Grease Yaka Returns

Best Play of the Year
Best Direction, Best Original Script, Best Supporting Actress
and 6 Other Awards at the 47th Annual State Drama Awards

The long anticipated sequel to 2014’s spectacularly successful exploration of the evolution of social fears, Grease Yaka Returns was a black comedy that explored the corrosive effects of those fears.

First staged to an outstanding reception at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from the 17^th to the 19^th of August 2018, Grease Yaka Returns was entered into the State Drama Festival.

One of 30 plays selected to the semifinal round, the play was performed again on the 14^th of January 2019 with several new cast members, at the Western Province Aesthetic Resort, and again at the Elphinstone theatre in Maradana on 27^th February, having entered the final alongside 10 other plays in the Sinhala Medium – Long Play category.

At the 47^th annual State Drama Festival Award Ceremony held at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Nelum Pokuna Theatre on 27^th March 2019, Grease Yaka Returns emerged triumphant, winning the awards for:

• Best Play
• Best Direction (Rajitha Hettiarachchi and Nishantha de Silva)
• Best Original Script (Rajitha Hettiarachchi and Nishantha de Silva)
• Best Supporting Actress (Ayudhya Gajanayake)
• Best Stage Management (Rajitha Hettiarachchi)
• Best Choreography (Jayampathi Guruge)
• Best Make Up (Jayampathi Guruge with Sumedha Hakgalla & Vijitha Bandara)
• Best Costumes (Dinusha Seneviratne)
• Best Lighting (Jayampathi Guruge)
• Commendation for Set Design (Jayampathi Guruge)

The play was staged once again on the 7^th of July 2019 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre to a tremendous reception, and again on the 8^th of August 2019 at the Elphinstone Theatre, Maradana, as part of the 8^th Colombo International Theatre Festival.

In February 2020, Grease Yaka Returns was invited to perform at the prestigious 21st Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Asia’s largest international theatre festival, which is organised by India’s National School of Drama.

The play received a tremendous reception at its two performances, first on the 6^th of February at the Abhimanch Theatre, National School of Drama, in Delhi, and on then on the 8^th of February in the city of Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

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