Walking Path – an interview with Jayampathi Guruge

‘Walking Path’ was devised along the paths of Colombo and was scripted by Ruwanthie Scripted and Directed by Jayampathi Guruge. It will be performed on the 21st and 22nd of November at the Lionel Wendt at 3.30pm and 7.00pm. The play observes and then tries to understand how our cities and even ourselves are affected by the emergence of these walking paths, the culture of fitness that has arisen as well as our obsession with technology and how these places are controlled and maintained. The play is highly symbolic, and completely without words, which effectively allows them to explore themes with a depth that might otherwise be repressed as well as induce the audience to form their own interpretation of what is performed.

What we're the challenges of staging a play with no words?

I started off wanting to do a play without words because I believe that the most complex and deep moments in life cannot be captured in words. When you try to capture these moments and frame them with words, there is stuff that falls out, stuff that is lost. And so I started discussing this with Ruwanthie. She was interested in doing a play on the WALKING PATHS. And so these two concepts came together. They seemed to fit very well together because the more we observed the behaviour of the walking paths, the more we realised how quiet these parks were. Why are places where so many people gather, so quiet? What is the reason for this? We started to look for answers to questions like this. I spent a lot of time with my actors in the walking paths. It’s a collection of our observations that grew into this play.
it was a very interesting challenge for me to direct actors who had only worked in plays with words before… in the beginning we worked with words, with language. Then we slowly sifted them out… this was a good and interesting experience for us all.

What is your favourite or most powerful scene in your opinion?

I am happy with the sections that we have retained in the play. Within rehearsal we discovered some truly beautiful and complex moments.  However some of them have not made it to the stage. This is a harsh part of the devising process. A lot gets sacrificed for structure and the shape of the play. I could make another play with the amount we created in rehearsal and have set aside! These decisions were hard ones.  They were arrived at after long discussion. However, the end result is something that is better crafted.

What was the reasoning behind having all-white costumes?

I didn’t want to bring any level of meaning into the play through colour. So I created the freedom for the audience to make its own interpretations of colour.

Some people didn't understand the play, how did you respond to that? What audience response did you most appreciate?

It’s possible that there were some moments that were not understood. However, I am yet to meet anyone who didn't understand the play - as a whole. I must say that I have met people who have loved this play and also those who have hated it. I like this situation. It was a result of this that I was also pushed to make certain changes (I hope improvements) to the play that we did in July. We have taken entire scenes out, put new sections in and changed the order of the scenes. It’s almost a new play! Because of this I am calling out to those who watched Walking Path before to come and watch it again. And tell me honestly what you think of this version of it. This is important to me as an artist.

By Marissa van Eyck

Walking Path – an interview with Jayampathi Guruge

‘Walking Path’ was devised along the paths of Colombo and was scripted by Ruwanthie Scripted and Directed by Jayampathi Guruge. It will be performed on the 21st and 22nd of November at the Lionel Wendt at 3.30pm and 7.00pm. The play observes and then tries to understand how our cities and even ourselves are affected by the emergence of these walking paths, the culture of fitness that has arisen as well as our obsession with technology and how these places are controlled and maintained. The play is highly symbolic, and completely without words, which effectively allows them to explore themes with a depth that might otherwise be repressed as well as induce the audience to form their own interpretation of what is performed.

What we're the challenges of staging a play with no words?

I started off wanting to do a play without words because I believe that the most complex and deep moments in life cannot be captured in words. When you try to capture these moments and frame them with words, there is stuff that falls out, stuff that is lost. And so I started discussing this with Ruwanthie. She was interested in doing a play on the WALKING PATHS. And so these two concepts came together. They seemed to fit very well together because the more we observed the behaviour of the walking paths, the more we realised how quiet these parks were. Why are places where so many people gather, so quiet? What is the reason for this? We started to look for answers to questions like this. I spent a lot of time with my actors in the walking paths. It’s a collection of our observations that grew into this play.
it was a very interesting challenge for me to direct actors who had only worked in plays with words before… in the beginning we worked with words, with language. Then we slowly sifted them out… this was a good and interesting experience for us all.

What is your favourite or most powerful scene in your opinion?

I am happy with the sections that we have retained in the play. Within rehearsal we discovered some truly beautiful and complex moments.  However some of them have not made it to the stage. This is a harsh part of the devising process. A lot gets sacrificed for structure and the shape of the play. I could make another play with the amount we created in rehearsal and have set aside! These decisions were hard ones.  They were arrived at after long discussion. However, the end result is something that is better crafted.

What was the reasoning behind having all-white costumes?

I didn’t want to bring any level of meaning into the play through colour. So I created the freedom for the audience to make its own interpretations of colour.

Some people didn't understand the play, how did you respond to that? What audience response did you most appreciate?

It’s possible that there were some moments that were not understood. However, I am yet to meet anyone who didn't understand the play - as a whole. I must say that I have met people who have loved this play and also those who have hated it. I like this situation. It was a result of this that I was also pushed to make certain changes (I hope improvements) to the play that we did in July. We have taken entire scenes out, put new sections in and changed the order of the scenes. It’s almost a new play! Because of this I am calling out to those who watched Walking Path before to come and watch it again. And tell me honestly what you think of this version of it. This is important to me as an artist.

By Marissa van Eyck