Last month, after years of
agonising, I went on the pill. No, not that sort of
pill, you fool. I mean a pill for my cholesterol. But I
didn’t go to a doctor for this as you might imagine. I
went to a playwright. Seneka Abeyratne probably knows
more pharmacology than many doctors you care to mention.
Novelist, playwright, photographer, musician and dancer,
he is one of the few people I know who is truly a
renaissance man. I caught up with him just before he
flew off to Bouzigues in the south of France for his
solo exhibition of digital art.
Q: Early life?
A: I studied at Trinity, and later Royal College
where I was vice captain of the rugby team. My father
(Dr. Ernest Abeyratne, the agricultural scientist)
worked at Maha Illupallama so my holidays were spent in
absolutely rural surroundings – fishing, swimming,
hiking through jungles, chasing monkeys and facing
cobras! After school I took off to Canada for my first
degree in Economics, at York University, Toronto.
Q: Why Canada?
A: I was accepted by several universities in the
USA as well, but at the time college fees in Canada were
subsidised by the state, and therefore very much less.
Q: How did you adapt to the change?
A: I always had something of an adventurous
spirit, so quite well I think! I remember standing in
the ice at -30 Centigrade, in tee shirt and jeans,
getting a friend to take a picture to send to the folks
back home. After Canada I came back and worked in the
Ministry of Finance and Planning, till I was offered a
very good job with USAID. In the 10 years I was with
them I went to Cornell University for a Masters in
Agricultural Economics.
Q: What was Cornell like?
A: It was tough and demanding, a very
intellectual atmosphere. Cornell is one of the top ten
universities in the US. (It also has the highest suicide
rate of any!) I minored in Chemical Nutrition. One minor
drawback was its isolated situation, in Ithaca, upstate
New York, five hours away from the Manhattan. But
beautiful surroundings, near the Adirondacks.
Q: Tell me about your writing?
A: I began serious writing in my early 30s. My
first novel, Fragments Of A Fugue, was published
in London in 1993 and was short listed for Sri Lanka’s
very first Gratiaen Award that same year. I turned to
plays after the murder of Richard de Zoysa, when I wrote
Por La Libertad (set in a mythical South American
country with a repressive regime, ha ha).
Q: Which literary form do you find suits you better,
novels or plays?
A: With the time constraints of a day job it is
difficult to write novels. Plays are quicker, and if you
have the good fortune to have them staged, it is truly
wonderful to see your characters come alive! It is also
curious for the playwright to see his creation through
the eyes of a director, who will often have a different
interpretation to the one he originally meant. Now that
I’m semi-retired with more time on my hands, I’m toying
with the idea of writing another novel. It won’t be easy
to switch from dialogue mode to narrative mode.
Q: People either love your work or hate it. Why is
that?
A: Whether in novels or plays, I’m more at home
with off-beat, unconventional material. When people have
strong reactions, I feel it absolutely justifies what I
do!
Q: Does it take courage to write the way you do?
Q: Both courage and conviction. Don’t be afraid
of public opinion. Anyone who is afraid of public
opinion shouldn’t be in the business of creative
writing.
Q: How do you view Sri Lankan theatre today?
A: We are 30 years behind the West, hampered by
strict censorship and a lack of professional actors.
Also, our restrictive sexual mores are a serious
problem. Since my work is always of a psychosexual
nature, I am more limited than most! Having said that,
by South Asian standards we are probably the best,
because their mores are much less liberal than ours!
Q: Is it also a question of funding?
A: Institutions are happier backing lavish, tried
and tested mainstream productions. In the West there is
a healthy tradition of fringe theatre, with small
audiences of a hundred people or so. These productions
need not be expensive – they can be done in the open
air, for instance.
Q: Tell me about your photography?
A: In terms of development I would say I am in my
early days yet. I like to look at things a little
differently to others. (His book Facets Of Wewala
is in black and white and concentrates entirely
on one village near the Bolgoda Lake, something not
attempted before.) I take photos digitally, and then
transform them in the way I want through Photoshop – it
gives me a certain control over the image. This is a
hybrid between art and photography. I don’t have the
freedom of a painter – I am hampered by the technology
which isn’t quite there yet – and often I don’t get
exactly the effect I want. I love to play with
non-naturalistic colours and forms. Though I can’t paint
(at last, something he can’t do!) I’m a great
admirer of Matisse, Redon, Van Gogh and Seurat.
Q: And finally, what about your music and dancing?
A: I’m a self-taught pianist, and passionately
fond of Western classical music. I try to improvise very
modern classical music inspired by my favourite
composers - Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Bartok,
Debussy and Ravel. As for dancing, I began in my
mid-thirties, taking part in several ballet productions
by the Deanna School in the last 10 years. I am also
interested in the choreography of experimental dance.
I say goodbye and let him go — there’ll be quite a
dance right here if I don’t – because the poor man has
to pack his bags and fly to France, where the Musée
de l’Etang de Thau is holding a month long
exhibition of his work.
