The Island Nation

Christine Bacon

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781786820662
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781786820679
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

The world does not care. The world doesn't even know. There are European tourists sipping cocktails right now on the beaches in the south, who have no idea what's happening in the north.

Sri Lanka, 2009. A 26-year civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers is coming to an end. The United Nations, the media and all independent witnesses are banned from entering the war zone.

Nila, a young Tamil woman, is trapped in rebel-held territory. Rebecca, a British aid worker, is desperate to get her out. Erik, a Norwegian politician, thinks he has a plan for peace. But nothing is certain – and nobody is safe.

Be transported to the heart of Sri Lanka to discover the shocking truths, and the extraordinary human sides, of the biggest unreported war story of our time. Based on real events, The Island Nation is a visceral, revelatory new play by Christine Bacon, artistic director of the pioneering human rights theatre company ice&fire.

1.

NILA is at home in the Vanni, northern Sri Lanka. It is late 2004. She is 21. She is listening to some Tamil/Hindu music on an old, bad quality Walkman as she walks through her village. She walks past cadjan huts, concrete houses, Tiger propaganda on walls, pictures of Prabhakaran, the Tiger cemetery, palmyra trees and then a narrow crack between concrete walls where the sea is visible. Gradually, the crack between the walls becomes bigger and NILA is standing and facing the sea while practising her dance moves to the music she is listening to.

ERIK waits to board a plane at an airport (1999).

BALASINGHAM is wearily getting ready in a London flat in 1999. He puts on his shirt, tie and suit jacket. He then switches on a light in the shape of Sri Lanka with Tamil Eelam (the territory controlled by the Tamil Tigers at the time) illuminated in neon. He presses another switch and the frame around a portrait of the Tamil Tiger leader Vellupilai Prabakharan lights up. He pulls out a small, fading Tamil Tiger flag on a stand from a drawer in the table and places it on a table in an Indian restaurant.

REBECCA is at an airport. She has a CD walkman and she plays an audio guide and looks through a guide book about Sri Lanka she has bought at the airport. She has a duty free bag with several Twix bars inside. Hackneyed traditional music plays under cheesy voiceover.

VOICEOVER: Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, is an island nation which hangs like a pearl earring off the south coast of India. The population of 21 million is ethnically and linguistically diverse. Sinhalese Buddhists are the majority, but you’ll also find Tamils, Muslims and Christians there. After almost four centuries of colonisation, first by the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and then the British, Sri Lanka gained its independence in 1948. An island paradise, where you can discover world heritage sites, travel back in time to an era of kings and temples, explore mountains and waterfalls, enjoy the wildlife, and of course, relax at the end of the day on one of those glorious beaches.

ERIK enters BALASINGHAM’s space wearing an ill-fitting suit and carries a rucksack on his back. He and BALASINGHAM shake hands. The subsequent scenes between them play out over six years.

VOICE OVER: The leader of the Tamil Tigers is Vellupillai Prabhakaran, a charismatic figure who demands absolute loyalty and sacrifice and has led the movement since the armed resistance began in 1983. The Tigers hold a significant amount of territory in the north of the island. Their stated aim is to establish their own separate state called Tamil Eelam. Sri Lanka is also renowned for its tea …

ERIK: Mr. Balasingham

BALASINGHAM: Please sit

ERIK sits.

I appreciate you coming so early.

ERIK: That’s not a problem.

BALASINGHAM: My wife forbids me from working after lunch now that I’m so long in the tooth.

ERIK: I understand.

BALASINGHAM: Your flight was OK?

ERIK: Fine.

BALASINGHAM: And the traffic from Heathrow?

ERIK: I travelled by tube.

BALASINGHAM: We don’t know each other Mr Solheim. And this is a matter of … we need to ease ourselves in. Don’t you agree?

A WAITER appears and puts a teapot and teacup in front of BALASINGHAM.

ERIK: Not for me thank you.

BALASINGHAM: I’m afraid these sorts of procedures don’t function very well without tea and biscuits. Rule number one. They must have taught you that, surely?

ERIK nods to WAITER who places a teacup in front of ERIK and he pours himself some tea. WAITER places a plate of biscuits on the table. ERIK takes one.

ERIK: Thank you.

BALASINGHAM: People from all over the world have been drawn to our struggle. Most of them have been a flash in the pan. Some have betrayed our trust. What is it that has piqued your interest?

ERIK: I travelled to Sri Lanka last year to stay with a good friend. He offered me to sit in his house and … no journalists with cameras, no children would be around, so I would have all that time to concentrate on writing my autobiography.

BALASINGHAM: What a curious thing. You can’t be more than …

ERIK: I had resigned as leader of my party and … well, if I wrote about it ten years after the event –

BALASINGHAM: Ah, I see. Please, go on.

ERIK: I was not particularly interested in Sri Lankan affairs. Or, I should say, I was as interested in Sri Lankan affairs as much as I was interested in Ecuadorian affairs, or Burundian affairs … in that it’s a fascinating part of the world. And well, you know the rest of the story.

BALASINGHAM: You Norwegians have a special gift for affiliating yourselves with notorious rebel groups.

We see CHANDRIKA at a table in the back of the restaurant. The lamp on her table is in the shape of Sri Lanka with the entire border lit up.

CHANDRIKA: Mr Solheim.

ERIK: Madam President.

CHANDRIKA: I am giving you permission to initiate secret discussions with their ‘Chief Negotiator’ Mr. Balasingham and let’s see where it goes. This is something I wish to announce only when the time is right.

ERIK: Of course.

BALASINGHAM: And so we are permitted to begin the talks about talks.

CHANDRIKA: (To ERIK.) I’m intrigued. How will you sell this murderous faraway conflict with a terrorist group to the mild-mannered Norwegians?

ERIK: The official line? We are a nation that considers world peace to be in our deepest interest.

BALASINGHAM and CHANDRIKA laugh. ERIK laughs along.

These kinds of initiatives are actually very popular domestically. Of course it’s also an excellent way for a tiny nation to get attention from the rest of the world. Otherwise, why would the major powers spend one second on us?

BALASINGHAM: That’s better. Rule number 2:

WAITER fills BALASINGHAM’s and ERIK’s glasses with white wine.

Move onto stronger substances once things have warmed up a bit.

CHANDRIKA: And you are an ambitious politician. What a shame for an ambitious politician to be to be born in a country a stable and as agreeable as Norway. This will give you something to sink your teeth into. I want regular reports.

BALASINGHAM: (To ERIK.) We won’t get anywhere with her. She tells the world she is some sort of goddess of pea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Ice&Fire Theatre Would Like to Thank
• Author’s Note
• The Island Nation rehearsals
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Characters
• Chapter One