Reading between tones of colonial laughter

A review of Fifty-Fifty :

by Dilshan Boange

On September 9, Fifty-Fifty, a Ceylonese vintage classic written by H. C. N de Lanerolle in days of pre-independence Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon) mounted the boards of the Bishop's College auditorium as a directorial work of Jaliya Wijewardene. I caught the play on the opening night of its three day show run.

Stagecraft was very well done. It was of a convincing realist mode and reminiscent of what I glimpsed in de Lannerolle's The Dictator produced and directed by Namel Weeramuni in 2015. On that same note one must commend costumes and makeup as deserving applause.

With respect to acting, Anaz Badurdeen as the Barrister Chelva could have had more oomph at the start since the opening didn't project a spark of theatrical liveliness. A touch of music to 'ring in' the opening could have improved the moment I felt. However, on a more theoretical basis one could argue that in keeping with a truer realist mode of theatre the opening presented a more true to life moment untrammelled by theatricality for the sake of sensation. It must be mentioned that there were moments, at times, when Badurdeen seemed to speak his lines with a noticeable 'sting' of recitation in his delivery of dialogue.

Yasal Ruhunage offered a praiseworthy performance balancing out principal facets to his character - 'Ralahamy' as country yokel, proud and pompous local leader, congenial friend and assertive head of the household.

Representation

The story of Fifty-Fifty unfolds in the wake of Ceylon's march towards self government signalling the end of British colonial rule and marks how communal representation was clamoured for as the basis on which legislative bodies would be elected to power. Communalism unquestionably regresses a country's progress when building nationhood among a people diverse in ethnic and religious identities. Fifty-Fifty offers what is arguably a colonial viewpoint over notions of 'national identity' although through the jibes and cynicisms its 'politics in ideology' on 'identity politics' is garbed as humorous and embraceable.

We are at a point when ethnicity and national integration towards national identity are significant topics on the socio-political spectrum. I believe looking at this colonial era play with a postcolonial psyche can no doubt prove to be a stimulating exercise for studies in theatre, literature, sociology and political science.

Postcolonial

Fifty-Fifty is a very colonial text that gives new food for thought in this postcolonial era about 'divide and rule', and the suggested alternative of mix and marry to 'oneness' as the means to rule the entire populace altogether as the solution in the face of a growing rise in local political enterprise. One thing that viewers must keep in mind is that while ethnic diversity can beget communalism it is not something exclusively chronic to Sri Lanka (or Ceylon back then). The political entity called Britain was cobbled through English war enterprises that created a 'union' among four different peoples with different ethnic identities - the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. In the wake of Scottish sentiments over 'Brexit' can that 'British union' claim to be iron clad rock solid in its 'national identity'?

The 'social critique' woven in the text of the play on the matter of ethnic identity, ridicules notions of ethno-communal identities by seeking to debunk 'ethnic purity' through citing that complete endogamous genealogy cannot exist in any community.

A critical approach that is worth keeping in mind when gauging the text of Fifty-Fifty is that it deals with the franchise and ethnic identity, and that denial of the local's claims of his own identity is one way to deny the voice of the ruled.

Dionysius Sumanasekera aka 'Ralahamy' speaks blatantly 'broken English', (and made comical partly on that account) desires to uphold the colonial ethos of European superiority. He is practical in his outlooks that we should learn about and adopt western technology if we are to match the Europeans. However there is in his character the noticeable vein of wanting to accredit the coloniser as the enlightened guide and master.

Patriotic

As a comparison of Lanerolle's Ceylonese plays, Fifty-Fifty's Ralahamy is markedly different in his outlooks compared to the character of 'Ralahamy' in The Dictator who possesses a sound patriotic mettle that prides indigenous knowledge and local intellect.

Dionysius (possibly an 'Anglo-Saxonised' posh twist to the more rustic name 'Diyonis') has a rather curious and amusing brand of 'patriotism' that perhaps reflects very much the colonial mindset prevalent at the times. The negation of any firm ethnic identity in terms of genetics among any community and the outlook that we as a nation are very much an ethnic hotchpotch not only dilutes diversity to eventual denial of community rights, but surreptitiously enforces the colonial perception that the natives have no real distinct identities among themselves, and that they are merely the 'subjugated subjects' of the empire.

"Simply Burgher" is what Dionysius asserts as the preferred 'genetic reality' for the populace of this country. The colonial outlook after all would surely be to rule us as a people who would not have any claims to identity prior to the colonial domination over us. Identity bestowed upon us by the 'benign' colonist is what the text propounds.

Legacies

In the eyes of the British colonial ruler who sought to deny the historical legacies of identity carried as the heritage of each community, local ethnic distinctions were possibly delusions of the masses. To their consciousness we were possibly more or less one big bunch of interbred 'natives' who put on pretentions of communal distinctions. After all what's the big deal because we are all natives stamped under the British boot of colonial rule.

As a storyline and text of Fifty-Fifty doesn't spur waves of roaring laughter like The Dictator or Well Mudaliyar! How? (which I saw in 2003) both plays which Lanerolle co-wrote with E.M.W Joseph are plays of a similar Ceylonese vintage genre as He Comes From Jaffna by E.F.C Ludowyke (which I saw in 2011) or The Dowry Hunter by S.J. Crowther (which I saw in 2015).

Among its features as play written in English by a Ceylonese is the facet of how it mixes dialectical elements of Sinhala and Tamil in a principally English medium text. The way at times Sinhala lines of dialogue are paraphrased in English shows that it was meant essentially for an English speaking audience and not necessarily a bilingual Sri Lankan viewership. For students of Sri Lankan theatre the Ceylonese vintage plays are a genre that cannot be overlooked.

Applauded

The cast of Fifty-Fifty consisted of the acting talents of Yasal Ruhunage (as Dionysius Sumanasekara), Kavinda Gunasekara (as Mr Thambypillai), Shenilka Perera (as Charlotte Sumanasekara), Leyanvi Mirando (as Nanda Sumanasekara), Anaz Badurdeen as (Chelvam Devarajan), Sahan Wijewardene as (Hadjiar Abdul Hameed) and Jaliya Wijewardene (as Abraham Muttiah). Jaliya Wijewardena and his team must be applauded for their production of Fifty-Fifty; as reviving those colonial Ceylonese plays of yore can offer newer readings of the politics embedded between the laughter, through postcolonial eyes.