Theatres Of Protest

According to the author, Ranjini Obeyesekere, Sri Lankans are historically a highly politicised people. She hypothesises that this critical attitude owes much to the impact of Buddhism on Sinhala culture, not only because it resulted in the early spread of literacy but also because of the Buddhist tradition of scepticism. She further states that this critical attitude was manifested in ritual performances, and claims that, historically, authorities did not clamp down on such performances. Instead, the ritual arena formed a "permitted space" where political tensions could safely be released. The author suggests that in terro r-ridden Sri Lanka, modern theatre came to occupy this permitted space, and that authorities allowed this critical practice because it did not lead to direct political action. Further more, as with the ritual perf o rmances, audiences turned to the theatre in search of catharsis; to help them cope, in symbolic terms, with the oppressions and excesses of their time.

The author's suggestions are extremely captivating, and may even provide a valid explanation for why Sri Lankan theatre flourished in the late 1980s. However, the book itself does not provide a convincing analysis. The ideas put forw a rd consistently remain at the level of conjecture and are never really developed or substantiated during the course of the book. Factual details as well as extracts from perf o rmance texts, both necessary and welcome aspects of the book, are unfortunately rarely accompanied by careful, in-depth analysis. Thus, for instance, I don't know why I should accept that the disdain shown towards authorities in ritual performance (which the author highlights through a performance text) is a manifestation of a critical attitude fostered by Theravada Buddhism and not simply another example of folk tendencies to subvert the status quo through performance . Similarly, I do not see how Buddhism, ritual performances and modern Sinhala theatre link up— they all involve criticism, but surely that does not automatically imply a sub-stantial connection between these practices. The examples given to back up these claims are sometimes ludicrous— at one point the author relates that her actors did pranamto her (their director) before their big show and then goes on to state that "(t)his was a carry over from the world of ritual performance into the modern secular theater"!

The problem with the book is that the author had some good ideas to start out with, but in her enthusiasm to stick to her hypotheses she sacrifices depth and complexity. At the same time, sections of the book are extremely informative. The author provides good overviews in the chapters on the political context of the 1980s, Sinhala drama in colonial times, modern drama in the mid-20th century and the government organisation of state and drama festivals. She paints a fascinating picture of popular involvement with theatre in the 1980s. And she perhaps excels herself in the Appendix, when she relates her own experience of producing a play. In this chapter, the intense involvement that various sections of Sinhala people had with theatre is vividly communicated. Finally, and most importantly, Obeyesekere keeps the book refreshingly free of jargon— no mean feat given the general incomprehensibility of academic writing.