by Nilma Dole
To prevent it from being too controversial, the drama ‘Saathya’ was
held for an audience under invitation only at the Punchi Theatre on a
friday night. Four characters gave quite a good performance with regard
to womanly love which culminated in a forum discussion where many spoke
about homosexuality and lesbianism.
Saathya (Natalie Soysa) is the name of an affluent and upper-class
woman who is married to the world’s best husband (Rajiv Ponweera).
Despite having a good and longstanding friendship with him, Saathya is
drawn to a woman, Deshini (Niluka Gunawardena) who she sees as the love
of her life.
 Even though we don’t see how Saathya met Deshini the first time, it
seems apparent that Saathya has experimented before with women and this
was known to her husband. Thinking that she’ll ‘settle down’ after the
marriage, her husband is shocked that Saathya continues to have another
relationship but he understands her plight by not getting in the way of
her affections for Deshini.
Saathya confides in her recently-engaged friend Pinky (Kaushalya
Perera) who patiently listens to her but knows all too well that
troubling times in the future will definitely be there for Saathya.
However, Deshini seems to be an insecure person because she comes
from a strict conservative family where her mother is a heart patient
but she is not sure about making her relationship with Saathya work.
However, in the end, we see Saathya packing her bags finally leaving her
husband and when she answers the phone, Deshini asks, “Shall we boil
milk together when we move into the new house?” ending the drama on a
positive note.
The drama ‘Saathya - Shades of Grey’ looks as a form of love and not
just the physical aspect pertaining to it. While many people discussed,
commented and interacted with the characters, it is true that the talk
on same-gender relationships is now gaining recognition with people
open-minded in understanding and accepting it. In fact, it could be
someone you know and someone you admire but it was just that they loved
someone special.
During the forum discussions, many points were taken into
consideration. One was the fact that Saathya didn’t have an abusive
husband but someone who was a friend and wanted to make her happy.
Another point was the fact that Deshini has more to lose than Saathya
coming from a conservative family.
Various topics and comments drew on the fact that homosexuality is
something that could happen to anybody. What was portrayed in the drama
was the fact that homosexuality has nothing to do with just the person
from the outside but everything from within.
The drama ‘Saathya - Shades of Grey’ was produced by Upeksha Thabrew,
Sasthri Mallawarachchi and Ranga Bandaranayake with the help of the
Women’s Support Group and Trikone Cultural Foundation. |
