Sinhabahu at Nelum pokuna

The day before yesterday I went to see 'Sinhabahu' at Nelum Pokuna theatre, for the first time. I dont mean first time at Nelum pokuna, (which it also was) rather I meant to say, it was the first time I've ever watched a stage play.

So how was it?

As Fräulein Maria said, Let's start at the very beginning; which is, a very good place to start.

Tickets

The very beginning, in this case is how I bought the tickets for the show. I don't think they really advertised the show. I just saw the posters while passing Nelum pokuna. So, we went inside, and met with this really helpful guy inside who issues tickets. Tickets were priced 3000/= (main) and 1000/= (gallery). The guy was really nice and took us inside to show us the seats so we could select better. We ended up somewhere close to the front, in the middle section where incredibly, three seats were available.

Apparently Nelum pokuna is now a sort of landmark and people just come to see it. I say this because there were lots of school children inside who were just looking around.

No ATM

They really should install ATMs there, or at least accept credit cards. I dont usually carry such horrendous amounts of cash (and neither shoud you! its just not safe) so we had to go back outside and find an ATM. 

The guy said that this particular show (and Maname, being shown on Tuesday) are actually being done by the theatre, which is why the tickets are priced (considerably) low. Total expense for one show is around 8.5 lacks he said.

Late start

On the day of the show, we were seated by 6.30 sharp but for some reason they didn't start until 6.45 or so. 

Canteen

The canteen can be heaps better. There is just no selection, and the way people were served was absolutely crazy. In typical Lankan way, there was no queue, and there was only one guy to serve the entire throng. We had to wait for almost 15 mintues or so, just to buy drinks. I actually noticed one guy standing right infront of the counter, under the guy's very nose, and the poor guy didnt get served until even we were!

Beautiful performance

The play was, absolutely amazing of course. I don't know who played Suppadevi, but for me, hers was the best performance that day. Since many many reviews have already been done on Sinhabahu, by many many learned scholars, what can I, a mere chit of a girl add? :D Suffice to say it was beautiful, and moving, and definitely worth it. After watching that performance, I really wanted to go for Maname as well, but unfortunately the date was not doable for me :(

I did take my DSLR, with the zoom lense, but they said no photographs please so, I didnt click any, sorry...

And what better way to end this post, than with these lovely words sung by Suppadevi at the beginning?

ලෝ දහමින් වැදෙනා රලු පහරින්
ගත සිත රිදෙනා කල නිතියෙන්
නැත ලොවේ අන් රසඳුනා
ආදරේ සේ සුව දෙනා...