'Theatre for Liberation' during the Period of IPKF in Srilanka

இலங்கையில் ஐ.பி.கே.எஃப் காலத்தில் "விடுதலைக்கான அரங்கு"

Keywords: Liberation Theatre, Sri Lankan Tamil Theatre, Political Hall, Jaffna Theatre, I.P.K.F, Srilankan Ethnic Conflict, LTTE

Abstract

The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990. Later, the IPKF withdrew from Sri Lanka due to Gruella attacks, political maneuvering and pressure from the Sri Lankan government. During this period, property loss and human disasters were reported in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Because of the war between the Indian Peace Force and the LTTE; there was no public space for grammatist performances, theatre activism was stand still. In this environment, two political dramas named ‘Kalathil Kaththan’ and ‘Sathiiyai Venra Savu’ were produced and performed in more than a thousand places. It was aimed at mobilizing support for liberation among the masses. Here, Political Drama is based on political ideology drama. It usually deals with political issues and ideas. Support or oppose a particular political ideology. The LTTE in Sri Lanka was destroyed by a military operation in 2009. They were famous for documentation of Their work, but while destroying LTTE, during that time their archives were also destroyed and thus none of the artistic activities documents they had collected remained, although there were some documents in libraries and individuals which were either destroyed by them due to military threats or hidden so that they could not be taken out. At the same time, many of those who participated in the theatre activities for liberation during the LTTE era live in disguise, avoiding their artistic Identities. Therefore, it seems that the plays of this period are deeply buried in the minds of those who saw them and the artists who participated in them. Due to this, we have to rediscover the plays that are deeply buried in the mind. This study is an attempt to excavate their memories by meeting theatre creators who worked in the ‘Theatre for Liberation’ and who are currently living in isolation due to the political and military crisis. After almost 10 – 20 years, they partially recovered the dramas that were buried deep in their minds after a long discussion. The information is closely related to the social and political power structures, so discourse analysis has been analyzed using the theoretical method (Discourse Analysis) and based on the concept of liberation theatre.

Published
2023-01-01
Statistics
Abstract views: 265 times
PDF downloads: 177 times
Section
Articles