A scene from the play

When the Mind Adventures Theatre Company sat around to decide what to put on for their 10th anniversary, one thing was clear, it had to be very, very special. Determined to try their hand at creating a play, they fixed on Devised Theatre, a form of theatre where the story, plot and characters originate not from a script but from improvisatory work done by the director and performers collaboratively. So with no script to rely on and armed only with the talents of an experienced group of actors, Director Tracy Holsinger set out to craft this eccentric company’s latest offering.

Staying true to their policy of producing work that is timely and challenging, Mind Adventures decided to take on Sri Lanka’s past as well as its imagined future. Origin myths were explored, characters studied, the Mahavamsa was read and read again, as the cast attempted inspired retellings of stories from the ancient text. An absurdist reinterpretation of the Sinhabahu story came into being, as did ‘Kuveni’s Curse’, a surreal take on the marital relationship between King Vijaya and his ‘demon’ wife. The mythical lost continent of Lemuria was carefully reconstructed, as was a dystopian future in 2084. Through it all, performers and director tried to blur the distinctions between myth and history, fact and fiction and above all, they investigated how our past and future could be relevant to our present.

As time ran short, the troupe realised that none of the stories could successfully capture the true spirit of what they wanted to communicate. By now, performance dates were identified, the venue was booked, news of the production had begun to spread and still, there was no play.
Mike Masilamani’s (MASii) short story The Boy Who Spoke In Numbers had caught Holsinger’s fancy the moment she read it. Masilamani, a Sri Lankan poet who turns his hand to fiction for the first time with The Boy Who Spoke in Numbers, is no stranger to Mind Adventures as his poetry has been performed by them under Holsinger’s direction several times around the country, in shows titled Lookin’ Thru My Earfones.

So they started on a journey that would result in The Travelling Circus, a humourous and warm allegorical tale about a rag-tag band of residents from the Small Village of Fat Hopes now far from home and a part of a rather unusual circus. Follow their fortunes as life is turned upside-down by the Civil War of Lhys which forces them to relocate and meet other characters who, like themselves, are displaced, fearful and lonely.

Be prepared for animals that talk and humans that don’t. Expect to meet the Mad Uncle, The Important Aunty, The Lying Lizard and the Constantly Complaining Cow, and in the middle of it all, you will find the Boy Who Spoke in Numbers, who thinks that being different isn’t always bad, and that you don’t need to speak the same language in order to have something in common.

Join Mind Adventures as they celebrate 10 years of experimental theatre with The Traveling Circus from November 26 to 30 at Nuga Sevana, an intimate amphitheatre located on the Cathedral Grounds on Bauddhaloka Mawatha. For more information visit www.daytripper.wordpress.com.