Sashane Perera set to return to stage with new play ‘Lungs’

Sashane Perera is an Assistant Manager at MAS Holdings and a playwright known for his debut ‘Men Without Shadows’

By Shiran Illanperuma

On a humid weekday evening with storm clouds grumbling far away, Sashane observes Dino and Tehani rehearsing like a hawk. Sometimes he lets the two falter and find their feet together; other times, he swoops in to intervene with a gesture or a word. Despite the play being weeks away, the pressure is on to perfect every line of the 96-page script.

“It’s a lot harder than I thought,” Sashane Perera admits sheepishly. “The chances of a play like this being monotonous is really high so you always need to find a fresh angle, really boil it down to the character arcs. With a cast of two and no elaborate set changes, the onus is on me as a director to keep audiences from drifting away.”

Sashane stormed onto the stage two years ago with his directorial debut ‘Men Without Shadows’. The production, based on a play by French philosopher and playwright John Paul-Sartre, was a resounding success, leaving the audience eager for more. In the time since, Sashane has been patiently reading scripts to pinpoint his next production.

“I spent months researching what to do next. When I read through scripts, one of the things I look out for is that special script that can hold my attention long enough for me to finish it in one sitting. That’s what ‘Lungs’ was,” explains Sashane.

‘Lungs’ by Duncan MacMillan is an intimate play about a young couple – theman a musician, the woman a PHD – debatingwhether or not to have a child. It’s a rather simple premise, putting two characters into a room with a minimal set and allowing character and theme to unfold organically through an hour-and-a-half worth of dialogue.

Says Sashane: “I wouldn’t necessarily call it a love story. When you watch it, you feel like the characters are in a very dysfunctional relationship at first. But it’s very real compared to what is generally portrayed on film and television. There’s no façade.”

It’s a significant departure from Sashane’s directorial debut and while one would be tempted to look for continuity in terms of themes, Sashane insists that that is not how he approaches his work. “I try to look for scripts with an open mind,” he says. 

“I don’t look with a particular genre or a particular group of actors in mind. As long as whatever comes my way is relatable to audiences and interests me enough to invest my time in it, I’m on board. I think what intrigued me the most about this play was how it spans one-and-a-half hours with two people across multiple scenes without an elaborate set.”

Perhaps then the appeal of the play was its radical departure from the size and scope of a production like ‘Men Without Shadows’.

“It’s of course more than that,” says Sashane. “But I generally love big productions like ‘Men Without Shadows,’ which had a huge set and a big cast. At the same time, what I love about ‘Lungs’ is how intimate it is. That forces you to really focus on the acting and characterisation to hold it together.”

When asked if he knew ‘Lungs’ would be his next production immediately after reading it, he looks quizzical through his thick-rimmed glasses. And in a simple, matter-of-fact manner he snaps, “Yes”.

“Everybody I know who sat and listened to the play has said that it’s almost as if somebody took a piece of their brain and turned it into a play. If you’re a young adult or if you’ve ever been in a serious relationship, this play will likely be relatable to you. It may not paint the exact same picture, but there will surely be snippets that feel like it’s your own life story.”

Acquiring the rights to the play proved an uphill struggle for the young Colombo-based professional. The rights to the play are handled by Oberon books and Sashane says it took of few months of letter writing and campaigning to wrestle the rights for the relatively-new production.

“I was actually denied in my first attempt so I had to stoop to the level of explaining that I’m from a Third World country and that my tickets would cost something like six pounds. It was a few e-mails back and forth and a couple of phone calls to the lawyers before I finally got the rights,” says Sashane.

In those three or so months of correspondence, Sashane was already busy planning ahead for the production. Despite approval for the rights being uncertain, Sashane had read through the script multiple times and was scrolling through potential actors for the two lead roles in his mind. Very early on, he decided he wanted Dino Corera and Tehani Chitty on board

“When I plan a production, I read the script with people already in mind rather than having auditions. Of course, if a play has multiple characters like my previous one, I’d get some people to read for it but even then I’d have pre-identified a few.”

A play like ‘Lungs’ demands a high standard of acting and this was something Sashane was keenly aware of while casting. As Sashane says, “Holding an audience’s attention for an hour and a half takes dedication. I wanted people who had the width and breadth as actors to carry the play. Sure, some actors are naturally talented, but that doesn’t mean a thing if they don’t have the commitment to put the work in.”

A couple of weeks into rehearsals now and Sashane speaks of his two protagonists like they are old friends. Describing the female protagonist of the play, he says, “She’s one of those people who intellectualises everything, soshe’s basically the one who takes the play forward. She’s always bringing in a new angle through the play and posing a lot of ‘what ifs’ which drive the dialogue forward.”

“I see a bit of myself in both of the characters. I love the fact that at first glance their relationship feels so dysfunctional. I find that’s the case with most relationships, but eventually you find a sense of equilibrium in all the chaos.”

‘Lungs’ will be showing at the Punchi Theatre from 23 to 26 June.