Then and now: The story of He Comes From Jaffna
View(s):Veteran thespian Jith Peiris tells Duvindi Illankoon why producing Professor E.F.C. Ludowyk’s timeless classic means so much to him
There’s a couch in Jith Peiris’ living room that’s almost as well known in theatre circles as the man himself. Over 40 years it has done plenty of rounds to the Elphinstone and Punchi Theatre and even the Bishop’s College auditorium…but its mainstay is the Lionel Wendt. So when Jith stages Professor E.F.C. Ludowyk’s timeless classic ‘He Comes From Jaffna’ in two weeks at the Wendt, the couch should feel right at home-and so should that stalwart of English theatre in the country.
The first production: Cast members and director Jith (fourth from right) pose for a picture with President Premadasda
When we meet the 66-year-old at his home in Ward Place he is surrounded by a lifetime’s worth of stage memorabilia. From posters of old productions to books about his plays, the magazine covers enlarged and framed in his sitting room and even neighbour Menaka De Fonseka Sahabandu’s music lessons floating over the balcony and into the cosy space, Jith Peiris’ residence is homage to his abiding love for theatre and song. As a boarder at S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia his schooling years were a whirlwind of “this play and that play”, and Jith was a part of them all thanks to his mother’s encouragement.
“I spent my most impressionable years abroad,” he says of first going to England for a degree in Economics (“best degree in the world! A study of life, more than anything”) and then moving to the USA for almost six years to work in theatre. He remembers taking on a summer job in England at the Chichester Festival Theatre and backpacking across Europe following his graduation, eventually settling down in New York to work on Broadway. “All my life, whenever I’ve travelled to a country I try to see as many productions as I can. It’s been an eye opener.”
It was on one of these trips abroad that he chanced to see Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor in Private Lives, one of her theatrical highs. “She had an amazing effect on her audience,” he remembers. “She would just step on and the stage would freeze. For 10, 15 minutes the audience would scream her name and applaud- this is before her actual performance, mind you.” Taylor would receive the adulation with aplomb, gracefully bowing her head and launching into her performance seamlessly when the theatre had quietened down. Pin-drop silence would follow for her performance. In many ways, Taylor’s charisma and complete control onstage reminded Jith of the great Lankan actor E.C.B. Wijesinghe, when he played He Comes From Jaffna’s Durai in the 70’s.
“He would dominate the stage when he stepped on. All he had to do was stand in silence for a few seconds and the audience would be laughing. He’d wait till they calmed down and then lean over and ask in a stage whisper, ‘are you finished now?’ Of course, that would only set them off again!”
Jith Peiris
The great Wijesinghe is unfortunately long gone, but his great grandson Kanishka Herat will keep the memory alive as he steps into the shoes of another character in Jith’s forthcoming production.
He Comes From Jaffna is E.F.C. Ludowyk’s timeless masterpiece- a quintessentially Sri Lankan story. Written in 1934 the play is rather heavily adapted from an English play, A Pair of Spectacles, written in 1890 by Sydney Grundy, in turn an adaptation of an older French play. Ludowyk himself stated in a note written to the YMCA in 1937 that he cannot claim complete authorship over the play, but as playwright Ernest Macintyre (who would later update the play) notes “Ludowyk, realizing that the play could survive in Ceylon not simply on the ability of an actor, but by shifting the emphasis in the play from its original main character to the hilarious ‘man from Jaffna’, carried out this piece of surgery on the English play as he adapted it.”
Macintyre would eventually update it to suit the very different Sri Lankan sensibilities several decades on. “It’s a slightly more reserved version of the original,” explains Jith. “Our social climate is very different now and of course we must be sensitive.” What was once funny might not be so and the last thing Jith wants to do is offend anyone because this production is sort of a personal crusade for him. “At this time in history I think Sri Lanka needs to be reminded of how we once were,” he says gravely. “The country is in a very bad state and this is my contribution to the healing process.” It pains him to see the present social climate, he laments. “Sri Lanka is the envy of the world. Our people are, as a whole, happy and peaceful. Let’s keep it that way.”
Jith hopes that the President might pay a visit on opening night. Presidential patronage is rather special to him because the very first time he staged He Comes From Jaffna it was all thanks to a President’s commitment. It was back in ’91 and Jith had been taking a bit of a break. “I bumped into President Premadasa at an event and he was asking me why I hadn’t done anything in a while,” he remembers. “I did happen to mention that I was hoping to do this production but had difficulty getting my hands on the script. The President said, ‘I’m sending a vehicle to your house tomorrow morning at 9. Come and see me.’ And believe it or not, when I walk into his office the next day he gets up and hands me the script and says ‘now you can get to work’!” It was the trademark of a President who believed strongly in fostering the arts, smiles Jith. “That’s very important, you know. A country’s identity is in the arts.”
While the older generation will hark back to a time when things were light-hearted and jokes about each other’s cultural eccentricities were practically de rigueur, the younger generation is often shocked at the content of the play, laughs Jith. “The last time I did this -in 2011- I had these young people coming up to me with all sorts of questions-they were very intrigued. They don’t know there was a time when these things weren’t considered to be offensive-when ‘that man from Jaffna’ meant exactly that!” Ludowyk’s play is a masterpiece in that he incorporates all these cultural differences with characters that are highly memorable, says Jith. “For example there’s this character-a Burgher man named Isaac-brilliant role.”
This time around, the cast comprises of veteran Anuruddha Fernando, returning once more to his role as Durai from 2011. “Anuruddha is fantastic, the very embodiment of the character,” says Jith. “And of course, there’s also Wijesinghe’s great grandson returning to his role as Raju, along with Michelle Herft as Marion Rajaratnam and Shehan Wijemanne as Cleveland Rajaratnam. (Meet them and more members of the cast in next week’s Mirror Magazine)
At the end of the day, Jith is a man rather tired of seeing old friendships and community ties fraying thanks to a small faction who seem to revel in stirring up trouble. “I don’t blame the government, or the politicians. I don’t even blame the extremists. It’s time we stop blaming people and actually do something, don’t you think? We can all contribute in our own little way. This is my contribution, reminding people of what we once used to be and of what we can be again in this great nation.”
He Comes From Jaffna will be staged from July 4-7 at the Lionel Wendt.
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