Rehearsals were underway at the Lionel Wendt as the cast of ‘A View From The Bridge brought characters by American playwright Arthur Miller to life. Based off a true story recounted to Miller by a lawyer, the play is set in an Italian American neighbourhood near the Brooklyn bridge in New York and chronicles the improper love and the jealous fixation of protagonist Eddie with his niece Catherine. 

Life Online caught up with some of the cast members  between rehearsals. Here’s what they had to say. 

Rehan Amaratunga cast as Rudolpho 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

It is quite challenging due to the fact that every major character I've played on a stage before this has been Shakespearean. The delivery of speech and more modern settings of this play was something I had to grow accustomed to. Also playing a full blooded, blonde haired Italian is quite the experience! 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

Rudolpho is the younger of the full-blooded Italian brothers and arrives in Brooklyn with a head full of ambition to achieve the American Dream. Rudolpho is blonde-haired and has a variety of skills such as dancing, cooking, sewing and most notably singing. Rudolpho is free spirited and and enthusiastic in nature, winning the hearts of most individuals around him; eventually that of Eddie Carbone's daughter Catherine, much to Eddie's detestation. 

How did you prepare for your role? Did you find any parallels in your personal life that helped you relate? 

Rudolpho is one of the most complex characters in the play whose motives and true emotions the playwright gave little hint about. This bade me to research and study the text continuously to build up a role to fill out on stage. I also prepared for the speech delivery of this character by brushing up on my Italian accent and intonation which the entire cast did collectively to really bring the authenticity of the Brooklyn story to life on stage. 

What can the audience expect? 

A gripping tale of a man and his sentiments that will progressively leave the audience with an almost stomach-knotting feeling. 

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Anuk De Silva cast as Alfieri 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

It's quite different. This play is more or less a action-oriented re-enactment of a shocking story that had taken place in the 1950s in Brooklyn. However, so many parallels can be drawn from it to a modern-day scenario as well as it refers to the greater moral and social implications. This is a production that starts with an indication as to how the story will end, after which the audience is taken through this riveting story. Even the stage setting is quite different from the previous productions that I have been involved in. 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

Narrator, spokesperson, compassionate lawyer, forewarn-er, moral commentator, Greek chorus: these are just some of the roles that Alfieri juggles during the course of the play. He is also instrumental in breaking the fourth wall in talking to the audience during the re-enactment of the story. Some say that it is in fact Alfieri’s ‘view’ which is referred to in the title of the play ‘A View from a Bridge’. Some others say that he’s the ‘bridge’ that the title of the play refers to, because Alfieri has one foot in Italy and the other in America. Whatever the case, it seems that these two cultures and their ideas of right and wrong are at war inside him, thus making him trapped in the middle. 

How did you prepare for your role? Did you find any parallels in your personal life that helped you relate? 

By researching on the character and carrying out several character analysis sessions with the rest of the cast. I'm sharing this role with Dino - a renowned actor in the local theatre scene - so we learn off each other as well. This is the role of a narrator, so quite a few parallels could be drawn. But what's interesting is that the role of Alfieri also acts as a character in the play, which gave it a different twist. I've done a few dramatic roles in the past, and this too has some dramatic elements to it especially with the opening and closing speeches. 

What can the audience expect? 

A different sorta play with some damn good acting! So don't miss it! 

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Kanishka Herat cast as Eddie Carbone 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

This play will be presented in an avant-garde manner, thereby in a way that has never been seen by Sri Lankan audiences. The rendition we are doing focuses solely on the acting and no gimmicks. 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

Eddie Carbone. The tragic protagonist of the play, Eddie is a hard working longshoremen, an American of Sicilian descent who supports his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine. He's generous enough to offer his home to Beatrice's cousins but is at the same time wary and self protective. It transpires that he has an improper love and obsession, with Catherine, so he strongly disapproves of her courtship with Beatrice's cousin Rodolfo. 

How did you prepare for your role? Did you find any parallels in your personal life that helped you relate? 

I did research on the lives of Italian immigrants in America and in longshore men. Jerome's exercises on characterization, to question on who you are? What are you doing? etc. We're also extremely helpful. The cast also kept speaking about the play to analyze and better understand the play through discussion. 

What can the audience expect? 

A domestic scenario that can be related to Sri Lankan society but also a whole new experience. 

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Mayanthi de Silva cast as Catherine 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

The play by nature is intensely consuming. Unlike any other play/musical I have worked on personally, this requires each of us as actors to be not only physically involved, 
but also demands of our mental, psychological and spiritual involvement in how we deliver. That's where the word really is. 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

I play the role the of Catherine, the 17 year old niece of Eddie and Beatrice. She is your typical teenager, still slightly naive, loves big and is still experiencing the concept of "growing up". Unfortunately, her very existence becomes her worst prerogative. 

How did you prepare for your role? Did you find any parallels in your personal life that helped you relate? 

The play is extremely consuming and demands a sense of realism. So yes, I did draw several parallels to situations of real life not only of my own but that of others as well. Additionally, we sat for hours and spent a lot of time hashing out the literature of the script in order to identify with its depths, as Miller intended it to be understood. To me, it is so important to portray her situation right and compliment that of my fellow actors as well, considering the fact that there are so many timely themes relevant to us, our times and our country covered within this play. Hence, a lot of preparation both during rehearsals and otherwise are being invested. 

What can the audience expect? 

The audience should come with an open mind, expecting only to learn the story and perhaps even be involved in the story of this little family in Red Hook. And yes it will be controversial. 

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Dinushka Jayawickreme cast as Beatrice 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? - I have previously acted primarily in musicals, this is my first time taking a lead role in a straight play and it's been a challenging yet exciting experience. 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

I'm playing the role of Beatrice who is the wife of Eddie Carbone and aunt of Catherine. At first she seems like the typical housewife but you soon begin to see that she is a strong woman who speaks out for what she believes in and will try her best to keep her family together although she knows it's out of her control. 

How did you prepare for your role? Did you find any parallels in your personal life that helped you relate? 

I put myself into her situation and built my character through a process of self reflection and character analysis, closely linking it with the dialogue and interaction between myself and other characters in the play. 

What can the audience expect? 

The audience can expect a very in depth, stripped down retelling of this classic, where the focus is entirely on the strength and weaknesses of the characters. 

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Lihan Mendis cast as Marco 

How is this play different from previous productions you have been involved in? 

This play is similar to a production of 'Oedipus' that I took part in when I was schooling in terms of inappropriate relationships and the tragic demise of a flawed protagonist. Playing a more observational role in both that production and in this play, I have to admit that I find plays of this nature to be very interesting. I'm oddly intrigued by Miller's presentation of Catherine's predicament, of being a victim of society. 

Tell us a little bit about the role you're playing. 

Marco is not an individual with any ulterior motives. He has his priorities, namely his duty of providing for his family back in Italy, protecting his brother and upholding his honour. He's a hard worker and his only intention is to provide and someday return to his family. He is a foil to Eddie in terms of fighting for the truth, for honour. Even if the struggle will result in being sent back to Italy. 

How did you prepare for your role? 

Indeed, it was difficult to prepare for this role. The biggest challenge was mastering an Italian accent. It was also a challenge to attempt playing a thirty year old, being someone who just stepped into the adult world. I found a parallel to Marco in terms of my parents' struggle in raising my sisters and I on a restricted income. That was an effective way to connect to the character. 

What can the audience expect? 

To put it mildly, the audience can expect a thought provoking, intense and exhilarating piece of theatre. 

“A View From The Bridge” will go on board at the Lionel Wendt from the 7th to 9th October. Tickets available at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Tickets are priced at Rs. 2000, Rs. 1000, Rs. 750 and Rs. 500 (Balcony). 

Photographs by Pradeep Dilrukshana