Janakaraliya inaugurates program of dramas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 18:48 GMT]
Janakaraliya, Makkal Ka’lari of the people, with the assistance of Jaffna Education Department inaugurated Monday its program of dramas in ‘Mobile Theatre’ in Nalloor in the CMS School playground located near Jaffna Education Office scheduled to take place from 21 June to 02 July, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, V. Anandasangari of the TULF, who earlier backed Mahinda Rajapaksa during Colombo's war against the LTTE, condemned the program of Janakaraliya for being inappropriate in the context of war affected civilians suffering in Vanni and suggested that Janakaraliya could serve best by visiting Vanni and learn of the misery of Vanni people which could be portrayed realistically in their dramas.

As it was an official program of the Sri Lankan education ministry, school children were brought in large numbers to view the show.



Sinhala and Tamil dramas including those that are of interest to children are to be staged under this program which aims to attract the students and public of Jaffna peninsula.

A drama produced by Jaffna University Fine Arts Lecturer, Navatharsni Karunakaran based on Great Poet Ka’lithaasan’s ‘Abignana Sakunthala’ is to be staged in this program.

Meanwhile, the programs of various artistes of Jaffna peninsula are to be staged 27 June.

The dramas that are to be staged in the Mobile Theatre where 800 audiences could watch them are produced and directed by famous Sinhalese dramatist Parakrama Niriella, the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Janakaraliya.



Artistes including Nadarajasivam, Amintha Weerasinghe, Dileep Rohana, Kamalini Selvarajan and Prema Tilak are to perform in the above dramas.

‘Constructed according to a concept of Parakrama Niriella, Mobile Theatre is a novelty to Sri Lanka. Within the accepted tradition in drama in Sri Lanka, drama troupes travel to locations where fixed theatre halls are available for performance. Thus there was no opportunity for rural masses to enjoy drama. There was never in Sri Lanka a troupe of actors that traveled beyond those facilities in the cities, carrying a Mobile Theatre and performing in it to cater those rural masses. After many efforts, Janakaraliya presented the first ever Mobile Theatre to Sri Lankan society,’ according to Janakaraliya home page.