• Ruwanthie de Chickera on what makes ‘Dear Children Sincerely’ a must-watch before the Presidential Election

The upcoming Presidential Election will without doubt be a significant moment in the country’s history regardless of the majority’s choice of leadership as it will reflect the impact of recent events such as the Aragalaya and economic crisis, as well as the Easter Sunday attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic, on people’s thinking. While we tend to focus on such recent events, lessons from the past also play a role in our voting choice, with many fearing a repeat of history and warning of mistakes made.

It is in this context that Stages Theatre Group is presenting ‘Dear Children Sincerely – Seven Decades of Sri Lanka’, a production written and directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera that looks at the seven decades that preceded the end of the armed conflict in 2009. The play is supported by the Sunethra Bandaranaike Trust and Devar Surya Sena Trust.

‘Dear Children Sincerely’ is a result of a project of the same name through which people born in the 1930s were interviewed in order to document their lived experiences of turning points in Sri Lankan history, such as Independence from the British in 1948, the Sinhala Only Act in 1956, the first Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising in 1971, and Black July in 1983.

Performances of ‘Dear Children Sincerely’ will begin on 14 September at the Harmony Centre in Boralesgamuwa (free of charge), followed by two shows at the Kelaniya University on 18 September (discounted shows for students), and a show at the Lionel Wendt on 19 September (box office rates).

The variety of venues gives a wider audience the opportunity to watch ‘Dear Children Sincerely’, with the performance being in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, with subtitles, making it even more accessible. “We can easily run this in theatres and charge tickets but the mandate that we have given ourselves is to take it to first-time voters; take it out to young people who may not be aware or may not be interested and to get them interested,” de Chickera said.

In conversation with The Daily Morning Brunch, de Chickera also explained the purpose of documenting people’s stories, as well as the reasoning behind their decision to stage ‘Dear Children Sincerely’ in the days leading to the Presidential Election of 2024.

Living memories

The year 2015 marked a democratic shift towards a national government with the election of Maithripala Sirisena. It was during this time that the Dear Children Sincerely project came about, with the team deciding that it was a good opportunity to go into some of the mistakes made in history.

“We thought the best people to talk about the mistakes would be the people who made them. We identified the generation born in the 1930s as a very interesting generation, because they are people who have living memories of Independence. They would have been kids or young people in the 1940s. And they would have had lots of hopes and dreams in inheriting this country,” de Chickera explained.

Over 60 people have been interviewed to date, ranging from known figures like Bradman Weerakoon, A.T. Ariyaratne, Iranganie Serasinghe, Manouri Muttetuwegama, and Prof. Ashley Halpe to lesser-known people. “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, etc. We called this research project the Dear Children Sincerely Project,” de Chickera said.

She added that the play 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.

When asked how these stories are presented, de Chickera explained that some are monologues, which will see old people telling their story. However, others are reenactments. All stories are interpretations of what was shared by the interviewees, de Chickera emphasised.

“Some are verbatim. Some people are great storytellers, some are not. There are a couple of scenes, the monologue scenes, for instance, if you look at the original, it’s very close to the transcript. We tweaked it to make it a bit dramatic here and there, but it’s very close.”

She added that sometimes, an entire scene is made of one line that somebody said. “For instance, when writing about the JVP, we took one line that Iranganie Serasinghe told me. 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. So succinctly, she puts it,” de Chickera said, adding that the scene they have created is about the young people of this country wanting to do something but not being able to do it and then being destroyed.

Beyond a play

Given the nature of the play, ‘Dear Children Sincerely’ is likely to be a learning experience for many. In fact, past stagings have been, with many young people’s questions reflecting a lack of knowledge about key moments in the country’s history. This lack of knowledge was seen not amongst the audience only, but also the cast, with de Chickera explaining that in 2015, more than half of the rehearsals were history lessons.

“I think because of the Aragalaya, things have changed. People are smarter and they have some kind of knowledge, but it is still not in-depth knowledge,” de Chickera said, adding that even with the cast, it is mainly the specific information they are unaware of.

At the performance, attendees will receive literature on the incidents. There will also be an introduction to the show, as well as a post-show discussion, which has been mediated by third-party people like Prof. Saumya Liyanage in the past and is likely to be this time as well.

“It has been very illuminating to understand how much people don’t know. People are deeply appreciative of the show. People get very emotional. Some people remember things when they watch the show, like people who have been through 1983, 1971, or 1989; they have memories. It’s very evocative. Families go home and have long discussions – I’ve got that feedback as well,” de Chickera said, highlighting that the play is very much for families as it sparks conversation.

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,” she added.

When the Easter attacks occurred in 2019, the team spoke to a few elders about it, but de Chickera said they found their memories of recent incidents to not be as sharp. “The thing about human memory is the older you get, the less invested you are. We found that their strongest memories were when they were young. So yes, they had opinions, even of the Aragalaya, but it was not insightful, by and large.”

A timely production

The slogan of ‘Dear Children Sincerely’ invites people to watch it before they vote. “We took a decision to go headlong with politics because we want to lend our energy to this moment and say it’s another turning point or it could be in our country’s history, for good or for bad, so be a part of that conversation and be a part of that decision.”

De Chickera added: “In 2015, we had a play called ‘Walking Path’, which was about the control of our parks by the Rajapaksa regime. Interestingly, and we didn’t know it at the time, but we performed it the night before the Presidential Election where Maithripala Sirisena came in, so it was again another turning point. I’m hopeful that this time too, we might be at the cusp of another turning point in terms of what our people vote for.”

The Presidential Election 2024 is the country’s first democratic event since the Aragalaya, or the People’s Movement that resulted in the ousting of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. “The Aragalaya changed the political subconscious in the country. We all know that. That change has gone very deep. People from all backgrounds have started thinking anew about issues. Young people, especially, as we saw at the Aragalaya, got very galvanised.”

Recognising the Presidential Election as an important democratic event, the team wanted to add their weight to it as artists. “We thought we could bring to audiences the chance to reflect intelligently on our past. And we especially want to focus on first-time voters, people who may have as young adults experienced the Aragalaya and this first opportunity to do something, cast a vote, which is really important.”

They also saw the gap in knowledge, with school syllabi not focusing on the country’s post-colonial history. De Chickera explained that her daughters of ages 15 and 17 learn the same history she did in school. However, she was fortunate to have parents who taught her the country’s more recent history. But those who are not taught at home, grow up not knowing about the past 70 years.

“The reason we are doing this and the reason we are doing it one week before the election is because we want to target first-time voters and families, and focus people on their civic duty to vote and their civic duty to vote with knowledge of what has happened in the past,” de Chickera added.

And so, this will be their offering to the landscape of what is happening in the country.