perform in outside Colombo and some of them are not theatres but dusty and decayed cinema halls which are not at all conducive for theatre,” long campaigner for Sri Lankan theatre lamented. “At times we (80 Group) question ourselves whether we should continue with this suffering. We don’t have financial backing to develop the theatre and those individuals and companies now have turned away due to financial constraints,” he said.
However Manoratne was hopeful that still there is an audience who enjoyed his theatre and some of his plays had been running even after 25 years.
Presented by 80 Group, the festival is sponsored by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO). Dr. Manoratne was grateful to CEYPETCO which had come forward to support the festival with an aim to promote the arts and theatre.