Asoka Mendis de Zoysa
Photo: Goethe-Institut / Natalie Soysa
Asoka Mendis de Zoysa‘s MA thesis was a philological analyses of Kalidasas Sanskrit Plays and Court Poetry (Kāvya) translated into German by Friedrich Rückert. His doctoral dissertation submitted in 1996 deals with India as seen in the German Theater in the times of Goethe, published in German under the title Blutrünstige Braminen am heiligen Strome (1997) in Frankfurt.
Since 1996 he lives in Sri Lanka and has translated many contemporary German plays into Sinhala: Der Drang by Franz Xaver Kroetz in 2001, Woyzeck by George Buchner in 2003, Joseph und Maria by Peter Turrini in 2004, Creeps by Lutz Huebner 2004, Une tempête by Aimé Césaire 2011/2012 from French into Sinhala and Kriegsberichterstatterin by Theresia Walzer from German into English. All plays have been performed in Colombo, some he has directed himself. The unpublished Sinhala translations include Herr Mautz by Sybille Berg, Biedermann und die Brandstifter by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Marat / Sade by Peter Weiss.
He writes reviews on Contemporary Sri Lankan Dance and Art served in the panel of judges of the Gratien Prize 2010 and the Shakespeare Drama Competition 2012 and 2015.
Since 1996 he lives in Sri Lanka and has translated many contemporary German plays into Sinhala: Der Drang by Franz Xaver Kroetz in 2001, Woyzeck by George Buchner in 2003, Joseph und Maria by Peter Turrini in 2004, Creeps by Lutz Huebner 2004, Une tempête by Aimé Césaire 2011/2012 from French into Sinhala and Kriegsberichterstatterin by Theresia Walzer from German into English. All plays have been performed in Colombo, some he has directed himself. The unpublished Sinhala translations include Herr Mautz by Sybille Berg, Biedermann und die Brandstifter by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Marat / Sade by Peter Weiss.
He writes reviews on Contemporary Sri Lankan Dance and Art served in the panel of judges of the Gratien Prize 2010 and the Shakespeare Drama Competition 2012 and 2015.
