Ruwanthie's adventurous journey in theatre

By Dilshan Boange

In my solitary contemplations a question I have asked is whether one chooses to become an artist? Or is it some inexplicable 'propulsion of fate'? It's a fair enough question I believe given the fact that children are generally expected to decide what they 'want to be' when they grow up. But then that is a question created by the system we inhabit where one needs to devise means to earn and hopefully prosper, financially. What rewards does art offer to the artist? In Sri Lanka sadly, the chances, of making ones passion in a given field of art, one's profession, are rather narrow.

Ruwanthie de Chickera

Theatre is a medium of art that needs much time and commitment of resources but offers very little promise of robust remuneration. But theatre is yet to suffer a serious setback on a mere account of offering little scope for a commercialist objectives. Theatre is nourished by the ardour it attracts from both practitioners and patrons. In Sri Lanka where our societal fabric takes a multilingual dimension theatre is often classified on the basis of the language medium.

Gratiaen Prize

In this regard a production that made notable headway over the last year was Ruwathie de Chickera's Kalumaali. Debuting last year as a play with both a Sinhala and English version performed on successive days this drama was also short listed for the Gratiaen Prize as a drama script. As Kalumaali prepares to go on the boards at the Wendt on November 23 and 24 Sunday Observer's Montage spoke to Ruwanthie who shared a bit about how she began her journey in theatre and what can be said of Kalumaali now as the play marks over a year in the running.

Excerpts

Roots

Q: As a theatre practitioner you have made much headway over the last decade or so. Where do your roots go to in theatre as your earliest involvements with the stage?

A: Actually, the last decade has been rather quiet for me - since for five years of it I actually cut myself away from theatre. However, I have been busy - I actually worked on five full productions over the last three years but only two of them - Cast as Mother and Kalumaali - were seen by the public. The other three - for various reasons are still to be public shows.

Let me try and reflect on my entry onto the stage ... First - I was pushed into this world by virtue of being able to write a half decent script - through the inter-house and then inter-school drama competitions that I was part of when at Methodist College. Then I was tricked on to stage by attending a drama workshop created by Jerome which started off as a flimsy cover for boys and girls to meet... but look where that ended - with the creation of The Workshop Players one of the strongest theatre groups in the country. Either way - I think I had been there for a while before I realised that that was where I actually was. Maybe I didn't notice because it felt so much like coming home.

Passion for drama

Q: What founts your passion for drama and theatre?

A: Something very deep. Something not always very nice. But something always very powerful.

Q: Kalumaali is your latest creation to the stage and has enjoyed favourable response from theatergoers. Do you think it's your best work so far?

A: No. I don't. I know this is ridiculously unfair of me to say this, but I know what my best work has been and it is not yet public. And there are reasons for this. And I hope they will sort themselves out. I am in no hurry. I believe in timing - and things coming together when they are meant to.

Q: Can you tell us, in respect of your artistic intentions and vision, what was at the very core of creating Kalumaali?

A: Kalumaali is arguably the most introspective of plays that I have created. Some of my critics found it insufferable because of this. But the reality of my existence is that I now habit two parallel worlds. The world of the artiste and the world of the mother. And when I say it's a parallel existence it's because you never really leave one for the other. Its not even about a physical space - its about a space in your head, in your consciousness.

Anyway... both these worlds are dramatic in their essence, full of potential, very challenging, very exhausting, extremely addictive and magical. They are complete within themselves and they constantly vie to possess one completely. Who can resist the urge to attempt to capture this madness in a play? Not me.

High profile actors

Q: The cast of Kalumaali has some notable high profile actors such as Kaushalya Fernando, Peter de Almeida. Have their names lent to the show's 'image'? In terms of their names working as a 'pull factor' for the shows?

A: This is has been the first time that I experimented with something that is going to be an important part of my work from now on - which is the re-introduction to the Sri Lankan stage the idea of the bilingual artiste. Artistes who can comfortably create and perform in more than one language. This is one of the objectives of my group - this is how we now work. This is something we are committed to. Our ultimate goal is to be able to comfortably perform in all three languages, but to do this competently will take time.

When casting I kept this at the back of my mind - but I was not bound by it.

Finally, I had almost a full cast - Kaushy, Peter, Juanita, Shyalina, Sahala, Miranga - all who managed to switch languages fluidly. If Iranganie had performed with us, she would have performed in both languages too. I am very proud of my cast for this achievement. It's not an easy thing to do. Performance is not just about the words of a language, it's about the rhythm as well. To maintain the same rhythm of an emotion in a different language is challenging.

I was not concentrating on getting crowds when I cast but I think that having people like Peter and Kaushy definitely helped pull in the Sinhala audience who were more familiar with them than they were with me.

An unanticipated and added bonus of this decision to was definitely the reaction of the audience, who started off by coming only for the performance of the language they were most comfortable with, but then returned again to watch the performance in another language - and discovered a different dynamic to it. It has created debate over the semantics and politics of language - and I hope it has contributed in some way in increasing interest in other language theatre amongst our local audiences.

Elements

Q: Do you see Kalumaali as a work of theatre that could perhaps evolve with time? Say 15 years from today? Could the story incorporate certain elements that may be immediately reflective of some specific issues that may prevail then or do you see it as a work that is meant to reflect the 'socio-cultural climate' in which it was conceived?

A: Oh, I should definitely not return to Kalumaali. Like all works of art, it is both rooted to specifics and also attempts to transcend these very specifics. How successful it is in this attempt is a measure of how good a piece of art it is. But, I have moved on. Definitely. It is absolutely essential that one does.