Tharakayano
The Passion Play tradition is essentially a Catholic heritage, an evolution of European Mediaeval Drama, rooted in Christian Liturgical Plays of Miracle, Mystery and Morality. The German Oberammergau Passion Play, since its inception in 1634 was staged in the Baroque style in 1750 introducing a change in the Form and the Content of the World’s Passion Play tradition.
The Sri-Lankan Passion Play titled “Tharakayano” is considered as the World’s First Passion Play in Ballet Style. “Tharakayano” was staged in 2012 at Kadolkele grounds in Negombo. We witnessed an entirely innovative change concerning the Biblical Content and the Dramatic Form in the Passion Play tradition for the first time in four hundred years of Sri-Lankan Passion Play history. The influence of the Sri-Lankan Passion Play tradition on native drama has been academically researched by the erudite professors like E. R. Sarachchandra, M. H. Goonathilake and Sunil Ariyarathna.
Again in 2013, the organizing committee aspires to stage “Tharakayano” at Galle Face ground on 24th March. The members of this committee engage in this endeavor with honest intentions in promoting religious harmony through artistic values.
