First performed in Sri Lanka in 2000 and later in London in 2001, Brisbane during the Commonwealth People’s Festival in 2001 and Delhi at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav in 2003, Flowers Will Always Bloom is dedicated to all victims of armed conflict the world over and reminds us that hope will always blossom, just as flowers will always bloom.
The play begins by depicting the different ethnic communities of Sri Lanka through religious worship; however a blind man is the only one who can see the reality of the present situation in the country. The crackers of celebration turn into gunfire and explosions that herald the beginning of tears and trauma. A mother loses her two children and thinks they have died, but they are found and adopted by a childless Tamil couple and grows up in a refugee camp.
Fourteen years later the children are alive, but legless and unable to speak due to the trauma they have suffered. They leave the camp with their foster mother and come across the blind man who recognizes them and directs them to a concert where their birth mother is about to perform. When the woman starts singing the young men recognize her voice and call out to her, regaining their power of speech. There is a beautiful reunion, only to be shattered once again by the sound of a bomb blast.
“The soldiers and refugees on stage are the real thing. The stories they tell are their own and you will not find any modern dramas of war more moving or authentic than this.”
Jonathan Steele (Guardian, UK)
