Theatre, cinema bridge from South to North
Janakaraliya Drama and Theatre Institute lead by veteran dramatist Parakrama Niriella has organised yet another theatre festival in Jaffna. The festival will be conducted from September 7 to 21 in the Mobile Theatre installed at Sadhana College Play Ground, Chemmani road, Nallur, Jaffna. A series of dramas both in Sinhala and Tamil languages will be performed during the festival.
Janakaraliya drama festival will kick off with ‘Venkatti Vattam’ a co-direction of Parakrama Niriella and K Rathidharan. Venkatti Vattam is a translation of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Chalk Circle’ by veteran Tamil dramatist from Jaffna Dr, M Shanmugalingam. This will follow Sinhala dramas ‘Charandas’, and Tamil dramas ‘Mayapattade’, ‘Erikkulam Poo’, ‘Hunuwataya’ (Sinhala language version) directed by Parakrama Niriella and dramas directed by Rasiiya Lohanathan ‘Irumbiya Poruththiya Idayam’, ‘Parayan’, and ‘Mrs. Kohila Madhwan will be performed. These will be followed by dramas ‘Eli Pureyal Poone’ and ‘Maya Kalvi’ directed by Thiyagaraja Shivanesan, Ajanthan Shanthikumara’s directions ‘Kalyana Kadei’ and Ronika Chamalee’ and Selvaraj Leelewathie’s co-direction ‘Payanihal’ dramas directed by Selvaraj Leelawathie and Ronika Chamalee. In addition a production by Jaffna Aesthetic Art Centre ‘’Kuselar’, a direction of Jhonsom Rajkumar as well as the drama ‘’Krusathaivu’ produced by Jaffna Drama Academy will be performed in the Mobile Theatre. Also the Tamil translation of ‘Mama Adakumbai’ directed by Devenda Wickramasinghe of University of Aesthetic Arts, Colombo will be performed under the title ‘Vahappu Nan Areikambi’ as an invitational drama.
In addition to the theatre festival, the English language version of Dharmasiri Bandaranayake’s ‘Paradeesaya Soya’ film will be screened and a cinema festival organized by Digital Academy of Colombo Foundation will also be screened on September 22 and 23 under the leadership of veteran film director Sudath Mahadivulwewa. All the dramas will be performed free of charge in this festival.
The festival will be conducted in association with Northern Province Educational and Sports Ministry and the department of Northern Province Educational Department and is sponsored by German Technical Corporation Institute (GIZ), European Union (EU), and International Fund for Cultural Development (IFPC/UNESCO) affiliated to UNESCO.