Fiery tickles and heated engagement

A review of the play Hankithi Dahathuna:

by Dilshan Boange

The Chinese in their proverbial wisdom say this about shop keeping -'He who cannot smile should not open a shop'. Hankithi Dahathuna (titled in English as The Thirteen Tickles) is the latest creation for the Sinhala theatre by renowned filmmaker Jayantha Chandrasiri. The play opens with veteran actor of the stage and screen Sriyantha Mendis who loiters in the dead of the night in a train station telling the audience how a smile can be a deceptive adornment. A smile can be deadly, in certain ways. And 'wearing a smile' is likely a vital necessity for those engaged in what is called 'the oldest profession in the world'.

'Hankithi Dahathuna' is the eponymous upscale bordello run by its sensuous and vivacious yet assertive and redoubtable proprietor Daisy Bhawani Sandharajini aka 'Daisy madam' played pervasively by popular screen actress Kusum Renu. It is an establishment said to be patronised by men holding positions in all arms and agencies of the State. Yet it is an establishment that cannot officially exist as per Sri Lankan laws. And it is this premises the principal male character played by Sriyantha Mendis who is revealed to be a member of the judiciary suffers cardiac arrest and is presumed dead by Daisy and her girls, setting the stage for the dramatically driven story.

Premise of the story

As I watched Hankithi Dahathuna seated under the gentle darkness of the Tower Hall on the 13th of August, I was immediately struck by two matters that seem undeniable about this play. Firstly it is highly entertaining and will surely be a crowd pleaser. Secondly it sparks with fire for controversy. Let's not forget once upon a time a film named A Letter of Fire came under fire from no less than the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for its implications over the moral fibre of the judiciary as suggested through certain principal characters in that film.

In Hankithi Dahathuna a longstanding regular customer of Hankithi Dahathuna who happens to be a judge, suffers cardiac arrest. Upon being presumed dead an emotional moment of paying last respects follow and he is left on a bench at the train station opposite the establishment. After a hooligan politician refuses to pay cash (insisting his credit card be accepted instead) a heated altercation erupts resulting in the girls pummelling in retaliation the politico who assaulted Daisy. The aftermath is that Daisy's house of ill fame looses the political refuge it was provided from the 'arm of the law' and she and her girls are put on trial, in which court the sitting judge happens to be there regular client who had not in fact died from the cardiac episode but regained consciousness on the bench he was abandoned.

Hankithi Dahathuna is a highly engaging, entertaining work of theatre but owing to the themes and subject matter as well as the occasional coarse expletives 'peppering' dialogue, it is not a stage play suitable for children. There were, however, two children seated to my left that evening; a boy and a girl, and neither looked a day over twelve years old. How they 'digested' the story and what exactly the girl who seemed the elder sister offered as explanations to the boy who seemed to query about certain characters who came on stage, I have no idea. This play in my opinion must be classified as for 'mature audiences'.

Among the host of themes and subthemes this play discusses the plight of prostitutes with how today's society is enmeshed in dichotomies related to sexual needs, and conventions of morality while also touching on the undercurrent of how domestic discord is also a pressing issue that finds little or no resolution within the confines of the household. Daisy discourses at different points in the play, deep introspective insights about what makes their line of work valued by their loyal clientele. It is not just carnal pleasure. She states it is something that runs to a deeper vein of emotional needs as well. Theirs is a profession that involves giving love and care to those who seek pleasure and comfort, she says. But, she asks indignantly if the men who visit them see the soul within the prostitute, although they clearly see every inch of their body's nakedness. There is, one can note at certain points, a striking dose of feminism within the larger humanist arguments contained in the text.

Daisy's 'laws of love' and her 'code' of professionalism taught her girls to studiously memorise, speak of a philosophy of how to engage in their profession leaving aside personal bias. At times the work they do, may mean that when engaging with certain 'bodies' they must forget their own body exists and in a way become disembodied themselves, during the duration of the job.

Impotencies and competencies

At the very outset Daisy feels she is not given a fair hearing and demands to be heard 'in camera' or will mention names of her clients in open court. Interestingly enough, the turn of events in the courthouse show how through the threat of exposure of the 'true character' of the exalted personage designated to deliver justice (and also the other people of 'high status' as the politician and the attorney who is a former police inspector assigned to the precinct where Hankithi Dahathuna operated) Daisy gains empowerment within the court that exceeds the power she had in the face of 'people in power' in her own establishment. Both court procedure and decorum are completely overhauled. The court is besieged by Daisy, until justice is done by her. The criticism levelled at the judge comes to the point of questioning his competence and moral soundness to declare sinners and wrongdoers.

Daisy claims that she can expose the 'impotencies' of all three men in the courthouse -a judge, an attorney (who was a police officer), and an elected official. This could symbolically seem a denouncement of the competency of the State which operates through several arms of authority. Some of the criticisms this play brings out is about how modern video technology can hold people to ransom and how people fear exposure of their private lives. This cyber age of mediatisation has shown how video film technology together with social media has made communication technology serve good and wrong ends.

Hankithi Dahathuna is a hard hitting socio-political critique with thunderous reverberation. It is a criticism of the hypocrisy that runs through both the people and the institutions that govern us through our 'mandated representatives'. Through the words of the politician the plays reveals the 'power of the people' as a usurped force that is made a weapon by the elected for their nefarious ends.

Art's purpose

Makeup, costumes and stagecraft must be commended. Some minor dialogue fumbling which were not too noticeable was detected, when Mendis said "Oberoi show" and nimbly recovered to say "Oberoi eke thibuna fashion show eka" (The fashion show at the Oberoi).

That was where and when Daisy first met the judge. However it must be stated that overall acting was very well done from all the players and deserve applause for a laudable performance.

Art posits itself in several ways to reveal its purpose. It is meant to entertain, teach, spur critical thinking and express ideas as conceived in the artist and intended to be communicated. Theatre is a form of art that proves to be rather intense in its social engagement as a medium of live performance.

When gauging Hankithi Dahathuna in the present context of politics in Sri Lanka one can see the artist's need to critique society and the criminal justice system. When grasping Hankithi Dahathuna in the context of international political developments related to Sri Lanka one cannot help but notice how in the light of western superpowers' intrusive doubt casting over our judiciary's dependability for impartiality when delivering justice on matters of post-war reconciliation, this work may kindle disillusionment about institutions that are tasked with delivering justice.

It is no secret that internationally there is censorious discourse being crafted on whether the Sri Lankan judiciary can deliver unquestionable justice. What may have been going on in the mind of the Minister for Justice. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC who was seated front row that evening watching Hankithi Dahathuna, one can only guess.

All fortes that direct the ideological currents that characterise a democratic State deal with conflicting social values. These conflicts can be between conservatism and liberalism. But perhaps at times fortes of state power are posed not with the broad question of whether conservatism or liberalism, but whether resolve for order or flirtation with anarchy?