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Prasanna Vithanage Play Debuts February 11

Horu Samaga Heluwen, Prasanna Vithanage’s Sinhala-Language adaptation of two Dario Fo plays, will go on the boards on 11th February 2006 at The Elphinstone Theatre, Maradana, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

After nearly a decade and half, the director of acclaimed films Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) and Ira Madiyama (August Sun) Prasanna Vithanage is returning to where his career began for his next project. After a 14 – year hiatus, Vithanage is currently in rehearsals on a theatre project titled Horu Samaga Heluwen. The play is a double bill of the one-act plays The Virtuous Burglar and One was Nude and One Wore Tails by Nobel Prize winning Italian satirist Dario Fo, adapted and translated by Vithanage and Ira Madiyama co-writer Priyath Liyanage. Vithanage’s last foray into theatre was also through an adaptation of a Dario Fo play, Raspberries & Trumpets, which was staged as Dvithva in1991.

Vithanage has tapped a who’s who of Sri Lankan acting talent to work on his return to theatre, with a cast that mixes maturity and youth. Playing in Horu Samaga Heluwen will be Jayalath Manoratne, Chandani Seneviratne, W. Jayasiri, Damayanthi Fonseka, Gayani Gisanthika, Gihan Fernando, Dayadeva Edirisinghe and Prasad Sooriyarachchi. Tharupathi Munasinghe is composing original music for the play, while Wasantha Perera has been hired as Costume Designer. Chandana Nishantha Peiris is the show’s Stage Manager, assisted by Asoka Zoysa. Buddadasa Galappatti, a veteran in the field, will do makeup while Jude Srimal is the show’s Chief Organizer. Prasad Pereira is Vithanage’s Assistant Director and Rohan Samaradivakara is Producer for Horu Samaga Heluwen.

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