Three Day Theatre Festival for children
Somalatha Subasinghe Play House presents its annual theatre festival for young audiences from December 8 to 10 at Lionel Wendt Theatre, Colombo.
The festival will feature three plays, semi-musicals produced by Somalatha Subasinghe Play House: Walas Pawula (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) directed by Chandana Aluthge, ‘Ratmalee’ (Red Riding Hood) and ‘Punchi Apata Dan Therei’ (We Know It Now) written and directed by Somalatha Subasinghe. The plays will be staged at 3.30 p.m. and 6.45 p.m.
Walas Pawula is based on the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Joseph Cunball. This semi – musical paves a great opportunity for the children of this generation to break from the routine entertainment through screens and be part of a charming magical world which unfolds before them. The play is produced with the objective of making a positive influence to children by celebrating values and concepts such as love, kindness, appreciation of nature and self-expression. The play could also act as a mirror and a compass for parents to evaluate and guide their own relationships with their children to a positive direction.
Punchi Apata Den Therei (We Know it Now) and Ratmalee are based on famous international Falk tales and fairy tales. They are semi musicals produced with the objective to instil in children, a sense of basic art forms and a pride in our own culture as well as to promote the importance of the institution of family and its values. In addition, the lessons of love, humanity and world awareness are refreshingly presented in these plays. In the adaptations, new characters and situations have been incorporated particularly to facilitate an intellectual and entertaining discourse with the Sri Lankan child.
Punchi Apata Dan Therei is a prescribed text for Drama and Theatre for Grade 6 and Sinhala language for Grade 9 (National syllabus).