Peace-building in Sri Lanka through theatre
Theatre of Friendship uses Playback Theatre to link four communities across Sri Lanka who otherwise have no contact and no shared language. Facilitating deep listening and recognition of each person’s
relevance and dignity, Playback creates space in which difficult experiences can be safely expressed. The project aims to form long term cross-cultural alliances in Sri Lanka by creating space for people to hear one another’s stories and develop understanding
across cultural divides.
Four groups from Tamil and Sinhalese backgrounds have formed a network called 'Theatre of Friendship, Playback Sri Lanka'. They have invited us to support them to hold a national gathering in January
2013. We are raising money to make that possible.
The project was initiated by a group of volunteer international artists who offered preliminary training in Playback Theatre to the groups in Jaffna, Colombo, Hatton and Galle. This began in 2006
and 2007, then resumed in January 2012, culminating in a national gathering of the four groups. Following this event, we asked the local groups if they would like to take the work forward and how they would like to do that.
Our aim is for these activities to become self-perpetuating, with the project driven by local participants at every stage. We are committed to ongoing support for the project until at least 2017,
when we envisage local participants will be highly skilled in all aspects of Playback Theatre practice. We are also supporting them to adapt the basic forms to address post-war circumstances. This includes a laboratory that will run in January 2013, and the
introduction of practitioners with complementary specialisations.
In June 2012, leaders from each of the four groups formed the network 'Theatre of Friendship, Playback Sri Lanka'. The Jaffna based group, Kaveri Kala Manram, announced that they will host the second
National Gathering at their centre in Chilipuram in January 2013. This is the first major initiative taken by the newly formed network. They requested the international artists come and support them.
Primarily self-funded until now, we are seeking support from the international community so we can contribute to the 2013 National Gathering, offer advanced trainings and hold an initial laboratory
investigating the use of Playback in a post-war environment. Our program in January 2013 will consolidate the project, placing it in a viable position to seek sustainable funding from a range of sources.
