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Archive for the ‘Arts and Theatre’

22 May, 2013
Tissa Jayatilaka
1 Comment
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Language,
Peace and Conflict

Shakespeare – Is he “Wellington’s Lieutenant?”

Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty via The Guardian Among the many twists and turns of history, few can be more contrived than that which led to the establishment of Shakespeare’s tongue as a second or link language in a little island thousands of miles from England where Englishmen have scarcely set foot in Shakespeare’s lifetime (1564 – 1612). Of that ambiguous legacy, I am one of the beneficiaries. This may explain, at least in good part, why the majority of the English speaking minority of Sri Lankans are still drawn to the drama of Shakespeare or assessments of it. When I decided to go public with these personal musings on Shakespeare, I was acutely conscious of the fact that nearly everything I have to say may sound familiar and unoriginal to the informed reader. I took heart, however, from the fact that Shakespeare, Polonius’ dictum notwithstanding, was both a lender and, more important, a copious borrower. Shakespeare, whatever else he may be,…

6 Mar, 2013
Groundviews
4 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Jaffna,
Media and Communications,
Moving Images,
Peace and Conflict,
Post-War

‘Kerosene’ by Kannan Arunasalam wins international documentary award

Groundviews is extremely pleased to recognise that Kannan Arunasalam has won the 2013 South Asian International Documentary Festival’s Prism Short Award for ‘Kerosene’. This short film was one of three produced by Kannan with utilising a small grant by Groundviews in 2011. First screened in Colombo and subsequently featured on the critically acclaimed Moving Images website, ‘Kerosene’ and his two other short films generated the most feedback and engagement given their unique, deeply sensitive and compelling interrogation of life in the North of Sri Lanka, post-war. You can view the full film below. Kerosene from Kannan Arunasalam on Vimeo. Go to Moving Images to see his two other films, as well as other productions on Sri Lanka. A trailer for all three productions can be viewed below. Trailer: Koothu, kerosene and paper from Kannan Arunasalam on Vimeo. Repost This Article

In conversation with Nayomi Munaweera

The Los Angeles Review calls Nayomi Munaweera‘s first novel, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, “gripping, astonishing and utterly gorgeous”. At the head of their lane, a buss on its knees, front tires exploded, haemorrhages thrusting, pushing passengers. At the far side, a particularly jovial mob gather. Reaching high above their heads the men pull a woman out of the small side window. They catch her sari pall, pull, jumping and climbing on each other’s shoulders. Mala has stopped in the street, turned to salt… She sees the woman’s open mouth, her arms flailing in this most exposed and air-bound uncertainty between the bus and the men. A long streak of red bisects her forehead, and then like a cork out of a bottle the woman is dislodged. She falls into the circle of men, streaming to earth, sari fluttering like a parachute. A roar of delight drowns the woman’s screams. The, again, the sound of gushing petrol. And finally Mala…

1 Feb, 2013
Anonymous
15 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Culture,
Identity,
Jaffna,
Post-War

Ini Avan: Hauntingly beautiful but…

Ini Avan, Asoka Handagama’s latest film, in Tamil, has won international cinematic acclaim. And it is easy to see why. The film has interesting characters who within their confined destinies take some unpredictable turns and moves at a compelling and deliberate pace through carefully designed frames with strong aesthetic appeal that are also revisited, like recurring motifs, to telling effect. The camera-craft is sophisticated and the casting and acting impressive. The tale itself, involving different narratives—built mainly around an ex-LTTE fighter struggling to rebuild his social life and livelihood, a young woman whose love for the former comes up against barriers of caste prejudice and forced marriage, and an enigmatic middle-aged woman battling against the odds to provide for her family —is powerful and complex in its own way. While drawing attention to the internal contradictions within post-war Tamil society, the narratives do not necessarily follow predictable trajectories. Ini Avan is beautiful but at the same time leaves behind some…

Reflections on ‘Widows’ and ‘Unearthed’

Work and travel kept me from writing about two significant theatre productions in the past month. Ariel Dorfman’s ‘Widows’ directed by Feroze Kamardeen and produced by Sirraj Abdul Hameed was staged at the Wendt from 23-25 of November. ‘Unearthed’, billed as a site-specific theatre and dance journey through a private home, was directed by Ruhanie Perera (from Floating Space Theatre Company) and Sally E. Dean, performed on 1st and 2nd December in Kotte and produced by Iromi Perera and Silke Arnold. The staging of ‘Widows’ can be appreciated through two distinct lenses – the text in the context of post-war Sri Lanka, and the actual performance on stage. A review by Charles Isherwood in the New York Times of a production in 2008 in the New York Times ends by noting that though, “many have suffered (and continue to suffer)…cruel treatment”, ‘Widows’ “signally fails to bring the horror of it home.” Karmardeen’s production doesn’t fare any better in communicating the…

Unearthed: Architecture, text, theatre and dance

Unearthed is a new production by Floating Space in collaboration with Sally E. Dean, and in concept and design promises a rather unusual and unique performance. Planned for the 1st and 2nd of December in a residence just outside Colombo, Unearthed brings together a cast of theatre and movement practitioners to create a site-specific performance. To unpack the production, and flesh out how it came about, Groundviews sat down with Ruhanie Perera, the Artistic Director of Floating Space, at the location the performance will take place in just under a week. We begin with Ruhanie giving an overview of the production, who refers to the successful Kickstarter campaign (a first for any theatre group in Sri Lanka) to generate funding for the production. Ruhanie notes elsewhere that, “Unearthed draws on the idea of lies, secrets and silence which will work as a thematic expression in the work – or even elements of the work. We’re also working with the idea of how to create a…

25 Nov, 2012
Srinath C. Samarasinghe
9 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Diaspora,
Youth

Beyond Words: The Arts and Accountability in Sri Lanka

Un Nuage Dans Un Verre D’eau (A Cloud In A Glass Of Water), Directed by Srinath Samarasinghe, courtesy Dubai International Film Festival As any species, we have longevity. The human race is at its peak. In two centuries, we have evolved so far, for the best as for the worst. Our progress is also our failure. We have, in our hand, an unequalled potential of destruction. We could worry about our evolution and about the sustainability of our specie but we are in inter-religious, inter-cultural fights, we are in social, ethnic, splits meanwhile we are destroying the base of our existence, Earth and its ecosystem. Sri Lanka lived 30 years of war. The terrorism was not able to exist without reasons. The terrorism is the most violent expression of a suffering. We cannot agree with the idea of terrorism because history proved us so many times that it is not bringing any solution. However, we have to prevent ourselves from…

23 Nov, 2012
Janaka Samarakoon
3 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
International,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War,
Reconciliation

Can art still take up a social function?: Two examples from Sri Lanka in the context of post-conflict reconciliation

JAGATH-WEERASINGHE-2012-Decorated-Kitchen-Knifes-Sculpture-and-Canvas-Installation

Decorated Kitchen Knifes, Sculpture and Canvas Installation, Jagath Weerasinghe, courtesy Mediated by Saskia Fernando Gallery Speaking about the capacity that art may have to contribute to a social achievement like building sustainable peace or national reconciliation goes somewhat against the tide of the Western contemporary art. This approach could easily be perceived as naïve in the context of today’s contemporary art whose only defining criteria seems to be its degree of transgression. I think this situation is a result of an art that I would like to define as “reflexive”. What do I mean by “reflexive art”? It is an art which is wholly preoccupied by its own matters and which expresses nothing but itself; it is a form of art whose means and subject are nothing else but art itself. It is the affirmation of “formal art” and the logical outcome of the so-called revolution of the “Modern” artists of the 19th Century that we call the historical avant-garde….

11 Sep, 2012
Groundviews
2 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Constitutional Reform,
Culture,
Economy,
Education,
Features,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War,
Religion and faith

Video on Mediated: Hard data on Sri Lanka, through art

Mediated is an art project that essentially seeks to create greater awareness around and engagement with aspects of post-war Sri Lanka’s ideational, constitutional, economic, social and religious challenges. Four individuals – a researcher, an economist, a constitutional theorist and an award winning novelist – were invited to give submissions that were anchored to issues vital to a greater and deeper social and political understanding of Sri Lanka today. Four artists were invited to engage with this primary resource material and interpret it so that it through what they produced, attention was focused on the inconvenient, critical engagement expanded and public apathy challenged. The Gallery is open daily from 18:00 – 20:00 and the exhibition closes on 15 September 2012. Young Asia Television was present to cover the opening of Mediated. This segment is from their Connections programme of 10 September 2012, which can be viewed here. Mediated – Opening Night from Centre for Policy Alternatives on Vimeo. Repost This Article

8 Sep, 2012
Sunila Abeysekara
3 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Culture,
Media and Communications

In Memoriam: Tilak Jayaratne

Tilak’s journey in search of people’s media, from the Sunday Times Tilak Jayaratne, veteran broadcaster and media advocate, passed away on September 6, after a long illness bravely borne. All those who knew Tilak, and who encountered him in the many different orbits that he inhabited, will recall the intensity which he worked, and the creative passion with which he interrogated the potential of mass communication, and ‘alternative’ media, long before these became fields of study and academic discourse. He was deeply committed to the principle of people’s ownership and participation in both the production and consumption of media and communication and to the end of his days he worked actively to encourage those involved in the media industry to pay more attention to this aspect of communication. I first got to know Tilak during the years he worked in the technical section of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and a part of the trade union movement. At that time,…

4 Sep, 2012
Groundviews
3 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Culture,
Education,
Features,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War

In conversation with Chandraguptha Thenuwara: Art, politics and education in Sri Lanka

Chandragupta Thenuwara is one of Sri Lanka’s best known artists. As noted online, he is the director of the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts in Colombo, a not-for-profit art school which he founded in 1993 as an independent alternative to state-run art institutions, with the aim of teaching young and marginalied artists the basic tenets of fine art practice under the instruction of practicing artists. In this programme we start by discussing the enduring ethnic divides and identity politics in Sri Lanka through the frame of Thenuwara’s son, and his naming. We use this as an entry point a discussion about the artist’s own identity and how it developed, growing up as he did in the East of Sri Lanka, having being born in the South and after his studies, returning to live in Colombo. Thenuwara’s speaks about his father’s early influence in becoming an artist, and how even from a very modest household, he always had the opportunity to…

24 Aug, 2012
Sanjana Hattotuwa
2 Comments
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Culture,
Features,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War

Mediated: Portraying hard data on Sri Lanka through art

Mediated, an exhibition around a new aesthetic that seeks to communicate constitutional theory, hard data from economics and social polling and writing on religious identity through compelling art, runs till the 15th of September at the Saskia Fernando Art Gallery. As noted on the exhibition’s website, four individuals – a researcher, an economist, a constitutional theorist and an award winning novelist – were invited to give submissions that were anchored to issues vital to a greater and deeper social and political understanding of Sri Lanka today. Four artists were invited to engage with this primary resource material and interpret it so that it through what they produced, attention was focused on the inconvenient, critical engagement expanded and public apathy challenged. Read Asanga Welikala’s background note in full here, around power-sharing in pre-British Sri Lanka as a viable model for devolution of power post-war. See Sunela Jayewardene’s architectural sketch on it here and the final set of drawings here. Read Ameena Hussein’s text here, focussing on…

26 Jun, 2012
Groundviews
1 Comment
Arts and Theatre,
Colombo,
Gender,
Identity,
Language

Cast as Mother – A Reading: Audience Reviews

Photo by Ruvin de Silva ‘Cast as Mother’ – a dramatic reading of an upcoming play by Stages Theatre Group was held at the Lionel Wendt on May 24. Directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera, ‘Cast as Mother’ featured the writings of thirteen women from the Sinhala and English stage on their experiences of motherhood. The 90 minute presentation drew its material from a 300 page manuscript, and was performed in Sinhala and English. The play, which is currently being devised, will be staged from September 13 – 16 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Stages Theatre Group encouraged members of the audience to write in with feedback. Here we publish a cross section of excerpts of these reviews and comments. In shows to come, Stages will continue to promote Audience Reviews that will no doubt contribute to a culture critical debate in the arts. ### If motherhood in Asia, and especially in Sri Lanka, is one of the prototypical roles which…

Interview with Anoma Wijewardene on ‘Deliverance’

Groundviews interviewed the renowned Sri Lankan artist Anoma Wijewardene on her up-coming exhibition ‘Deliverance’, which opens in Colombo tomorrow at the Saskia Fernando Gallery and Paradise Road Galleries. The exhibition will run till the 18th of July. As noted in the outline for the exhibition Groundviews was sent by Anoma, Rio + 20, the Earth Summit is the largest international conference that aims to secure greater political commitment for sustainable development. It takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. This summit highlights water and oceans as themes paramount in the global endeavor to address climate change. It opens up an opportunity to leverage this platform and contribute to the global dialogue in a local context. Deliverance aims to use art, science and cultural heritage to create awareness on our connection to the earth and water. The concept of this show is to juxtapose paintings – that allude to man’s interaction with the environment in an abstract and…

Cast as mother: A review of a work in progress

[Editors' note: All photos courtesy of Ruvin de Silva] Cast as mother – A reading produced by Stages Theatre Company is a work in progress and therefore poses a unique challenge to the reviewer. How does one review a piece of theatre which is a fragment and when we as an audience are told that this is only a prelude to the actual play? But this might well be one of the fundamental features (and strengths) of this project. It is a metaphor for the processes through which this piece of theatre has evolved and is evolving—for the women involved in this project time is a precious commodity and they take what they can when they can and wherever they can. The reading at the Wendt on 24th evening staged selected parts of a multi-author, bi-lingual script writing exercise that took place over one and a half years and sought, in part, to inform the audience of how this entire…

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Archive for the ‘Arts and Theatre’

Shakespeare – Is he “Wellington’s Lieutenant?”

‘Kerosene’ by Kannan Arunasalam wins international documentary award

In conversation with Nayomi Munaweera

Ini Avan: Hauntingly beautiful but…

Reflections on ‘Widows’ and ‘Unearthed’

Unearthed: Architecture, text, theatre and dance

Beyond Words: The Arts and Accountability in Sri Lanka

Can art still take up a social function?: Two examples from Sri Lanka in the context of post-conflict reconciliation

Video on Mediated: Hard data on Sri Lanka, through art

In Memoriam: Tilak Jayaratne

In conversation with Chandraguptha Thenuwara: Art, politics and education in Sri Lanka

Mediated: Portraying hard data on Sri Lanka through art

Cast as Mother – A Reading: Audience Reviews

Interview with Anoma Wijewardene on ‘Deliverance’

Cast as mother: A review of a work in progress

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