DRAMA

Dracula prepares to 'split your sides' again

by Dilshan Boange

In July this year I watched what was surely one of the most spectacular theatre productions I had ever seen. Afterwards I kept wondering, when this work of theatre -'Dracula' by Anandadrama - would return to the boards again? Theatre fans will now surely delight in the fact that 'Dracula', the horror fiction that was brilliantly re-engineered to be a side splitting comedy for the stage by the talents of a group of young theatre practitioners, will be brought back to life at the Lionel Wendt for a second run. What is significant about this production is on one level how innovative ways of stagecraft has been devised to narrate a story within the confines of the proscenium while reworking a work in terms of its genre. It is a stage play that speaks very visibly of how the new generation of theatre practitioners view their 'license to innovate' to further creative direction that breaks new ground for a new generation that seeks a 'theatre thrill'.

But how did this whole project get started to begin with? I spoke with Ishtartha Wellaboda, a member of the playwright trio who jointly wrote the script of Dracula - the comedy adaptation and one of the 'co-conspirators' at the root of the project.

Discussion

Wellaboda, an old boy of Ananda College, Colombo, explained that Dracula was intended to be made into the next Anandadrama production when he with his co-playwrights and fellow old Anandians -Nishantha de Silva and Rajitha Hettiarachchi sat down for a discussion.

"We actually had in mind to do something similar to and fitting the bill of '39 Steps'. Not 39 Steps itself, but a story of a similar vein that would appeal to our audiences here," he explained. But fate so decided that a volume of Bram Stoker's world renown 'Dracula' should happen to be on the table at that meeting and draw their attention to explore new possibilities! And the result, needless to say, was a praiseworthy outcome for Sri Lanka's English theatre culture. When questioned how they designed a comedy out of a renowned horror and made a successful transformation of genres, 'Ishi' (as Wellaboda is better known socially), offering much insight into the craft of the playwrights who have worked together as a team before to co-author scripts for the stage, revealed that even the master horror fiction writer Bram Stoker had first written 'Dracula' as a stage play, though it had not come to life on the stage and instead found form as a novel.

Horror

"If you really focus on the way 'Dracula' the novel has been written, the text shows many dramatic elements in it. And no offence to Bram Stoker, but certain parts in the story don't really tie up to be the quintessential horror story and do in fact come out somewhat like comedy if you really analyse it," pointed out Ishi, adding that he Nishantha, and Rajitha were all of the view that turning Dracula into a comedy for theatre would be a novelty.

They then set on devising their narrative modes to ensure they had a solid drama script adapted from a novel of a different genre to what they planned to present. "The novel is narrated in different modes. There are diary entries, letters, recordings of a gramophone, and so on. So what we thought was that each of those narrative paths would be a voice for a character to bring out the story onstage," he elaborated.

On the matter of making a comedy out of a horror, Ishi's perspective was that they didn't try to 'trivialise' the seriousness of what the story's core is about, but played with the approach of performing it as an entertaining comedy. "One of the means we devised to bring comedy on to the stage was through how we decided to 'break the fourth wall' in the course of the performance," he said.

When enquired what the main reason was to choose Thushara Hettihamu to direct the play, Ishi explained how the playwrights had previous experience working with Hettihamu and had trust in his style and vision as a director. "Hetti's role in the direction you could say had principally to focus on how the visual element of the play was developed." So, it was a process of having specific areas to focus on and develop between the three playwrights and the designated director as a creative collaboration complementing one another's assigned focus points that later harmoniously entwined to bring out a satisfactory final outcome.

Compliments

When I asked the responses to the production after its first run, Ishi said after closing night there were many compliments that poured in from both theatre fans and fellow theatre practitioners. "And some of these compliments were from foreigners who happened to catch the show while here. When it comes to English medium theatre here, not too many original scripts are produced and I think we made an impression with Dracula."

The Sinhala playwright and director Udayasiri Wickremaratne, of 'Suddek Oba Amathai' fame, once told me that the greatest compliment a work of theatre can receive is to be considered a performance that can be watched over and over again. I have no doubt that Dracula by Anandadrama will be given that compliment by theatregoers in Colombo, as the play mounts the boards at the Wendt on November 21 and 22.

 EVENT - DRAMA

Kaushalya's next creation: Dutu Thena Allanu

by Dilshan Boange

Kaushalya Fernando and the members of the newly rebranded 'Somalatha Subasinghe Playhouse' theatre will present 'Dutu Thena Allanu' (Wanted) at the Lionel Wendt on December 12 and 13. With a cast of young talented thespian, this is the latest production directed by Kaushalya.

The new production was announced at a press conference at the Red Dot Gallery in Borella last week.

The play was first translated to Sinhala from Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's 'Opera Wonyosi' by the late Somalatha Subasinghe. It is interesting to note how this play seems to have an 'ancestry' in terms of its script development since Soyinka's 'Opera Wonyosi' is based on Bertolt Brecht's play 'Three Penny Opera' which had been influenced by the 18th century ballad The Beggar's Opera by John Gay.

When questioned as to whether what Kaushalya is preparing to present is a translation of Soyinka's play or an adaptation, she explained that when she went over the script her mother had translated she felt it should undergo certain changes to better suit today's Sri Lankan context and not be the production of a strict translation of an African play.

She said she edited and even rewrote to an extent the original Sinhala translation by her mother. And what it noteworthy is that certain songs have been especially written for this play as well.

Kaushalya introduced the team behind the endeavour and stated all talents driving this creation forward are from the folds of the Somalatha Subasinghe Playhouse theatre group. Her trusty Assistant Director who is a talented thespian of the Sinhala stage himself -Saviour Kanishka, was mentioned as a great strength to this endeavour, and the lead actor -Dhanushka Dias and lead actress -Thilakshini Ratnayake were also introduced to the members of the press by Kaushalya, who in this instance will be working with a cast of 17 actors.

Commenting on her cast, Kaushalya said what she looked for was unadulterated passion and commitment for theatre in young actors when selecting them for this production.

Earlier, her husband, Dr. Chandana Aluthge, briefly elaborated how the theatre company had been renamed as a tribute to the late Somalatha Subasinghe, founder of the Playhouse theatre group. The theatre company found its inception in 1980 with the late Subasinghe's own funds to foster the love for theatre among youth.

She had believed theatre was useful to mould children to build a vision for society. Educating children through theatre had been a prime objective through the Playhouse theatre company.

Giving insights into the notable headway the theatre company had made over the years in terms of recognition at overseas international festivals and also from foreign governments, and being a body incorporated statutorily under the Lanka Children's and Youth Theatre Foundation Act No.3 of 2007, Dr. Aluthge explained the reasons for the reintroduction of the theatre company with its new name and logo, which was also introduced that afternoon.