Grease Yaka Returns will be back on the boards at the Elphinstone Theatre in Colombo on February 1, at 7.30pm. It is a bilingual play written and directed by Rajitha Hettiarachchi and Nishantha de Silva, and produced by Ananda Drama. The play which was well received by the audience and critics won 10 awards including the Best Long Drama, Best Director and Best Original Play at the State Drama Festival last year.
Grease Yaka was first staged at the Lionel Wendt theatre in Colombo in August 2018. It is a thematic sequel to Ananda Drama’s 2014 devised theatre production, entitled Grease Yaka, which explored how personal fears of individuals fester into social phobias. Grease Yaka Returns, which stands as a complete scripted play of its own, follows on the themes of its predecessor, and examines how fears in society can morph into social divisions that can even erupt in violence. The play attempts to take a deeper look into how the inherent prejudices of people are exploited by opportunists in society for their own ends. The play is inspired by moments from Sri Lanka’s past, and seeks to show how vulnerable we as a society may be to a repetition of the same mistakes in the future. The play comprises an ensemble cast of around 30 actors.