‘The Irish Curse’ : A story of five men 

A group of Irish-American guys are in crisis. They meet every Wednesday night at a church basement to discuss on some personal issues. Relationships, identities, sexuality, social status and sex are some main issues that they all have. But they are all speaking on common grounds. Will they find a solution? The driving forces behind ‘The Irish Curse’, Pasan Ranaweera as Father Kevin, Dino Corera as Stephen Fitzgerald the Cop, Dominic Keller as Joseph Flaherty and Andre Perera as the newbie to the group shared their experience about being involved in this one-of-a-kind production with the Daily Mirror Life.

Gehan Blok, director of The Irish Curse, and playing the character of Rick Baldwin. 

Give us an introduction about yourself.

Pasan : I have been acting since my very small days. I did drama in school and was involved in Sinhala theatre. After my A/Ls I was able to join many good productions including Pusswedilla.

Dino : I was involved in theatre since school days. I went to St. Joseph’s college and first started off with Jehan Aloysious and then met Gehan while doing Pusswedilla. It’s quite challenging but we had plans to do this play for a while.

Dominic : I started doing drama when I left school and after I got involved in theatre I found my love for it. We have always wanted to make a change and English theatre is always governed by big names. So we did a bit of boundary pushing the Sri Lankan audience wants to laugh so while entertaining them we also wanted them to take something back when they are leaving the hall.

Andre : I have been involved in drama since 2006 and I started off with the workshop players.

Gehan : Been involved in theatre productions from 2007 just after leaving school. Fell in love with it since winning the Shakespeare comp back in school. Have worked with most English theatre directors in the country & learnt a lot from every single one of them – directed “Glengarry Glen Ross” last year and now acting in and directing this.

Pasan Ranaweera, playing the role of Father Kevin.

What is your role in the play?

Pasan : I play the role of Father Kevin who is a priest and a very conventional person.

Dino : I play the role of Stephen Fitzgerald, the cop who is kind of guarded. He is quite cynical and very open about the fact that he is gay.

Dominic : I am Joseph Flaherty who is the oldest in the group. I am short and have never been popular. His wife has left him and it has shattered his whole life. I am with a bunch of young guys and Joseph is very fed-up of life until the point he encounters this group of people who speak on common grounds.

Andre : I am a newbie to the group and I come in with the Father. He is a very young guy who is exuberant, likeable and is trying to look for a solution. He in fact asks a lot of questions.

Gehan : Playing the most optimistic character out of the bunch. Rick is a young Staten Island sports nut who goes to college. Rick seems to be the only one in the group who has dealt with his tiny problem.

Dino Corera, playing the role of Stephen Fitzgerald.

How was the experience?

Pasan : It’s a tight play in terms of structure but I love every bit of it. The play is like a meeting and not many plays are done in this nature. It was quite a new experience.

Dino : What I like about this play is that the dynamics are interwoven and it’s about relationships and problems that guys encounter. It’s a cool play. Everybody is trying to figure out the chemistry that works in the process.

Dominic : It’s about identities, peers and most importantly it is a bunch of guys in crisis. So you end up bringing more of yourself out.

Andre : It’s the first time I am doing a role like this. It has been a bit of a challenge but I am quite grateful to Gehan for giving me this opportunity.

Gehan : Acting and directing for the first time – not my first choice but so far I have been enjoying the experience. It’s a well-balanced play between humour and truthful facts about men and their insecurities.

Dominic Kellar, playing the role of Joseph Flaherty.

In what way has theatre helped you as a person?

Pasan : I love to act. I feel that it makes me happy. Every role is different to one another but theatre is something that I have always wanted to do. There is always a different character hidden behind the line and if the audience understands then we have always served justice to our role.

Dino : I think that drama helps one to build a lot of confidence. When you play a role you feel that you in his shoes. Drama also helps one to build a good personality as well.

Dominic : It’s a great hobby to have. The feeling of making someone laugh is quite exciting.

Andre : It has given me an escape. I got to know a lot of friends. While working for Workshop Players i have done mostly musicals and have also been involved in cognitions and dark comedy as well. It’s interesting to be involved in these plays as well.

Gehan : It’s helped shape the person I am today – makes me happy and confident. 

Andre Perera

Do you think that these kind of sensitive and deep topics should be highlighted in plays more often?

Pasan : Not in a mainstream but these kind of radical, out-of-the-box and controversial plays have been done for a while. However they cater to a limited audience because of the censorship.

Dino : There is a lot being spoken about feminism and female sexuality. Theatre is something that is open to a wide range of topics. So I think this is just one aspect of it where 5 guys are trying to figure out answers to their problems.

Dominic : Sinhala and English drama speak about domestic abuse but they never really address issues that surround lives of men and their sexuality.

Andre : Definitely these issues should be highlighted. We need to have more productions like V-Day. Here we look at both the comedy plus sending a message to the audience at the end of the play.

Gehan : Of course. It’s very important – these are the topics that help entertain and also make the audience think about subjects that are often not spoken of like “male insecurities” as uncovered in this play – it’s a fine balance between entertainment and serious subject matter.

Tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt. The play is for mature adults (18 and above).

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
Photographs by Kithsiri De Mel