Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A theatrical bend
By Smriti Daniel
Jehan Aloysius is not only a Jack of all trades; he’s also a master of them all. Singer, dancer, playwright, actor and director – it’s obvious that Jehan is a veritable storehouse of talent and energy. Today, he’s pouring all he has and more into Rag – In Concert and the results – if the small peeks I had were anything to go by – are bound to be spectacular.

Jehan is easily placed as one amidst the most talented young people around today in our little island. He is a prominent theatre personality, and can count among his triumphs over 30 major productions of English and Sinhala theatre over the last twelve years. As an actor, he’s taken to the boards with theatre troupes such as the Workshop Players and has played the lead in numerous successful productions including Cats, Les Misérables, Middle Of Silence and The Lion King. Amongst his directorial credits he counts Smile Awhile – An Evening Of Comedy (1996), Prince Of Egypt (2003), and the literary gem The Ritual (2002-2004). Also on the list is the phenomenally successful Bengal Bungalow, as well as numerous Shakespeare performances with the St. Joseph’s College drama teams.

As a playwright, Jehan can boast of plays staged not only by the university of Colombo (The Screaming Mind), but many produced in India and Bangladesh as well. A collection of his plays, titled The Screaming Mind, was short listed for the 2001 Gretiaen Awards. Recently Jehan performed at the Edinburgh Festival 2005, alongside children who had been adversely affected by the tsunami – the play was called Children Of The Sea.

Jehan puts a lot of himself and his time into his work. Currently he’s glad to be able to say that “drama is my job.” Having founded CentreStage Productions in 2001, Jehan is now neck deep in all things theatrical, and is heavily involved with nurturing his amateur theatre troupe. The focus of the non-profit organisation is entirely on young people. Jehan challenges them to try their hand at everything – from scriptwriting to acting, direction and production. Jehan says he actually prefers it that way – “they don’t have to ‘unlearn’ anything,” he says.

Fast becoming part of the CentreStage tradition is the annual CentreStage Festival, in which the theatre-going public is given the chance to respond to what the group has been hard at work on. This year, in addition to Rag, there’s the rib-tickling romantic comedy Two In A Pit, a hilarious look at what happens when two of Sri Lanka’s leading theatre personalities, Ravi and Jean, find themselves “accidentally” locked in the orchestra pit together.

“Last year was a preview – meant to help us gauge the general public’s opinion, and also to show us whether we were headed in the right direction,” says Jehan. He went on to explain that Rag – In Concert will feature the best of the songs from Rag. While he is the composer, for the actual music in the musical, Jehan has been heavily dependant on Avanti Perera and Deshan Cooray. The music is performed by Avanti, actress, musician and long-time friend of Jehan, while Deshan, is responsible for the choral direction and is an ex-Josephian like Jehan himself.

Inspired by many true life events and real people, Rag, has a core of strong, sometimes harsh, realism. It is based on the violence that surrounds ragging – violence that not only leaves many students traumatised, but has driven them to suicide. According to Jehan, Rag does take a look at the comparatively “fun” side of ragging… however, it doesn’t stop there. The musical depicts the beatings, rape and mental trauma that freshmen are subjected to without flinching away; a decision that has had critics on their feet and applauding.

The lead protagonist in Rag is Joseph. An idealistic young man, “who has all the women in love with him,” explains Avanti Perera. She adds with a laugh that the character is based on how Jehan himself was in university. Joseph is a popular young man, determined to make a change in a place where and obeying your seniors is the easiest way to survive. As the play progresses and the conflict between the raggers and the anti-raggers heats up, the audience watches Joseph’s character take on almost Christ-like qualities.

The musical carries a powerful message – one which to Jehan is all important. The big show at the Lionel Wendt is all very well, says Jehan, but it’s out there with the touring version that the real purpose of Rag is achieved. Thankfully, that doesn’t stop it from being fun and entertaining. “We don’t want to preach,” says Jehan, “but we do want to bring about change.”
The CentreStage Festival will be on from the 28 – 30 of October 2005 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from 7:30 p.m. onwards. Tickets are on sale at the Lionel Wendt. The sole sponsor of the event is Cargills.

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