Analysing human character through drama

By Cheranka Mendis

As we push past the heavy green steel doors of the Sudarshi Hall at Sinhala Cultural Centre in front of BMICH, we are greeted with a reverberating melody which wavers between sadness, despair, and hope.

Seven dancers glide almost effortlessly to the singing of Aravinda Hettiarachchi, who stands in the middle of the room, following their movements with his eyes. He is the Director of the musical dance drama ‘Sandyhava Ginigani’ (A Blaze of Sundown), which will be performed this evening at the Lumbini Theatre.

He is also the scriptwriter, melodist, and one of the main singers of the play. It is also pieces of his own story that is portrayed through the one-and-a-half-hour drama.

Sitting down for a break, Hettiarachchi explains that the entire play has no dialogue, only songs. “There are 18 songs that I have written at various points of my life which I have joined in a sequence to form a story. Having no dialogue also lets the audience find a meaning to the story that touches their lives. It does not limit one with a meaning, rather it lets them explore their life to find a meaning that closely fits with the story,” he explained.

His second production after a lapse of 18 years, ‘Sandyhava Ginigani’ has no direct plot but rather is made up of three themes that hold significant importance to the events of his life. All three themes deal with the core theme love.

“I have constructed a story with three basic themes. The stories belong to me as well as the society. The drama is a way for people to analyse the form of their relationships and to decipher the meaning of life.” The first theme or the story is woven around the legend of the lovers Monica and Brito, who are said to have committed suicide by jumping from Horton Plains in the 1970s. The story goes to say that the two were lovers who went separate ways after an incident. Brito eventually got married but both met after some time and resumed their relationship. Monica even had a child from him, an illegal child for conventional interpretations.

“Sri Lanka’s cultural and sociological background didn’t give them space. They decided to commit suicide and that too from possibly the most beautiful place in Sri Lanka – Horton Plains,” he said. “I have been there many times. The environment for me is a character in itself. It clutches at your sensitivity and perceptions of your values.” After the 1977 Constitutional change, society and its values also changed, Hettiarachchi said. He recalls reading a story in the news of a couple who attempted suicide at Pitawalapathana. The woman jumped, the man betrayed.

“Look at the contradictions of the love stories; look at the changes in society. Through my aesthetic senses, I analysed present society and human relationships, and I wonder whe-ther we have evolved to go in the right direction or not.”

The second is the story of God and Satan, a story that Catholic children grow up with. Hettiarachchi commented that he has seen a lot of relationships tempted by Satan. “After the Constitution, a buying and selling phenomenon entered society. Market value entered human relationships and people started looking at what they can get out of the other and forgot the ‘giving’. It is now a market exchange.”

The third is inspired by a Japanese film, ‘Ikiru,’ which Hettiarachchi watched some time ago. One of the songs in the film which explores how short life is inspired him to write his own songs on the same theme. “We live like we live forever. We do bad things.

We do not know what segment of life we belong to anymore.”

Hettiarachchi noted that the aim is to make people look inside themselves for answers that are hidden in human behaviour. The drama is a ‘poor glance’ of what life really is. “These are all things that have influenced me,” he asserted. “When one ends a relationship, his or her soul is destroyed. It is like being born again. There is pain, there is hurt, there is immeasurable sorrow.”

Or at least, it should be like that. Sadly, in today’s world people jump from a relationship to another with no hesitation, Hettiarachchi remarked. “It is now time to look back and analyse our behaviour. Values must be brought back, possibly with new interpretations. We must discuss the plight of people, values, and relationships. I hope the drama is a beginning of that.” The songs that make up the story have been written over a period of five to six years, he said. “I have a big polythene bag full of songs. These are but a few of them.”  The songs are supported by two flamenco guitars only, which personify the events in the play. The flamenco guitar is different from the usual, as it uses four to five fingers to strum the instrument unlike the ‘pick’ used by a normal guitar. In Europe, the flamenco guitar is often called a ‘small symphony’.

“I went to maestro guitarist Amaranath Ranathunga and we found the perfect reverberations for the song through this particular type of guitars.”

The story is depicted by 15 actors and actresses, who all join in the singing.

The title of the drama ‘Sandyhava Ginigani’ itself speaks of how one must act now, before the sun sets, to ensure that morals and values rise again with the sunrise, Hettiarachchi said.