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| Sunday, 30 November 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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War, laughter and the importance of being Ernest
Q: When did you first get into theatre. Tell us about the early days? A: Really there was no shallow end, because I was dragged into the interior of the murdering Lady Macbeth just after my 12th birthday. Drenched in the blood of theatre, so young. The Lionel Wendt, is the early days I can speak most clearly about. The initial nervousness in the presence of the big names like the Serasinghes and then the sudden discovery that in a big and tricky scene you can actually take command like an inspired conductor. The inspiration comes from the major moments of major playwrights, and I was lucky to confront Bertolt Brecht (The Caucasian Chalk Circle), Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman and The Crucible) and Shakespeare (Othello) all in 'one glorious summer' of the old Lionel Wendt. And then the opening night of my first major written work, The Education of Miss Asia with that marvel of an actor Chris Greet. Q: Your subject matter has related frequently to Sri Lanka despite your living in Australia. Is the driving force of your work nostalgia? A: Nostalgia is an empty yearning for the past, it can't drive. If the present is filled with dramatic writing about both the past and what the past has become it can't be. Have you heard of creative divorces? There aren't many. Most are collapsed confusions of acrimony. I know a few that have been creative, in the circumstances, because the pre-divorce relationship was soundly based. So in the post divorce contemplation, regard for a time spent together and respect for the other's individuality, as well as the other's evolving personality is maintained. Q: Tell us about your most memorable theatre experience? A: There was an old theatre in Sydney called the Nimrod. In about 1984 its creative life appeared to have expired and property developers were about to get hold of the building. A band of people who felt that the old Nimrod had done much for theatre in Australia made a desperate attempt to save the site for theatre by raising mass consciousness and calling for contributions to outbid the developers and obtain the site. We succeeded and the result was the Belvoir Street Theatre which grew to become one of the world's most creative theatres. It is memorable for me in the literal sense too, as I go up the stairs these days to the auditorium there on the wall is a brass tablet with the names of those who made the birth of this theatre possible. As I read my own name, it is quietly memorable. Q: Which do you find more fulfilling writing or directing? A: Writing. In the act of writing, both directing and acting are embedded. Aristotle was the first to explain to us, why this is so. In the Poetics he argues convincingly that the playwright in his (no known female playwright then!) closed room must act out the feelings of each part to be able to write convincingly and directing is involved by extension. Q: Tell us briefly about the storylines of the two plays? A: Briefly? In The UN Inspector is a Sri Lankan, a Colombo civil servant and his assistant are stuck at the Boomisthan Hilton, unable to return home because the Sri Lankan government alleges that he has been involved in shady deals in that country. At the same time the UN is about to inspect Bhoomisthan with regard to alleged violations of UN Resolutions and the UN Inspector is to arrive incognito! The Bhoomis mistake the Sri Lankan for the Incognito UN Inspector, and so the comedy begins. But comedy is shadowed by tragedy as the play runs close to the sad story of Iraq, 2003. In He still comes from Jaffna the word Still relates to an older popular comedy He comes from Jaffna made famous by the late E.C.B. Wijesinghe. That era has gone and amongst those who still come from Jaffna are shadowy young men about whom the same old type of play cannot be constructed, but plays nevertheless can be constructed, comedies in fact! A story about a middle class Colombo family awaiting the arrival of one Pathmanathan (Putz), an internet arranged husband from Canada, for their daughter, Maya (Ladies College, University English Degree, Marga and all that!) but as the Canberra Times put it, 'when he arrives, the parents discover that 'Putz' aint 'Putz'! He is an imposter, a shadowy young man, and the situation for comedy. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Ernest Macintyre in conversation with Tracy Holsinger on two plays he
brings down from Australia to be performed at the Lionel Wendt theatre
from December 9-14. He still comes from Jaffna and The UN Inspector is a
Sri Lankan, are part of the theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations and
are co-sponsored by the Sunday Observer.
