What is Janakaraliya - Theatre Of the People?

Janakaraliya is a mobile cultural organisation using a collapsible theatre for travelling throughout the country with its multi-ethnic theatre group.  It makes the areas cultural hubs during its stay, using Drama and Theatre, with other art forms for social harmony and integration.

Its mission is to develop a culturally and spiritually awakened society enabling it to live in peace and harmony and also make the Sri Lankan society a sensitive, creative, wise, active and just.

The project travels from district to district organizing drama and theatre training for youth, providing cultural and spiritual experiences and also giving the people opportunities to participate in cultural activities.

Usually its stay in a single district spans for about 03 months. 

Background 

Over 3 decades of violent confrontations and misguided language policies in the 1950s resulted in polarisation and division among the main ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. Historically there have been close social, cultural and economic ties, cooperation and even significant influences on traditions and practices among the communities. However war, mistrust and fear has driven deep divides among the different communities in the country.  This alienation and division is clearly visible in the field of theater and drama where each community enjoys or attends only productions in their own language.  The rich traditions and customs of the two main communities are unknown or unappreciated within this context. The restrictions on mobility, and fear psychosis' among the ordinary citizen in the last decades also meant that people of rural communities rarely had the opportunity to witness high quality dramas or to interact freely with people of other communities. 

The Janakraliaya Theatre group becomes a reality in such a context with the expressed mission to develop a culturally and spiritually awakened society in Sri Lanka enabling it to live in peace and harmony within a society that would be sensitive, creative, wise, active and a just one. The work of the organisation and its members embody the message that violence to solve conflicts is undemocratic and that on the contrary, an inclusive society with respect and acceptance of diversity, allows for cultural enrichment that provides an impetus for growth and development.

Janakaraliya:  A Theatre with a difference

Janakaraliya was formed on the 27th March 2002; World Drama Day, born out of its desire to develop and promote Sri Lankans' first ever multi cultural theatre group that travels across the country in a Mobile theatre. The Janakaraliya team activities were designed to be multi-cultural and bilingual from the very inception, a cardinal rule applied with dedication in all their creative work.  Young people from all parts of the country and  communities were brought together and trained in all aspects of performing art and social articulation to work in a multi-cultural environment. This approach was selected to first to prove to the audience that even multi religious communities with 02 different languages could work and create on their own without any personal or group inhibitions. Second was to bring together such groups to live a multicultural life on and off stage and third and finally to provide an opportunity to different youth from different areas to work together. 

Activities of Janakaraliya are extended to provinces, districts, and villages throughout the country . With the drama team spending over 3 months in each location they create a central hub around which several activities take place. Some of these activities include  

• Production & Performance of artistic quality plays in both Sinhala and Tamil Languages ·        Educational, Training & personal development programmes with teachers and school children 
• Building supportive networks in every district and co-ordination at national level.

The Janakaraliya drama group also introduces a collapsible mobile theatre to Sri Lanka which can seat up to 600 adults and 800 children to enjoy high quality drama productions as well as the space to discuss the content of the plays and its relevance to their daily lives. Janakaraliya has extended the space and flexibility of their performances by introducing the 'New Arena' format which allows the audience to view the play from all 4 sides of the tent while also making them feel part of the performance.  This is the first such stage of this kind in the country. 

Where the main mobile theatre was felt to be too large to reach the remotest areas in conflict effected districts and schools, the mobile theatre was replicated with a more economized smaller version that retained all the principle features of the main mobile theatre, known as the "mini mobile theatre".

Today almost a decade later the Janakaraliya drama group has acquired much experiences and lessons learnt and have embarked on new ventures to further promote their vision of a multicultural and peaceful society in the country.  

Launching Janakaraliya activities

After serious discussions on establishing a “Mobile Theatre Group” to create awareness on drama and theatre, social and ethnic peace, new youth movements in culture etc, it was agreed that an organisation should be formed to implement such a programme. It was felt that beyond the necessary finances and organisational inputs individual commitments were paramount for the success of the proposed institute (group). In January 2003, with the formation of “Janakaraliya”, the first advertisements and news inserts in Sinhala, Tamil and English appeared in newspapers inviting applications from Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim youth. They were expected to join as fulltime members of the Mobile Theatre group and to be trained. Over two thousand Sinhala applications were received, while only 07 Tamil youth applied and no Muslims applied. The protracted war had created a huge mistrust and a socio-cultural division between Sinhala and Tamil societies’ resulting immediate negative response by the Tamil society. Within the traditional Muslim culture, there is an inhibition in getting into performing art. Tamil artistes who had previously worked with us personally and now living in Trincomalee and Nuwara-Eliya Districts helped to break the ice and with their assistance, Tamil youth joined the group. After a very strenuous gestation period, Janakaraliya started its activities on 29th July 2004 with 20 members. They consisted of 09 Tamil youth and 11 Sinhala youth. Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre group thus became the first theatre group in Sri Lanka to have both Sinhala and Tamil youth on the same stage.  

Creating plays in both languages

Aesthetics and art reach beyond languages and ethnic divisions and provide for co-existence in pluralistic societies. This was not the experience in Sri Lanka where ethnic egos were being played up to sustain a protracted war. Cultural activities were compartmentalized in Sinhala and Tamil languages separately. War even made exchange of experience very much harder between the two ethnic societies. It was therefore a necessity to provide good examples of cultural co-existence that nurture good drama and theatre. Production of all plays by Janakaraliya in both Sinhala and Tamil languages gave mutual access to every ethnic group. This in fact was a wholly new experience in Sri Lankan theatre. There had been no instances of Sinhala and Tamil artistes coming together for joint creations, before Janakaraliya experimented with it. Thus this was another first in Sri Lankan art. Five plays, with two productions from each language were produced. They were "Charandas", "Makararaksha", "Andaramal", "Seethambarapataya", "Devlova Gamana"(Children's play) and "Soru Evilla"(Children's play). This new effort by the Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre Group was highly commended.  This was further appreciated by eminent academics like Prof. S. Maunaguru, who made a public statement that this effort by Janakaraliya was a gift to the Tamil youth and art by Sinhala artists.

The First Ever Mobile Theatre in Sri Lanka

Within the accepted tradition in drama in Sri Lanka, drama troupes travel to locations where fixed theatre halls are available for performance. There was never in Sri Lanka a troupe of actors that travelled beyond those facilities in the cities, carrying a theatre hall and performing in that mobile theatre hall. Thus there was no opportunity for rural masses to enjoy drama. After many efforts, Janakaraliya became the first ever Mobile Theatre in Sri Lanka.

The possibilities afforded by the collapsible mobile theatre hall are unique in many ways. Dramatists in Sri Lanka are accustomed to the picture frame (proscenium) theatre. Performance is direct from one side of the theatre to the spectators on the other side. Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre was designed and constructed as a 'New Arena Theatre'. Performance could be watched from all four sides. Also, a director could use this theatre as a 'thrust' theatre and the audience will then see the play from three sides. Sri Lanka still doesn’t have even a fixed theatre with such flexibility. This modern, collapsible mobile theatre has an audience capacity of 600 adults or 800 children. It could be dismantled with minimum effort and transported in two trucks, to any part of the country.  It was very gratifying that USAID came forward to sponsor our concept of "Mobile Theatre".

The journey with the Mobile Theatre

The launch of the Janakaraliya with its Mobile Theatre was organised with a Festival of Dramas on 10^th of March 2005.   Mobile Theatre was installed at the Nomads Ground, Colombo7 and the first Janakaraliya Drama Festival was held from 10th to 19th March.   The objective of organising the first Janakaraliya festival in Colombo was to,

(1) Publicise the concept of a mobile theatre and its programme to the whole country.

(2) Demonstrate the use of the new Mobile Theatre and new experiences and advantages that could be gained.

(3) Check the response of Colombo based intellectuals, theatre goers and the urban society.

Newspaper and TV media was used for a strong publicity campaign. Banners, posters were also used and members of the Mobile Theatre Group distributed fliers in the city. About 800 invitations together with a brochure on Janakaraliya were used as direct mail to dramatists and other artistes. The success of the festival was better than expected.

Thereafter, the Mobile Theatre Group started its first public interaction in Anuradhapura. It must be stressed here that in the past, even with state patronage, it had been extremely difficult to have successful drama festivals in the outstations. Thus the challenge faced by the Jana Karaliya Mobile Theatre group was Herculean. But it was highly successful. In Anuradhapura 02 drama festivals (in 20 days-40 performances) were held in the Mobile Theatre itself and except for the first two days the theatre was fully packed.  During the past 6 years Janakaraliya travelled with its Mobile Theatre throughout Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Puttalam, Hambanthota, Tangalle, Thambuththegama,  Monaragala, Ampara, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla.  Janakaraliya returned to Anuradhapura on 10^th March 2010 after 6 years with the intention of travelling throughout the Northern and Eastern Provinces (as Anuradhapura is the best stepping stone to reach Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.)

We are conducting our theatre activities in one location during a period of two to three months.  Our journeys with Mobile Theatre fall from February to end of August every year.  During the rest (rainy period) we store the Mobile Theatre safely and engage with production of new plays and further training for the Theatre Group.

Drama and Theatre Education Programmes

In Sri Lanka, the (common) practice in drama and theatre is writing a play, producing it and performing in to an audience. That is popularly termed 'Performance Theatre'.  Janakaraliya has gone further and uses drama & theatre in education & personal development as well.  This is commonly called 'Applied Theatre'. The foundation to the mobile theatre was laid by the combination of these two concepts. As a result, Janakaraliya mobile theatre group performs plays (both in Sinhala and Tamil) and also uses drama & theatre for education & personal development of school children and teachers, traumatized children, underprivileged rural and urban people interested in any form or arts.  

The very positive outlook Janakaraliya enjoys in the main stream field of arts in Sri Lanka and adhering to the strict guiding principle of the group of performing only quality drama ensures additional leverage to Janakaraliya among state authorities and officials. The publicity and popularity we have achieved has given us a special favour among them and an assurance of their support and co-operation to use Applied Theatre principles in the state sector institutions administered by them.    

As a consequence, in all the districts Janakaraliya has travelled, we were able to organise educational workshops in schools and thereby foster inclusivity among school going population. Janakaraliya focuses on motivating school teachers to use drama and theatre as an added tool in teaching to develop knowledge, communication skills and the personality of children. We also organize special drama and theatre programmes, to help the school going population to understand the importance of inclusive thinking that enables children to develop their personality and the capacity to accept differences and diversity in society. These programmes are conducted in collaboration with the local educational authorities.

Janakaraliya conducts workshops and educational programmes on drama and theatre among youth, women, marginalized communities and conflict ridden people providing them with an opportunity to interact among themselves, develop a dialogue on the recreational possibilities of drama and theatre, while also stimulating discussion on their local issues. These workshops and educational programmes are organized with the assistance of the local NGOs and social activists.  

Promoting peace and social harmony

Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre group is not merely a group focusing on drama, theatre and culture alone. Janakaraliya works towards a conflict free pluralistic society. One that co-exist for the benefit of each other. It is the understanding of Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre group that art in every form flourishes and enriches within societies that are open to exchange and assimilation. And that demands a stable society which would accept all its ethnicities, religious diversities and other differences as equal and honourable differences, in unity. It is on this basic understanding that Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre group works as an organisation in its internal programming and with the local societies it interacts with. This is why Tamil members act in Sinhala productions and Sinhala members act in Tamil productions. This has made a big impact amongst the audiences of both ethnicities. It’s a living experience how young people of two emotionally charged ethnicities work together to create and perform new artistic productions for a common objective.

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Janakaraliya plans to work directly with children using its group members as instructors. This was experimented in Medawachchiya and Padaviya, two very remote areas in Anuradhapura District. Direct contact with children has given interesting experiences. In Padaviya where Sinhala peasants suffered a lot because of the war, hatred towards Tamil people is very high. This animosity was gradually thinned out with reasoning and close rapport when Tamil members held workshops for Sinhala children in that area. In fact very intimate friendships grew between the Sinhala youth and the Tamil members of Janakaraliya. The same intimate relationship grew between the Sinhala members of the Mobile Theatre Group and the Tamil children at Manampitiya Tamil School. Knowledge and skills of the Mobile Theatre group has improved on "Theatre for Education" that enabling them to be more effective instructors.

Challenging to the established theatre

Janakaraliya broke the traditional restrictions of the ‘Proscenium Theatres’ and introduced the “New Arena’ methodology in creating the mobile theatre, ‘Janakaraliya’, inculcating features of a ‘mobile (travelling) theatre’. The dramas of the group are also performed outside the ‘Janakaraliya’ in open air during the night in far away villages and in rural schools during the daytime and under the tress in village hamlets with the participation of the masses. For almost a century the Colombo based Sinhala dramas of ‘Proscenium Theatre Cult’ performed in fine theatres (halls) under the false, unwarranted and self declared ‘value concept’ that good dramas performed only within the so called ‘City Theatres’.  ‘Charandas' of Janakaraliya challenged these mythical false value concepts of the ‘Proscenium Theatre’ 

Winning the awards gave ‘Charandas’ a new look among the stage drama organizers who were catering to the drama goers and stage drama fans in the City Theatres. These organizers came forward to stage ‘Charandas’ in these popular stage drama ‘destinations’ (City Theatres) in the towns and suburbs paving the way for the first time, as shown in our records, for us to make profits from our performances. There were 20 such special performances in City Theatres during this year. Publicity campaigns carried out by these organizers in several mediums make ‘Charandas’ and ‘Janakaraliya’ more popular give a boost and popularity to our programmes in the rural areas too.

In addition to the publicity or the popularity thus gained this achievement gave us a special recognition among the state authorities and state officials facilitating the support and co-operation of state officials and organizations for our projects in the provincials.  

Birth of three Zonal Drama Groups

The most significant achievement of Janakaraliya during this period was launching of three Zonal Drama Groups. The first unit was centred in Thangalla in the Hambanthota District of the Southern Province. Individuals and organizations that appreciated the programmes implemented by Janakaraliya in the Hambanthota District wanted the programmes to be continued throughout. The provincial State Officials, Lawyers, Doctors and the Business Community got together and established an organization under the title ‘Ruhunu Karaliya’ (Ruhunu Theatre – Ruhunu derives from the historical name given to the Southern Province of Sri Lanka ‘Ruhuna’) and laid the foundation to establish the Zonal Drama Group. A building was provided free of charge facilitating training of the first batch of 30 trainee dramatists. This unit created three short dramas and one full length drama.

Taking the Hambanthota Zonal Drama Group as a model the second Zonal Drama Group was established in Anuradhapura. The historical city of Anuradhapura was the starting point of the journey of Janakaraliya. During the time Janakaraliya was at Anuradhapura it became a household name among the people of Anuradhapura. They gathered in numbers to support the formation of the Zonal Drama Group of Janakaraliya. The support of the people gave a tremendous strength to us in establishing this Zonal Group in Anuradhapura. This group will be given a house for training with the sponsorship of the Chief Minister of the North Central Province. This Zonal Group has already created two short dramas and one long drama.  

The most noteworthy feat or achievement for us of Janakaraliya in establishing Zonal Drama Group was the formation of the Nuwara-Eliya Zonal Drama Group. While the Hambanthota and Anuradhapura Zonal Drama Groups were formed with young men and women from Sinhala community the Nuwara-Eliya Drama Group Unit was formed with young men and women of the Tamil community. They are the children from underprivileged labourer families of the Estate Sector suffering from extreme poverty. They have created two dramas based on two of the traditional as well as indigenous drama styles called ‘Therukkuththu’ and Kamankuththu’. This group became popular and respected after the two dramas were performed recently in Colombo at the ‘Thamil Shangam’ (Tamil Union) during the Tamil Arts Festival – ‘Theseeya Kalei Illakkiyap Peravei’ (National Arts and Literature Association).  All the Tamil dailies carried out articles with photographs of the unit praising the creativity and the skills shown by this Zonal Drama Group.

Introducing ‘Janakaraliya Little Theatres’

Another significant achievement by ‘Janakaraliya’ was the introduction of two ‘Mini Mobile Theatres’. These were a novel introduction to our country. It was very gratifying that USAID came forward once again to sponsor our latest concept of ‘mobile little theatres’. Construction of the first ‘Janakaraliya Mobile Theatre’ was also funded by the USAID.  These mobile little theatres were given to us by the USAID along with the necessary sound and lighting equipment. The USAID stated that they were pleased to help us taking into consideration the services rendered by Janakaraliya towards the betterment of the Sri Lankan society and to promote peace among the communities. The mobile little theatres were launched by locating them at the Anuradhapura Central College grounds at a festival organized for the event. ‘Andaramal’ – a Janakaraliya drama was performed at the launching ceremony. The day time show was dedicated to the school children and the evening performance was for the invitees. These mobile little theatres are used to stage performances of the Zonal Drama Groups.    

Awards Received and Overseas Recognition

In 2009 Janakaraliya selected as one of the 10 best artistic groups in the Asia-Pacific region at the FREEDON TO CREATE International art competition.  

The highest achievement of Janakaraliya during this period was the drama ‘Charandas’ adjudicated as the Best Drama in the State Drama Festival in 2006.  ‘Charandas’, a Janakaraliya Creation, bagged 09 awards for both Sinhala and Tamil Language productions at the festival including the ‘Best Direction’ and ‘Best Drama’ of the year. This was the first time in Sri Lankan Drama history a one play participated in this state festival with two versions in both local languages.  This achievement has special significance not only because ‘Charandas’ won 09 awards at the State Drama Festival but by winning the awards competing with the conventional and established ‘Proscenium Dramas’ that retained a monopoly in the so called established theatres in the cities.    

In the National Drama Festival of 2010 Janakaraliya received 10 major awards for two of its plays.  One is "Metikaraththaya" a Sinhala language play and the other one is "Sekku" a Tamil play.  Awards included the Best Translation Award, two Best Actor Awards (both Sinhala and Tamil), two Best Supporting Actor Awards (both Sinhala and Tamil), two Best Costume Awards (both Sinhala and Tamil), and two Best Make-up Awards (both Sinhala and Tamil).

Another most rewarding experiences for the “Janakaraliya’ was its tour of India. The ‘National School of Drama’ of New Delhi, India invited Janakaraliya to perform ‘Charandas’ at the annual drama festival ‘Bharath Rang Mahothsav 2008’ representing Sri Lanka. The full ‘Janakaraliya Team’ participated in this tour and performed the Sinhala version of ‘Charandas’ to a large gathering of spectators in New Delhi. On the way back we had the opportunity to stage the Tamil version of ‘Charandas’ at the invitation of the ‘Fine Arts Division’ of the University of Chennai and for the ‘Drama and Theatre Arts Division of the University of Pondicheri. We were also fortunate to be invited to perform Charandas’ by the invitation of ‘Coastal Poor Development Action Network’ of Thamilnadu for the fishing villages at ‘Pudukuppam and, Konambakkam in Tamilnadu. The tour gave good publicity to Janakaraliya amongst our neighbouring Indians and also was an eye-opener for the scholars, intellectuals and prominent dramatists of our country.  

Janakaraliya development through 13 years

Today, all Janakaraliya artists have developed to be competent and talented actors and actresses in the field of theatre arts. Number of national awards won by them at the State Drama Festival is the best testimonial for this. These proven and talented drama directors, translators, musicians, lighting technicians and trainers among them have started to bring out their talents. Their skills and talents were brought into limelight in a very apparent fashion by producing 10 dramas (02 long dramas and 08 short dramas) in Tamil language last year.   

Most of the organizations established in 2003 based on the theme of peace and harmony have ceased to exist. Janakaraliya was NOT established with the aim of closing down after the end of the funding period. Janakaraliya has proven the need of cultural process for development through practically demonstrated examples. Even the government has realised that Janakaraliya is conducting an appropriate and apt service. Janakaraliya was able to travel throughout the country during the most dreadful periods of war because the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim scholars as well as the general public were well aware that Janakaraliya was accomplishing righteous and worthy activities beneficial to all the communities in this country.