The Mourning After

CELEBRATING TEN GLORIOUS YEARS OF SOUTH ASIAN THEATRE IN NZ

Prayas Theatre Company in association with Agaram Productions present

The Mourning After
Written by Ahi Karunaharan. Directed by Padma Akula
.
In a moving commemoration of their 10th anniversary of producing theatre in Auckland, the much loved Prayas Theatre Company bring the first ever full length Srilankan play, The Mourning After, to the Basement Theatre fromJune 30 – July 3.

A young expatriate returns to his family home to discover tragedy - his ancestral village and its people have been washed away in the devastating tsunami of 2004.His search among the silt and debris for the remains of his family and his cultural roots take him on the journey of a life time.

The Mourning After offers something different than Prayas’ usual large-scale works of various genres that sell out TAPAC every year. A play about homecoming and light amongst the ramifications of a natural disaster, The Mourning After connects Dilmah Tea, cricket, recent civil war and the filming of Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, to transport audiences to a SriLanka they've never seen before. Exploring themes that will resonate with New Zealanders The Mourning After examines rebuilding and reclaiming life post natural disaster.

Following in the footsteps of other great NZ plays – writer Ahi Karunaharanfirst presented the bones of this work for his one man Toi Whakaari Graduate Show. Now transformed into an ensemble piece with five actors, the work is primarily in English but also contains Tamil and Sinhalese phrases. Ahi recently travelled back to his village in SriLanka and was inspired by the changes, and non-changes, following the tsunami to rewrite sections of the play. This is a story dear to his heart.

The Mourning After will be directed by Padma Akula who has worked with Prayas for its entire 10 years, in everything from wardrobe and production to directing. This will be Padma’s first time as solo director of a full length play, though she has co-directed and directed shorts with great success, includingCrossbow Cat which won the final judges award for Short and Sweet 2014.The Mourning After will feature music by the talented Sri Lankan composerKarnan Saba.

Prayas are excited to announce this will not be their only show for the year - they will be returning to at TAPAC come October. This time it is a play based on the book, ‘A Fine Balance’ by New Zealand’s much loved Indo-Canadian writer, Rohinton Mistry. Watch this space!

The South Asian Theatre Company has gone from strength to strength over the past ten years, providing New Zealand with stories that resonate with the diverse cultural identity of Auckland audiences. These audiences, in turn, have grown with each new production making Prayas both a continued success story and a treasure within New Zealand’s theatrical community.

“Prayas has established an authentic community based theatre that offers a rare opportunity to experience the vigorous folk culture that sustains India's performance traditions.” – NZ Herald

“…honest, passionate, and insightful; an overwhelmingly moving experience”–Theatrescenes

THE MOURNING AFTER plays
30th June – 3rd July
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD
Tickets: $25 Concession : $ 20* booking fees apply
Bookings through Basement – www.basementtheatre.co.nz or 09-309 7433

ends

© Scoop Media