Though a success, Ruwanthie finds writing `a lonely job’

Middle of Silence, written in 1997, was adjudged the Best New Play of South Asia at the British Council International Play-writing Awards that year. After five shows in Colombo, four in Britain by the Royal Court Theatre and two in Bangalore, Ruwanthie is now sitting back and enjoying the rewards of a labour which she doesn’t love much. “Writing is a lonely job. It’s also a energy-sapping one. When I’m writing a script, I’m so much into it, almost obsessed that I fear I’ll lose myself. But, of course, the rewards are sweet.” And that’s what makes her keep writing. She was initiated into writing with `arm-twisting’ methods in school for the in-house plays when she was 15, and was forced to continue writing when her work won the first place.

When Ruwanthie writes she does not decide on any particular subject. “I don’t want to limit myself even before I have embarked on the writing. I let the play evolve as I write. I don’t bind my plays, maybe that’s why there are so many interpretations of them. The way Middle of Silence was staged in Colombo, London, Bangalore and now Mumbai, has been different and that’s good. I also don’t like to preach, so my plays don’t have a social message. I would rather write on human relationships than on issues, and, frankly speaking, I don’t think it would be right to push down the audience’s throat my views on any issue,” says the playwright, who was awarded by the Government of Australia to attend the World Interplay in 1997.

One of Ruwanthie’s plays was shortlisted for the World Student Drama Trust Award for the 22nd International Student Playscript Competition, London, in 1998. However rich the accolades might be, Chickera has discovered that theatre in Sri Lanka is not a paying job. “Finding funds for your play is a very difficult job and we only have big theatres which are very costly to be rented. So, it’s a tough job to get your play staged,” she says. She has got offers for television-scripts and a film in Sri Lanka, but she says she doesn’t enjoy writing them. “Writing for theatre with all its constraints — like time, space, the characters’ moods — is a challenge and nothing can compare with writing for theatre,” she says.

Chickera is wise enough not to remain emotionally-attached to her plays, once she has written them. “Once I hand over the scripts to the director, I don’t interfere. It’s important for a staging that the play has only one vision and it is the director’s vision which should rule,” she says.

She also acts and directs but she doesn’t act in her own plays because, “then there wouldn’t be a proper balance. The prejudices will always creep in so it’s best not to act in one’s own plays”.

Though she has no immediate plans to stage her shows in Mumbai or anywhere else in India, Chickera says that she has a special feeling for the country. “Back home, India is like an elder sister. All artistes there look forward to performing and receiving acclaim in India. It’s easy to be recognised internationally, but to create a regional identity with English as the medium of your art is difficult. And that’s why it’s special to be appreciated by your neighbours.”

Though Middle of Silence is a story of helplessness — both of the body and mind, of a struggle for social freedom, of asserting identities — all universal urban ills, Chickera is quick to point out that she doesn’t limit herself to this genre. “I have recently written a children’s play which I will be directing when I get back home tomorrow,” she says.

Arundhati Raja says, “You can’t pinpoint what it is about Ruwanthie’s plays that appeal to you. It’s just that when I read the script I knew that I had to direct it and when I knew that the staging was to be at NCPA, I didn’t hesitate to come over from Bangalore even if it was for only one show.”