Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

The Guttila saga unravels
Variety. It is by far the most striking thing about the cast of Guttila. Some of them are actors, some are singers, some are dancers and some just wanted to have some fun. Coming from various fields and age groups the one thing they have in common is their total commitment to the production. Even three hours of non stop interviewing was not enough to meet everyone in this cast, not essentially because there were so many of them but because each of them had so much to say.

“Around 60 people turned up for auditions and after hearing them we realised that we really don’t need any big names,” says Diliup Gabadamudalige explaining that they judged, mainly on the voice.

The list begins with Dushyanth Weeraman playing the role of Guttila. A first-time actor, Dushyanth says he always wanted to be a part of a musical but never had the chance. Coming from a musical background, he confides that learning the music was really a challenge because there was no guideline. “They put the words and music into our hands and the rest was up to us,” he says. Another unique experience for Dushyanth was learning the violin. “We were given a few lessons to learn the posture and the movements, just to make it look realistic,” he says. Admitting that putting in so much time is not always easy when your working, Dushyanth says that he hopes there will be more original plays to work with.

“We learnt this story for our O/Levels and what we didn’t understand then is really beginning to make sense now,” grins Christopher Stephen who pays the role of Guttila’s rival, Musila. Quite taken up by his character, Christopher reveals that playing the bad guy is a totally new experience even though he has been involved in drama for many years.

Mentioning that it is very different from a school play Christopher says, “Here you can have an old person playing the role of an old person instead of a young boy dressed as one.” Violin lessons were a first for him too. “Just holding it is something you have to learn,” he laughs.

“It was really curiosity that got me here,” admits Imani Perera playing the role of Anoopama, Guttila’s student cum admirer, and one of Uddaka’s new characters. “This character is really not me,” insists Imani who says she is anything but a good, subdued girl. “My mother’s life long ambition to see what I will look like with long hair will finally come true,” says shor-thaired Imani, referring to the long, long wig, which is part of her costume.

Talking about the soundtrack Imani says it was overwhelming at first after all a rock song being played on a violin is not something you hear everyday. With Diliup’s patience and openness to suggestion however adapting to it was a breeze. “He would listen to the dumbest idea and say ‘that’s an interesting suggestion’,” smiles Imani.

The self-proclaimed “stars” of the play, the Traders have a logical explanation behind their theory. “We travel from Benares to Udeni, meet Musila and take him to Guttila. So without us the two wouldn’t have met and there would be no story,” says one. Aptly describing themselves as the leader, the joker and the player, Eranga Mendis, Nanda Abeysekera and Shehan Somaratne firmly believe that they “make the play happen.”

Though he has had some acting experience in school, Eranga says he has never been a part of something like this. Nanda on the other hand has acted in various plays including a few recent ones. For him it is the character that is different. “It’s refreshing to play a funny character,” he says.

Shehan and his younger brother Ryan also came to try out there musical talents. “I don’t know what I’ll do after this is over,” says Ryan who seems to be quite at home with his fellow cast members. The traders agree that practice wouldn’t be half as much fun without the younger cast members. “They don’t get on our nerves, they get on our backs,” smiles Nanda.

21-year-old Ravindra Perera, who plays the role of Lord Sakka, firmly believes that he was given the role because his voice suited the character. “It’s not really easy playing this character because he’s so serious,” smiles Ravindra explaining that in reality he is far from it. Quite an experienced actor, Ravindra says he was involved in drama from his school days. Having started out with English drama in the primary school, he switched to Sinhala drama and continued with it till the end of his school years.

Russell Serpanchy says he and his daughter Chauntelle came for auditions at the insistence of his wife, who felt it was time for him to expand his singing career out of the bathroom. A part of the general cast, Russell mentioned that both Diliup and Uddaka spent countless hours teaching them the ropes.

Mother of two, Preethi Perera says this is a dream come true for her. “I always wanted to sing,” says Preethi who decided to try her luck after seeing an advertisement in the newspapers. She explained that since her children are grown up she now has the opportunity to indulge in her passion.

The youngest members of the cast are two nine-year-olds, Balari Gabadamudalige and Samendri de Silva. These “children of Benares” say they like being in the cast because they like the story and the songs, the constant petting is just an added bonus. Balari is not the only Gabadamudalige in the cast as her brothers Eshana and Birendra are also acting. Taking after his father, Eshana plays both violin and piano and even plays the violin part of Guttila’s student in the recording. Birendra being more of a guitarist says he’s not really interested in singing but decided to join because he felt left out.

Age is really no barrier in this cast where the young and the old mix quite comfortably. “I’ll never forget this because I made so many friends,” says Balari sitting close to her ‘ best friend’ uncle Jayaraj who plays Guttila’s father. Jayaraj feels that they have chosen the correct story, and made it appealing and understandable. “Even a foreigner could watch and understand perfectly,” he says. Jayaraj went on to say that working with Diliup was a wonderful experience for him. “I have always been singing but this is the first time I learnt how to sing,” says Jayarj who is proud to say he was part of a play done by Diliup.

Samindi Silva, Amali Weeratunga, Natalia Ravindran and Kumudika Abeyratne are four of the dancers from Channa Wijeywardene’s group. Though they have danced for many of Channa’s shows, the girls say this is their first time dancing for a play of this sort. Explaining that they do a fusion of all kinds of dance techniques, they say they didn’t find it too difficult to catch on, as the type of music was familiar to them.“Young people are really going to enjoy this production because the story is nice and the music is modern and not at all boring,” guarantees Natalia.

John Wijesinghe plays the role of Panditha the second new character. Having been a singer/ guitarist for the past ten years, John says he jumped at the opportunity. Jerome Fernando who plays the role of the King says that working with such a versatile cast makes you realise just how talented people are. The story of the Guttila Kavya which opened yesterday, can be seen on stage every evening until May 23 at the Bishop’s College Auditorium.

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