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| Sunday, 25 April 2004 |
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Jehan takes centrestage by Farah Macan Markar Producing cutting-edge theatre in Sri Lanka. This is what CentreStage Productions, an amateur theatre company, formed in 2001 by enthusiastic, young actor, director and playwright, Jehan Aloysius is all about. Promoting new dramatic writing for the stage in the local languages through volunteer workshops, which include scriptwriting, acting and directing at schools and at youth levels for those of the English and Sinhala theatre. Experimenting with bilingual theatre, teaching/learning English as a second language through the dramatic arts, drilling students on the fundamentals of good scriptwriting, CentreStage Productions compromises of members between the ages of 15-35 of both the English and Sinhala stream. Not having a regular place for rehearsals, Jehan is often compelled to conduct workshops at the Viharamaha Devi Park, the Public Library, the pavilion of the Sri Jayawardenapura Campus and more often than not at Independence Square. Jehan's main focus at present is to promote new writing for theatre in both English and Sinhala. While there are a few writers today producing new scripts for the English stage, he believes that there is a dearth of new original writing for the Sinhala stage due to its dependence on foreign scripts for translations and adaptations. "It has been difficult to change the mentality and get young Thespians to begin writing original work, which I believe should include metaphor, culture and socio-historical context of the country" says Jehan. CentreStage Productions is now in the process of working on an original musical "Rag" scheduled for August, as a part of the CentreStage Festival. This will be a first for Sri Lanka and according to Jehan it is a project that has been dreamed of for years. Written and composed by Jehan himself "Rag" is a tragic musical that deals with various aspects of ragging in an unnamed institution of higher education in Sri Lanka. The plot follows Joe, a regular "Colombo Boy" with strong ideals and a major dream to change the system of initiation in academic institutions. A true idealist, he seeks to end war with "Words" not "Violence". Needless to say, this young man has to savour the bitter flavour of realism when he enters the gates of the institution. The past, in the form of his childhood mate Peter, emerges with a vengeance as a senior out to fulfil a personal vendetta against the hapless Joe. Relationships and cliques form as the "Freshers" settle into the new social unit of the institution's life and its politics. Soon even the peace loving Joe is thrown unwittingly into the midst of campus politics as the anti-raggers and pro-raggers prepare to battle it out on the university grounds. The musical is a blend of fact and fiction, and is presented using the techniques of musical comedy, though the main plot ends in violence and tragedy. Following the storyline of the boy who died in the clashing of anti-raggers and pro-raggers a few years ago, Jehan sees his play in many ways as prophetic, as he had written it much before the incident. "If I had done the play earlier, it may have prevented what happened from happening. However I wasn't in the position to do so then, but I am now. Thus I hope "Rag" will be an eye opener for youth to make sure this kind of thing never happens again". As a fund raiser for "Rag" Jehan and Co will be staging a farce, fast paced comedy "Bengal Bungalow" at the Lionel Wendt this coming May. Set in the India of the 1930s, the play is a situation based comedy about mistaken identity. Set about a British family residing in India during the Colonial era, the play has an unusual blend of British and Indian characters. There's the notorious robber, the hapless priest, the enraged mahout as well as two off stage elephants and tigers. Different to Jehan's usual works, the drama has a lot of twists and continuous action. Thus the two hours passed watching the play is based on two hours in the lives of the characters. Of the action packed comedy Jehan says "I feel people need a laugh now and then. Specially in times such as today". Ravindra Jehan Mark Francis Aloysius has been writing plays since 1993. He uses his scripts to give voice to those silenced by Sri Lankan society. He interrogates ageism, child abuse, sexuality, mental illness and dowry burning in his scripts and presently (as mentioned earlier) he is working on a "First" for the Sri Lankan stage-an original English Musical on University ragging, titled "Rag". Jehan's plays have strong women characters who generally are the lead role. Intrigued with the diversity of emotions and actions within a limited space within a limited time, Jehan likes to use metaphor as well as tension in his writings. "I write about issues. I don't believe in sweeping things under the carpet, or working towards creating an artistic object out of my writings. For me the most important thing is conveying a message. That is what theatre has been all about from the ages of Greek civilisation to the time of Shakespeare to today". Jehan's creative and academic works have been published in the Channels Journal of creative writing, Options Magazine and in Poetry Anthologies in the United States. He was even shortlisted for Michael Ondaatje's Gratiaen Award for Sri Lankan literature in April 2001 for the collection of original plays titled "The Screaming Mind". Working on many plays at the same time Jehan is mostly inspired by music, as well as people. "I love listening music, especially to the sounds of broadway musicals. While I was writing "The Ritual" I was listening to the soundtrack of "Shakespeare In Love". Born on the 29th January 1977, Jehan's been interested in theatre from childhood, having first stepped on stage at the age of five, in the Lionel Wendt, as the youngest performer in an evening of Negro spirituals. His first major direction out of school was "Smile A While" a collection of three comedies, which he directed for the Lionel Wendt at the age of 19. After having studied at St.Joseph's College, he specialised in English, at the University of Colombo, Jehan has been the President of its Drama Society of 2000-2001, during which he organized the Inter-University Theatre Residencies held at Peradeniya. He also organized the Inter-University Drama Festival of 2000. Jehan has taken part in over 30 theatre productions since 1992. In Bangalore, India he completed two theatre residencies (Playwright's and Director's) conducted by the Royal Court Theatre of London. He made his debut in Sinhala theatre with director Dharmasiri Bandaranaike's controversial epic production, "Trojan Kanthawo" (Euripides' 'Trojan Women') in 1999. |
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