Murder, mayhem and a good old-fashioned thunderstorm are at the heart of writer/ director Jehan Aloysius’ latest offering, Stormy Weather. The play promises to push boundaries with a very unconventional staging that embraces the style of film noir. While all the key elements feature prominently in Jehan’s play, when he talks about black and white, he also means it quite literally.
The costumes, the stage sets, and even the film sequences are all in black and white. “Even our makeup is shades of grey – everything will be as you see on a black and white TV,” says Mario De Soyza. As the inspector, Mario is called in when a man is stabbed to death in his home. The wife, sister and mistress of the diseased quickly become suspects, and if this tells you anything, its that Noel was unlikely to win any popularity contests.
Noel (Amesh De Silva) is a violent man, who still manages to inspire some devotion in his wife Therese (Michelle Herft). He’s raised his hand to her more than once and she knows he has a mistress, but it isn’t enough to force her to leave him. Still, the inspector has got to ask, did she snap in the end?
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“Throughout the play she’s a suspect, everyone is,” says Michelle, explaining that her closest relationships are with his daughter Rachel (Zahabiya Adamaly) and her sister-in-law Charmaine (Shanuki De Alwis). Charmaine is another archetypal character – eccentric, fond of her alcohol, she has secrets that Noel has threatened to reveal. She also knows the most intimate details of her brother’s marriage and has no hesitation in recognizing Noel’s mistress Avanti (Dilrukshi Fonseka) for the amoral gold-digger she is. Much of the back story is revealed in filmed flashbacks. “Some of them are creations of the inspector’s mind and you don’t know if they actually happened that way,” says Dilrukshi.
The play is only an hour long. “You can’t categorize it as a straight play – it’s not a musical, it’s not a film, but it has elements of all those things in it,” says Mario, “I don’t think that English theatre in Sri Lanka has seen anything like it.” The credit goes to Jehan, who as the author says he wanted to take elements of film noir and translate them into the 3 dimensional space of live theatre.
As usual, Jehan is deeply immersed in every aspect of the production and has done almost everything from designing the costumes to writing the music for it himself, ensuring it’s a show worth watching. “The show has a generous dose of suspense, drama and occasional horror, so keep the li tle ones at home for this one,” he says.
Stormy Weather is on from September 10-13, at the Punchi Theatre, Borella. Call 2672121 for tickets. Electronic Media Partners are Channel 1 MTV and YES FM, the official Film Partner is Video Image. |
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