The Mourning After

Overview

To commemorate their tenth year producing South Asian theatre in Auckland, the Prayas Theatre Company will bring the first ever full-length Sri Lankan play to the Basement Theatre from June 30 – July 3.

The Mourning After is about homecoming amongst the ramifications of a natural disaster. It follows an expat as he returns to Sri Lanka to discover his village and people have been washed away in a devastating tsunami. His search among the debris takes him on a journey, connecting everything from Dilmah tea, cricket, the recent civil war, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The piece is close to home for writer Ahi Karunaharan, who recently travelled back to his village in Sri Lanka and was inspired by the changes, and non-changes, following the 2004 tsunami. He first presented The Mourning After as a one man piece for his Toi Whakaari Graduate Show. It has since been transformed into an ensemble piece with five actors, and is primarily in English, but also contains Tamil and Sinhalese phrases.

The Mourning After will be directed by Padma Akula who has worked with the theatre company for its entire 10 year stint, and will feature music by Sri Lankan composer Karnan Saba.