It’s the turn of the widows to wage their war
‘Widows’ begins with a group of peasant women washing their laundry by the river, behind them an unnamed village in an unidentified country. “There’s something wrong with the water today,” says one, fretfully and she is proven right when a man’s mangled corpse floats to the surface.
So begins Ariel Dorfman’s sorrowful play, adapted in collaboration with American playwright Tony Kushner from Dorfman’s acclaimed 1983 novel. Now, Wasaam Ismail, Swasha Malalasekara, Bimsara Premaratne and Gehan Blok are part of a large cast that will bring ‘Widows’ to the stage in Colombo. Directed by Feroze Kamardeen, the play is set in a country at war with itself, in a village denuded of its men. When the river gives up a body, it is claimed by the women whose sons, husbands, and fathers have disappeared.
Sashane Perera as Emmanuel and Araliya Thevapalan as Cecilia
Sofia played by Swasha is the emotional heart of the play. The old woman’s grief is more than once likened to a stone and her principles seem as unmovable. Where the other women, notably her daughter-in-law Alexandra (Bimsara), can imagine a life without their men, Sofia is simply unwilling to. The women represent different philosophical responses to the conflict, and their escalating argument is a microcosm of the choices faced by the populace of the country itself.
Though she is determined to harvest her crops and raise her children, the pragmatic Alexandra is not immune to her loss. “The women grieve in different ways,” says Bimsara, some of them have nightmares and are unable to sleep but are disinclined to take on the authorities. Will the women be able to present a united front? By the end, there is nothing Sofia holds dearer than claiming justice on behalf of her father, her husband and her sons. Like her father before her, Sofia is a natural combatant, only her choice of weapons is different.
Swasha relishes the challenge of playing such a pivotal role. To don the skin of a much older woman, she says has required a “complete transformation of me as a person,” but explains that “the more I get into it, the more natural I feel.” For her model, Swasha says she looked to her grandmother – a woman as feisty as Sofia – and worked on adopting some of the same body language. “I feel for the first time that I’m acting for a cause…for the women who have lost loved ones to the war and to political conflict,” says Swasha.
Pitted against the women in this situation is the Captain played by Wasaam. “He comes in with a lot of hope,” Wasaam says of his character, explaining that by the end the Captain is thwarted in his best intentions. A man who boasts of having his soldiers open fire on an unarmed crowd, the Captain sees himself as having done his duty by God and country, and while he does wish to make amends, the women ask him for the things he cannot give them – answers and eventually, justice.
Despite his lower rank, the Lieutenant, played by Gehan is the point man for the powerful political family pulling the strings behind the scenes. His character sets out to intimidate his superior and bring the women of the village to heel, for he dreads the thought of a trial, says Gehan. While he confesses that it has been an emotionally draining play, the actor is also savouring the language of the play, and marvels at Dorfman’s capacity for dark humour.
“It took us completely by surprise,” says Feroze who remembers being startled by the bursts of laughter that punctuated their performance in 1998. His theory is that the audience responds to Dorfman’s morbid sense of humour, enjoying the “release valve” it offers, even though there’s no escaping the deathly seriousness at the heart of the play. Dorfman uses “simple words,” explains Feroze, “but in combination these words become immeasurably powerful.”
While comparisons to Sri Lanka are inevitable, Feroze says he was determined that the play should retain its universal character. “One of the criticisms I got the previous time I staged it was that people said I should localise the play and because I didn’t, the blow was cushioned when it finally landed, but I beg to differ,” says Feroze, explaining that he believes any such attempt would reduce its impact and perhaps even render it farcical. Nevertheless, he expects his audience will see the obvious parallels. (“We went through two wars, the one in the North and the East and the one in the South, both were bloody and both left families torn apart.”)
After the production, members of the cast will participate in a session on reconciliation at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies. “They want to use the play as the starting point for the discussion,” says Feroze who believes that in ‘Widows’ they’ve found a perfect springboard to begin a critical conversation.
‘Widows’, an amateur production by Stage Light & Magic Inc., under licence from Samuel French of U.K., is directed by Feroze Kamardeen and produced by Sirraj Abdul Hameed. It will be staged at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from November 23-25. The cast includes Wasaam Ismail, Gehan Blok, Swasha Malalasekara, Bimsara Premaratne, Sulochana Perera, Kimaya de Silva, Haseeb Ahamed, Viranthi Cooray, Shiwanthi Kahandaliyanage, Dinoo Wikramage, Araliya Thevapalan, Shanila Jayasinghe, Sonali Fernando, Amali Fernando, Nisi Moonesinghe, Rebecca Munasinghe, Neluka Silva, Yashoda Suriyapperuma, Feroze Ahamed, Sashane Perera, Niren Neydorf and Dino Corea.
‘Widows’ is strictly for adults only. Box plan and tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt. ‘Widows’ is sponsored by South Asian Technologies. The Sunday Times, Daily Mirror and Daily FT are the print media sponsors.
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