Lotus Pond crisis

The State Drama Festival commenced several days ago and is held, as usual, at John De Silva Theater from 6.30 PM onwards these days. After much waiting, Lady Grouchalot managed to drag along a rather reluctant Darling (in his defense, who became very much interested afterwards) as well and headed there to indulge in a few mighty doses of live and pulsing theater after a while.

The very first day that it was announced that the State Drama Festival was going to be held at the John de Silva as usual, the very first question the Lady had in mind was, what ever happened to that colossal 'Lotus pond' of ours which inaugerated itself with a flash, kaboom and a humongous bang a couple of weeks earlier?

Lady Grouchalot who had always been an ardent fan of the theater had always been rather saddened by the everyday tragedies that the dramatists and playwrights of the country go through just to get a play on stage and keep it running. She had seen how crestfallen artists become at seeing the measely turn up in theaters whereas the majority of the public would sit at home, slobbering all over the powder puff soap opera starlets flashing their absurdly made up faces almost offensively laden with layers and layers of make up ( enough to make Marilyn Manson cringe ), wondering what outrageously bold move these whimsy puppets of bubble villa would make next (OMG, Paba has constipation! What will she do next?? Will Shehan leave her because she's farts too much??? Subha broke a goddamned nail while running away with Jatila, escaping from Chamara who has been carrying on with Sujatha who has had far too much to drink last night and had made out with Jatila's grandfather, etc, etc..... )  .  Therefore, the Lady was overjoyed when she first heard the commencement of building an international standardized theater right here at the heart of Colombo and looked forward to an illuminated future for the talent laden theater folk of the country who have showcased so much of potential and yet, no means of unleashing it out of sheer lack of facilities resulting from the unsightly stepmother treatment of the authorities towards the venerable theater that has been around ever since the beginning of civilization itself. However, the Lady's hopes had been shattered rather cold heartedly. Seeing the almost obscenely priced venue charges that was published just a while ago, I wonder how many people burst out laughing out of sheer disbelief.

So....the 'Nelum Pokuna' unsheathed its petals (btw, I find the name to be quite hilarious) and lends itself to the able and the partial while the poor dramatists strive to do their best, making do with what they've got in the dilapidated dressing rooms with broken taps and non-moving ceiling fans. However, the ever loyal theater fan would not mind flicking a few beads of sweat while watching a true piece of art that has been worked over and over again over cups of plain tea and shared tea buns.

Nelum Pokuna will feature foreign artists who are forced a microphone in to their hands to "sing a song" while in transit here in Sri Lanka *smirk*  while local talent rots away in corners, portraying the tragedy of a nation that venerates hip-hop wanna-be Iraj-ists as the ultimate ambassadors of Sri Lankan music. We already have plenty of places to hold mass scale musical shows featuring the Supersunshiney gang and the ra (s)pping dimwits who are not even capable of properly lip syncing to prerecorded music, don't we? How about we give the good ol genuine theater that has been abandoned for a significant amount of time a chance for a change?

The ordinary artist is not a millionaire (Well, at least not the ones that havn't yet succumbed to the shitacious politics cloud that hangs upon our heads anyway). Therefore, one wouldn't just happen to have 3-5 lacks lying around to spend on outrageously priced venues and the ordinary theater goer wouldn't just happen to have thousands of rupees lying around to attend these shows of which the tickets would have to be priced around Rs 5000-1000 just to cover the venue cost.

However, the State Drama Festival is going very well, without Lotus ponds for the artists to swim in, I dare say. At the end of the show, the crowd trickled out one by one out of the non-air conditioned hall on to a yard illuminated by the glaring lights of the Nelum pokuna which loomed imperiously overhead. And yet, still dazed by the amazing show of talent which dazzled inside that non-air conditioned theater of the ordinary people, I don't think the people even noticed the condescending glare of the Nelum Pokuna which loomed over all of us in the horizon, begging for attention and a genuine doze of the 'real' art to get it up and revving, pulsing with life.