What if?

By Cheranka Mendis

“The most effective moments in the theatre are those that appeal to basic and commonplace emotions - love of woman, love of home, love of country, love of right, anger, jealousy, revenge, ambition, lust, and treachery,” wrote Clayton Hamilton in the book ‘Theory of the Theatre.’

Perhaps this is what inspired the young and talented thespians under Dark Light Productions to promote and bring to life a drama that explores life in its varied emotional forms. Aptly titled ‘What if?’ the play that caught attention with the balloon head on Facebook is all about young love, the turmoil one has to put up with in some part of life if not at most parts and the reality of the world we live in.

The premiere production of Sri Lanka’s latest addition to the local theatre scene, Dark Light Productions, the play weighs a bit on to the former of the company’s name, dark. Written and directed by Wasaam Ismail and produced by Javin Thomas, the play is said to be a ‘brutally sincere venture into the deepest places, expressed and felt through the heaviness of a sequence of blaring emotions.’ The sentiments will assemble together to “express commitment, rejection, selfishness, depression, jealousy, anger, confusion, dishonesty, the presence of love and the lack of it” and how a person can be consumed by a relationship.

The Facebook campaign which ran for the past few weeks of a gradually evolving balloon head which screamed out words such as ‘jealousy, lust’ etc in black jagged lettering is perhaps the best way to identify with the play. The emotions that are being touched on during ‘What if’ has the ability to eat through one’s head until one feels that his or her head is about to explode.

Revolving around two characters, Matt and Rachelle, the play will explore avenues closer to heart. With the help of twelve other characters, the Production Company will roll out its first theatrical experience on 25, 26, 27 November at the Punchi Theatre, Borella.

The Company, formed in August this year is a non profit ‘amateur’ company formed by a group of individuals devoted to the arts. The underlying objective of forming such a group is to augment and add value to English stage theatre and to produce performances to keep the very niche community of theatre lovers up on their toes and happy.

Initiated by Javin Thomas and Wasaam Ismail who acts as producer and artistic director respectively, the company has been part of a dream for the two, they said. Speaking to the Weekend FT, Javin Thomas said: “Wasaam and I have been involved in the theatre from school days. This is something that have been talked of so often for the longest time.” The Peterites have not only been active in drama in school but have been for the past few years, been involved in directing various schools in the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition as well. With all their experience behind the scenes and the love for drama put together, Dark Light Productions will being on more plays in the near future, he said.

The two are backed by Asanka Sahabandu as Publicity Manager, Ornella Gunesekere as Administrative Manager and Minelli Abeyadeera as Costume Designer.

When asked for the story behind the name of the company, Thomas said, “We hope to bring in different plays; different from the usual you would expect in the local drama scene. We will portray both dark plays and comedies, hence the name Dark Light- the deeper more soulful plays as well as the lighter ones. We hope to create something totally different.”

The play, which comes with the tag ‘restricted to mature audiences’ will go on stage on 25, 26 and 27 November at 7.30 p.m.at the Punchi Theatre. Tickets are priced at Rs.500 and Rs.650 and is available at the Hutch Head office in Bambalapitiya and on www.ticketslk.com