எனக்கும் பசிக்கிறது / I Am Hungry Too by Kälam Collective

Sat 29th Mar | General Audience | Tamil | 11:30 – 13:00 | 90 mins | Mihilaka Medura

The performance’s lead character is a theater director whose belief is that society can only be transformed through constant provocation. He wants to highlight the devastating effects that the armed conflict in Jaffna had on ordinary civilians. This is followed by the monologues of a young woman whose father disappeared back in 1997 and whose mother has been searching and protesting ever since. 

Her words interspersed with those of a Mullivaikkal veteran, who actively experienced the last stages of the war. Then there is the former landowner from Palali, who recounts his continuous displacement from one IDP (Internally Displaced People’s) camp to another as his home got declared part of one of many High Security Zones. 

And acknowledging the importance of the global Tamil diaspora, one monologue features the position of a character living in Germany and dreaming of returning to his native Vaddemarachchi East. Finally, an elder reminds of the early stages of the conflict when the Jaffna Library was set on fire and the Muslim population expelled from the peninsula overnight. 

Through listening to each other’s experiences free of blame, judgement and malice the five characters begin understanding each other better as the performance unfolds. 

Directed by J M Kirutharshan Nicholas & Arunthavanathan Prashanth