The Nallur Drama Festival Plays Energetically Performed the Stories of the People Affected by the War in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Theatrical performances are not real, but a unique creation of real-life, It consists of two aspects, which are visual (Optical) and audible (acoustic). Both aspects take place in performing time and make a dramatic piece of real life. It is performed only for a limited time. It starts at a certain moment and then lasts and ends at another certain time. There is an actual real lifetime transformed as dramatic time. Then spectators are in real-time and dramatic time at the same time. In North Sri Lankan plays are produced by the stories of war-affected people. Since 2002, the Active Theatre Movement has brought many war-affected people’s stories to the theatre. The personal story expresses the form of effective social relationships, and gives many meanings, because those stories are complex, interconnected, and contradictory, a story performed by the human body is an expression of cultural conflict. Active Theatre Movement worked with no of war-affected people’s stories, like people who have been displaced and homeless for twenty years, struggling people resettled on their own lands after two decades, people suffering from war, not being able to live on their own lands, families lost their property and lives due to war, poverty, land becoming barren, deliberate people being evicted, etc. These factors influence the real life of North Srilanka. These stories have been the theme of the Tamil theatre in the last three decades. When conflict and oppression seem overwhelming, drama can offer hope. Tamil theatre relies on the real stories of the people. It allows people to imagine how struggles and situations can be overcome. This paper employed the Performance as a research method and take advantage of the author’s direct observations and participation Information was also obtained from actors and spectators. The paper concludes that when performing their own stories were very powerful and presented with extraordinary energy even though they are non-actors.