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| Sunday, 7 December 2003 |
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The not-knowing world of Widows Jerome de Silva brings Ariel Dorfman's play to the Snhala stage
Translated by Cyril C Perera directed by Jerome De Silva, assisted by Srinath Maddumage "Ayeth Enne Ne" will go on stage at the Elphinstone Theatre on December 11 and 12. The play follows the determination of the women to defy the local military officials in taking possession of the bodies of political victims that wash up in their river to give them a respectful burial. Sophia Fuentes (Deepani Silva) has been sitting even longer. One of 36 widows in a war-ravaged country, the old woman still waits by the riverside for the return of her father, husband, and sons, dead or alive. The men of her village are all missing political prisoners. The newly arrived military officials are ready to forget the past and implement their new governmental programs. Suddenly, the river washes up an unidentifiable body. The desperation of Fuentes then emerges full-force: she claims the body as her father's and declares the right to put it to rest in a proper burial. Deepani shows a powerful command over the character of Fuentes. Her voice alone resonates with age and strength. "Mage Thatha, Mage Samiya, Mage Putha". Her performance is also subtle. The resilience of her personality is expressed just as intensely in her silences and forceful stares.
On bringing out her character Deepani says the most difficult part was projecting her voice. "Jerome's always been at me to work on my volume. He's a good director. Gave us background information of the play and each of the characters, which was useful. He does get angry and shout, but he does it to bring the best out of us". Another standout to look for is the Captain (Nihal Fernando), whose haunted look belies his officiality and attempted "objectivity" in balancing the widows with his own ambitions. His curt mannerisms play well off Fuentes' stony glare in their first encounter by the river, in which the irreconcilable disparity of their worlds is laid bare. Says Nihal of his character "I come to the village as a good man. I try to solve their problems. Investigate as to from where these bodies are comming from, but when I discover my Lieutenant (Roshan Pilapitiya) is involved I too go against the people". The entrance of the Narrator (Srinath Maddumage), an exiled journalist, throws some objective commentary to momentarily wrench the audience from the world they are observing. Maddumage's brusque, agitated speech and his disjointed movements contrast well with the more fanciful dialogue of the characters that he has, perhaps, been imagining all along. The direction places his monologues immediately in front of the audience, which further severs his existence from the people of his onstage story, left behind in his mysterious country. In the beginning of the play it is Sofia waiting by the river, day and night, for the bodies of her men to come home. In the end it is Alexandra, her daughter-in-law who takes her position. Alexandra portrayed by Kusum Renu does not understand her mother-in-law's behaviour at the beginning of the play. She believes the men will come back. She is young and has hope. She has an ten year old son, the only male of the village, of whom she's very protective. When he is taken away and Sofia disappears it is Alexandra who sits by the river watching for the bodies to be washed a shore. "When doing a play of such depth as this" says Kusum "It is important to have a good director like Jerome. Jerome does not believe in enforcing the characters on us, thereby having a lot of little Jerome's on stage. He lets us build up the characters on our own, and just polishes it up in the end". Another interesting character is Emanuel acted out by Sampath Jayaweera. Emanuel's the Captain's driver. He's the only civilian man present, who is also the only remaining male from the village. He is haunted by the childhood abuse he got from his father, and not being able to fight it, becomes abusive himself. But what is perhaps most mystifying is how the play manages to convey over three hours of drawn-out anguish and mute sorrow. "It's like they're in love with death, begging me to pull the trigger", the Captain remarks of the long-suffering widows. They wait, they hope, not for their men to be alive, but their bodies to come home. They cannot bear the not knowing world the are living in. "Ayeth Enne Ne" is Jerome second go at directing a play in Sinhala, the first being Macbeth. Says Jerome "Directing a play in Sinhala is different, and the cast find it amusing at times for my Sinhala is bad". Although the overall translation of the play was good, finding a few social comments in it lacking the cast have re-written a some lines towards the end of each scene. "When I'm directing" says Jerome "I've got to keep in mind this is a Sinhala drama for a Sinhala speaking audience, who love a lot of melodrama and action. So I've infused a lot of dramatic actions for the actors and built a lot of tension and drama. This is the first time I'm working with professional actors and actresses, which I must say has made my work a lot easier". The digital lighting is done by Thushan Dias and the chief organizer and producer is Jude Srimal. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
A village of widows in an unidentified, war-torn country. Waiting,
waiting, waiting for the bodies of their loved ones. This is "Ayeth
Enne Ne" the Sinhala version of Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman's
"perverse fairy tale" in which "the not knowing is a
peculiar kind of hell". "Widows".
Sophia as well as the other women in the play, do not believe their men
are dead unless they see the body, and they want to see and claim the body
as their own men for they cannot bear the despair of not knowing what has
happened to them. Says Deepani "This play is nothing new to our
country. There are many women like this, even today waiting for their men
or their bodies to come home".
