Theatre in Sri Lanka has always been a space to explore, debate and counsel us through the many upheavals this country has seen. Artists working in Sinhala, English and Tamil have engaged with us, through forum theatre, hard hitting performances on the big stages, light entertainment to give us comic relief from our lives and immersive work in libraries and community halls. Groups of youth teaching theatre in village schools reeling from the war, drama therapists working with victims of the
Easter Sunday attacks and the many theatre companies in this country carrying on conversations online, bringing artists together during this pandemic, teach us that art in Sri Lanka is resilient and necessary. In a time that has affected live performance like never before, where it is not the budget constraints and political powers that are keeping artists and performers in check, it is difficult to drag ourselves out of the despair that is cancelled shows and delayed productions.
Writers, directors, performers and artists not only from the theatre but all humans involved in various creative processes are looking at how to engage and how to support our communities in this most unusual time of chaos. I have seen wonderful work done by artists coming together across various media, creating awareness on mental health, children’s rights, domestic violence and wellbeing, through written work, cartoons and video content. I have listened to actors and directors from across the world engaging with artists in Sri Lanka keeping the conversation alive on how art and especially theatre might adapt.
As a community, we are realizing the importance of empathy, the importance of noticing the details in the humans around us and the need to engage and connect better. What better medium than art and especially performance art, which demands intense engagement with the deepest parts of your own self in order to understand another character completely outside and alien to you. I hope, for the sake of all of us, that we will as a nation realize that the discipline of the performer, the imagination of the writer and the depth of emotion of every artist is needed, to teach us how to reimagine ourselves and the world around us, so that we do not remain unchanged after what we have now seen and experienced.