New take on a popular phenomenon
Ruwanthie de Chickera is seated cross-legged on the floor as she watches a scene being rehearsed in front of her. One can immediately tell that she is carefully dissecting the scene in her head. The light seeping through the blinds and her bright pink baggy pants are the only colours across the setting, as the emotions of the thespians from Ananda College, performing the scene, portray a deep and insightful thought process.
With a new take on a well-known phenomenon, preparations are in full-swing for ‘Grease Yaka’ – a play conceived and devised by Ananda Drama. “Grease Yaka addresses the social phobias prevalent amongst society, and the insecurities that different people have to deal with,” says Rajitha Hettiarachchi, 24. Rajitha’s role is one of the many elements of everyday society that the cast has used to depict relatable issues.
Rajitha
In his role as Cyril, a retired elder who is slowly losing purpose in his life, gives in to his food addiction and lethargy. “Most of the characters are very real,” says Rajitha. “The play talks about society being caught up in a situation where people talk about fear present on the outside, rather than fear that is present within themselves,” he adds.
The idea of giving life to ‘Grease Yaka’ stemmed from an interactive workshop that saw the performers giving their input on the things that interested them the most. “We started off in the most open-book way,” recalls Ruwanthie. Being called up as a guest Director to inspire Ananda Drama with the production, she thought of breaking the ice with the youngsters by listening to them. “We spoke of the problems we faced, and the things that resonate most powerfully within us.” What Ruwanthie saw were themes of fear, morbidity, bravado, mystery and sexuality being thrown into the mix. “It was my responsibility to listen, respond and shape the play according to these themes,” she tells us.
The cast tag the Grease Yaka itself as a vehicle to showcase insecurities. Eshani Seneviratne, 22, plays Allison Morgan, a woman affected by obsessive compulsive disorder. “Allison is very repetitive, and loves to live in her own little bubble,” she tells us. Being a ‘clean freak’, Allison wants to keep herself squeaky clean, and makes up the ‘wax’ element of the play.
Eraj
Ruwanthi de Chickera
Eraj Gunawardena, 23, plays one out of the four characters in the play that have a knack for taking advantage of the situation. “I hold the pieces together by being calm, but my character is also the most cunning out of the lot,” says Eraj. Likewise, Nandun Dissanayake, 21, is another character that maximizes on the moment at hand. “I fall into a band of characters that love creating problems,” says Nandun. “There need not necessarily be an ulterior motive, it’s just that these characters gain a certain thrill out of it.”
The play will dish out an array of such characters -most of whom are everyday individuals we deal with- in a bid to bring out truthfulness. In portraying the many facets of everyday characters, the cast will break down how fear is addressed by each and every one of them.
Grease Yaka is smart in keeping the script alive with comedy and even traces of appropriate slapstick, that help keep the main theme together.Nishantha de Silva of Ananda Drama tells us that the recent success in Ananda College’s theatrical exploits took root in a motive to improve the standard of English, back in 2006. Today, he believes that Ananda Drama has fledged into a proper theatre company that is still close to the alma mater.
Nandun
Nishantha
“We aim to give out atleast one major production every year, and to create a platform where young actors can even go on to make careers out of drama,” he tells us. Ruwanthie is delighted to be working with Ananda Drama because she feels that they embody many of the artistic and human relationship values she believes in. “We hope these ideals will spill over to the audiences and make them think,” she adds.
Confident of evoking a strong message to end the ugliness of social stigmas, stereotypes and phobias, the cast and crew of ‘Grease Yaka’ hope to add a new dimension to addressing fear. Grease Yaka will go on the boards of the Lionel Wendt on August 8 and 9 at 7.30p.m.