KAMALIKA PIERIS

 ‘Dear Children, Sincerely is   an English language   play presented by Stages Theatre Group,    directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera. It was first shown in 2016 and had been in the Stages Theatre repertoire ever since. The most recent performance was in Colombo in September 2024, just before the Presidential election, in the hope that the play would influence the thinking of young first time voters.

Stages Theatre Group said it wished to create a piece of theatre that would   preserve the memories of an older generation. The Group reported that under the direction of its artistic director Ruwanthie de Chickera, they had conducted artist-led research into the lives of the generation who had memories of colonization, Independence and had lived through the entire turbulent history of the nation-state of Sri Lanka. This was a way to capture their voices, to ensure that their experiences and insights weren’t lost. [1] .

The project conducted in-depth interviews of almost 80 senior citizens within Sri Lanka and within the Diaspora as well,  specifically the generation born in the 1930s. We spoke to them and we tried to understand how the country changed from decade to decade; what happened, what went wrong, what were the mistakes they made.

By interviewing a cross-section of seniors across ethnicity, class, political affiliation, gender, and geography about their memories and experiences of the same key historical events, the project hoped it could obtain different historical narratives. [2] The names provided however, indicate that they have interviewed likeminded persons who would have said the same things.

The material of these conversations were then used to create short performance pieces for young audiences on the journey of Sri Lanka since Independence. ‘This developed into ‘Dear Children, Sincerely’

The play Dear Children, Sincerely’ puts together seven stories based on these interviews, strung together to identify a singular event per decade which was a turning point for the country. Some stories are presented as monologues, which will see old people telling their story.  Others are re-enactments. All stories are interpretations of what was shared by the interviewees, said the Group.

There are also plans to look at more recent events in what would act as a sequel to ‘Dear Children Sincerely’, focusing on interviews with those born in the 1940s. They could see the transition from colonialism to self-rule. We won’t go beyond the 1940s, but we do think that there are a lot of really interesting people born in the 1940s that we want to interview and try and transform those interviews into something dramatic that we can share with young audiences, said Stages.

This method calls for comment. It is rarely that such a large number are interviewed for a project , specially for a theatre script. But in this case, the researchers seem to have had a very cooperative group of aged respondents, with failing memory, interviewed at the very stage when they should not be interviewed at all. Further, memories cannot be preserved thorugh theatre, which is an ephemeral art form. This method therefore   is clearly a strategy.

Dear Children, Sincerely is a play with an agenda.  We are told that the idea for such a play originated in 2015 as a project to help young audiences understand events which took place in Sri Lanka after Independence and the impact of these events on their lives today. 

The play acts out seven episodes from Sri Lanka’s post independence history, using stylized movement and commentary. ‘An ensemble performance that takes the audience through seventy years of Sri Lankan history in seven gripping scenes, said critics.

The seven episodes selectedare Independence, (1940s) Sinhala Only, (1950s) Coup d’état (1962), JVP insurrection, (1970s) Black July, (1983) Eelam war (1990s) and Menik Farm (2000s). Stages Group explained that   the play explores the shifts in politics and the spirit of the Sri Lankan people over the last seventy years, throwing the spotlight on pivotal moments in each decade, such as Independence, the controversial Sinhala-Only bill, the dramatic fall of the English-speaking elite, the devastation of an entire generation through two youth insurrections, the sinister inciting of the 30-year civil war and horrific end to the same.

The play shows the trauma this country has faced through seven decades and where the country has had ended up after 400 years of colonization.   The play is intended to give audiences the chance to reflect intelligently on our past and learn about the mistakes we have made, concluded Stages Group.

Our schools do not teach the country’s post-colonial history, said Ruwanthie. Her teen age daughters   learn the same history she did in school. But Ruwanthie was fortunate to have parents who taught her the country’s recent history.

 The school history syllabus in Sri Lanka stops at Independence, (1948), said Ruwanthie, creating a generation of youth who have not been taught what happened after that.  Those who are not taught these events at home grow up not knowing about the past 70 years. This play is an attempt to update their knowledge. When we performed in schools and University they asked us did these things really happen in our country.

Ruwanthi said that in 2016 when they started to rehearse this play, her cast did not know about Black July 1983, did not know what JVP was, and did not know what Sinhala Only was. She had to teach history to her first cast. Ruwanthi herself is not a historian, her first degree is in English Literature, but she is deeply concerned about the matter.

The history curriculum in secondary schools usually does not include recent events. There are reasons for this. Historical events need a period of gestation before they come under historical scrutiny.  Also it takes time for historians to fully analyze the impact of an event. Schools prefer to wait till a clear historical narrative emerges, with consensus before teaching the event. But schools are expected to   teach the past history, in such a way that it will equip students with the skill of analyzing later events.

I recall that when I was studying history in 1960, for my University Entrance exam, I was advised not to answer questions on World War II, though it was in the syllabus, because this event had not yet come under historical review. It was only in 1992 that Germany made it compulsory for all secondary schools to teach the Holocaust.

The play Dear Children, Sincerely, lets off howlers and blunders on its way to educating the audience. The first sentence that appears on the screen is itself a howler. The sentence said that the two communities Tamil and Sinhala had been living in the island for a long time. They were brought together for the first time by the British administration. (These are my words. The sentence   on the screen was much shorter).One critic called this an extraordinary observation, that the British brought the Sinhalese and the Tamils together. Historical texts tell us a different story, the critic said. [3]

the Tamils of the north and east are a settler group of recent origin, not an indigenous community.   The Pandyas had left behind a military post in the north when they departed. This became   the so-called Kingdom of Jaffna. Thereafter in the 17 and 18 century Tamils were brought in by the Dutch as laborers to work on the tobacco plantations in the north. In the 19 century the British   brought Tamils in as settlers to colonize the East. The East at the time was occupied by Sinhala villages.

The first episode in the play was on Independence. The play mocked our Independence, saying we got it as a gift. This too is incorrect. Sri Lanka got its independence due to the sustained effort of the local political elite, who watched events and maneuvered carefully towards their goal, independence.  They specifically asked for independence.

The public were not indifferent to independence either. There was always simmering objection to British rule. Valesca Reimann in her History of Trinity College, Kandy, (1922) says that the Trinity schoolboys greeted the Principal at assembly with   shouts of Good morning”, Salam alaikum” and ‘Palayan yako’. When the Temperance Movement started, the public supported it.

The play admiringly mentions India’s independence struggle. There is a fleeting reference to Nehru and Gandhi. Therefore let us look at how independence came to these two colonies. At Independence Sri Lanka effortlessly regained its traditional borders and control over its total population, who all rejoiced together on Independence Day.

Peninsular India, on the other hand was divided into three sovereign states,   India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and independence was celebrated with much bloodshed. In all three states, soon as independence was declared Muslims and Hindus killed each other.  The Indus valley with its  Harappa civilization went to Pakistan, a brand new country, not to India which contained  the   historical kingdoms.

In the next episode in the play, it was said that  there was no national flag. There was play on the words Kodiyak, Kadayak.  It is however well known that there were  flags in plenty in Udarata kingdom. Each disawani and disawa had  an  official flag, even the Maha lekam in the Kings Palace had a flag. There was the coveted  ira-handa-kodiya as well. So why not a flag for the king. The royal flag was  found in London  and brought to Sri Lanka before independence.

The choice of subject for the  next episode,  the 1960s, is  interesting. Instead of the Takeover of Schools, which had a very significant impact on  education and  seriously affected Christian influence,  the  topic selected was the failed coup d’état of 1962.This coup planned to overthrow the  SLFP government on the night of 27 January 1962.

The coup was  planned by a set of high ranking army  persons. They were all Christian”, shouted the play. .  The tone as far as I could gather, was one of regret that the coup was not allowed to take place. The coup hoped to return Sri Lanka to what it was under British rule, a country dominated by the Christian elite, by the  English language and  by western thinking. The elite would regain lost privileges .

The play then turns on Sinhala Only. SWRD Bandaranaike is mocked and ridiculed. The play shows open contempt towards the Sinhala language,  vomiting it out as See- Haa- Laa and spitting it out as SihalaSihalaSihalaSihala[4]

The play implied  Sinhala and Tamil  carry equal status as the vernaculars and  that it was wrong of Sinhala to squash Tamil. The clash between Sinhala and Tamil are shown by clever stylized movements, very effective.  Later on in the play, there is a contemptuous reference to a Sinhala medium  teacher who, the play said,   did not know that eggs were laid by hens. The tone of the play is one of utter contempt towards Sinhala language and those who spoke it.

Sinhala Only was  not wrong. Sinhala Only  was right and timely. There is much that can be said in support of Sinhala only. Until Sinhala Only came  the state administration was  in English which the majority of the public could not understand.  Telegrams were sent  in English,  law courts worked in English. University education was in English.  

Sinhala Only changed this.  When the University  started to teach in Sinhala,   and the country started to work in Sinhala, social mobility took place on a grand scale. The young  actors in this play, mocking Sinhala Only, are unaware that they are able to   enjoy  their acting experience, to  perform at the Lionel Wendt and develop acting careers only  because of Sinhala Only. If not for Sinhala Only, the main career available to the Sinhala speaking public up to 1956, and even later,   was to   work as a servants in  English speaking homes.

The play selects four violent episodes to mark  the last four  decades. JVP insurrection, (1970s) Black July, (1983) Eelam war (1990s) and Menik Farm (2000s).  

JVP is treated with sympathy. When writing about the JVP, we took one line that Iranganie Serasinghe told me, said Ruwanthie She said that when she thinks of the JVP time, she thinks of the young people of the country being on one side and the old people of the country on the other side, and what a tragedy, ‘How sad that they took to arms.’

The play  therefore created a scene about the young people of this country wanting to do something but not being able to do it and then being destroyed.   This is  a rather odd approach to the JVP, a movement  which killed many innocent persons and was committed to the overthrow of a popular and duly elected government  by violent means.

Black July was not  given much emphasis, if my recall is correct , but the performers  were able to show the aggression and  the fear  very well. The piece  included the surprising query, when did we start to use the word demela.

The Eelam war was presented as a  high level cricket match, Premadasa versus Prabhakaran,  with all the  cheerful excitement that went with such a match. The number of those killed were presented as the runs scored. There were even commercial breaks and the advertisers were the countries that helped the government win the war.

This insensitive attitude to the Eelam war should be  condemned. Colombo showed a callous indifference to the Eelam war  while the war was on and  this play reflects that  attitude.  The play treats the  two warring parties as equal,  like the teams in a cricket match.  The government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE are not equal.  LTTE was engaged in high treason.

Critics   did not like this either.  The nineties, with all its carnage, is presented as a cricket match, with the scores representing the murdered, said one critic. [5]Another observed that the episode about the Eelam war should not have evoked the  laughter that it did.[6]

The last episode was Menik Farm. When the war ended, the government decided to rehabilitate those who survived. The government opened the 700-hectare Menik Farm in Vavuniya  as an IDP site in 2009 and, at its peak,  it held 225,000 people. The play  gave  Menik Farm a good bashing. One inmate delivered a lengthy monologue on the horrors in Menik Farm and the play came to an end.

The play indicates certain prejudices, Eelam war was  unimportant,  Sinhala only was a disaster, the 1962 coup  should have been allowed to take place. Independent Sri Lanka  was unable to  look after itself properly and today it is a total mess. it was better under the  British , when the local  English speaking Christian elite was dominant. This class got displaced after Independence.This play  indicates  the deep resentment of this displaced class, 

The  play says ”With this objective of educating, ‘Dear Children, Sincerely’ aims to be accessible to a wide audience. The play is being performed in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, with subtitles to ensure that language is not a barrier to understanding. [7]That is not correct. This is an English  language play. The two monologues are in English. Better keep it at that. The  audience who  go to see Sinhala plays will not welcome a play which ridicules  the  Sinhala  language and Sinhala medium  teachers.

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[1] https://www.empathyandrisk.com/work/dear-children-sincerely/

[2] https://www.empathyandrisk.com/work/dear-children-sincerely/

[3] https://fragmenteyes.blogspot.com/2017/07/dear-children-sincerely-reflections-on.html

[4] https://youtu.be/QZwVc23KeQk at 2.14

[5] Written for: Daily Mirror, July 11 2017https://fragmenteyes.blogspot.com/2017/07/dear-children-sincerely-reflections-on.html

[6] https://youtu.be/QZwVc23KeQk

[7] https://www.themorning.lk/articles/NuR8WjjmYMT7NPI72ted  8.9.2024