They should hate each other, but a group of Sri Lankans have found peace through dance. As though locked together, the wheelchairs trundle across the stage, with men standing on the arms. On top of this ugly human square a make-believe gunner swivels a crutch at the audience and takes aim.
Women fall beneath the wheels and are run over.
This powerful tableau is more than just the caricature of a tank. It is a brilliant telescoping of what artillery is and does - the shooting and the shot compressed into the same image. For the soldiers and refugees on stage are the real thing. The stories they tell are their own, and you will not find many modern dramas of war more moving or authentic than this. My buddy died immediately.