The relationship between an actor and their craft is one which is ever-evolving, shaped by the people they work with, the stories they tell, and the experiences they bring to the stage. While the fundamentals of performance remain much the same, the reasons for pursuing the arts and the ways in which an artist chooses to engage with their work often change with experience.
For Sri Lankan-born actor Thusitha Jayasundera, whose career has spanned more than three decades across British theatre, television, and radio, this evolution has brought her back to Sri Lanka, where she is beginning a new chapter in her artistic journey.
Having graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1993, Thusitha has spent much of her professional life working in the United Kingdom, building a career across stage and screen, and, of late, spending more time in Sri Lanka for personal reasons.
This soft return to Sri Lanka has gradually opened up opportunities to reconnect with the local theatre community and explore what she might contribute to its development.
One such opportunity is her appointment as Artist in Residence with Mind Adventures, the experimental theatre company founded by Tracy Holsinger. The residency begins with ‘De Profundis 2.0,’ an evening of literature, voice, and improvised music taking place on Wednesday (21) at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre in Borella in aid of Palestinian children.
Ahead of ‘De Profundis 2.0,’ The Sunday Morning Brunch caught up with Thusitha to discuss her return to Sri Lanka, her longstanding relationship with Mind Adventures, the thinking behind ‘De Profundis 2.0,’ and her observations on how the local theatre landscape has changed since she first left the country.
For Thusitha, returning to Sri Lanka was initially less about making a professional decision and more about being present for her mother in the final chapter of her life. Rather than completely severing ties with the British industry, she began limiting her professional commitments to approximately two or three jobs a year, allowing her to maintain a connection with her career while establishing a stronger presence in Sri Lanka.
With these changes has come an opportunity to reconsider her relationship with theatre, particularly in Sri Lanka. “My main home in Britain is the theatre,” she reflected, explaining that spending more time in Sri Lanka had gradually allowed her to think about what she might offer the local creative community.
For Thusitha, this has less to do with stepping into a conventional teaching role and more to do with bringing her professional experience into the rehearsal room.
“I’ve always felt that, as actors, our main power is doing it more and becoming adept at it practically. It’s not a theoretical thing,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be teaching, but rather mounting productions. That’s the main training ground and that’s the best teaching tool – doing a play and learning what it takes to be an actor, director, or stage manager.”
Finding a creative home with Mind Adventures
Thusitha’s appointment as Artist in Residence with Mind Adventures is particularly meaningful given her long-standing friendship with Tracy Holsinger. The two have known each other for much of their lives, maintaining a close relationship through their shared interest in theatre. Thusitha recalled having been instrumental in encouraging Tracy’s initial involvement in theatre and said she had long admired the work Mind Adventures had developed over the years.
For her, Mind Adventures’ commitment to creating original work rooted in Sri Lankan experiences has always been one of its defining strengths. “I’ve always been an admirer of her theatre company because it makes new things from nothing. It’s inventive and mostly involved with original works to do with Sri Lanka,” she said.
Tracy had previously invited her to collaborate in a more sustained capacity, but their respective schedules had made this difficult. With Thusitha now spending more time in Sri Lanka, the opportunity finally felt right.
“It is lovely to spend a bit of solid time developing works that are tailored to Sri Lankan audiences, whether they are translations or particular choices of work. I find myself very excited by the prospect,” she shared of taking on the mantle of Artist in Residence.
While the residency does not have a rigid timeframe, Thusitha hopes to develop several productions with Mind Adventures over the next two to three years. There are already three projects under discussion, with the flexibility of the arrangement allowing her to balance these commitments alongside her continuing work in Britain (she is due to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a production of ‘Coriolanus,’ after which she hopes to return to Sri Lanka to continue developing further productions with Mind Adventures).
The first production under Thusitha’s residency is ‘De Profundis 2.0,’ a reimagining of ‘De Profundis,’ an earlier performance developed with Mind Adventures. Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s ‘De Profundis,’ the showing brings together literary readings and improvised musical compositions, exploring themes of suffering, incarceration, loss, memory, and regeneration.
Thusitha was careful to explain that ‘De Profundis’ was not a conventional play, but rather an intimate experience built around the relationship between the spoken word, music, and the audience.
The original concept emerged from conversations between her and Tracy about creating a performance with a certain spontaneity, without the lengthy rehearsal process normally associated with theatre. “We were discussing how we might create a programme which had a spark of spontaneity about it, where we didn’t spend a long, hard rehearsal getting it perfect, but did something quite raw, with a certain energy and an improvisational quality,” she explained.
They eventually settled on an evening combining spoken word with improvised sound, allowing the performers and musicians to respond to the material and each other. “We call it a showing. It’s not about trying to impress with the performance. It’s about trying to invite the audience into an intimate relationship with the readings we do,” Thusitha said.
Some of the selected texts are familiar works which audiences might encounter in a different context, while others are less widely known. The intention is to encourage audiences to engage with the writing itself, allowing the words and music to create an immersive experience.
For the latest iteration, the focus has shifted towards Palestine, with the production raising funds for two grassroots organisations working with children in Gaza. Thusitha explained that the continuing conflict in Gaza had prompted the team to reconsider the selection of texts and create a more focused programme, drawing connections between Palestinian experiences and Sri Lanka’s own history of conflict.
“The initial selections were much more freewheeling, but the 2.0 selection of texts will be much more focused and tightly orbiting around Gaza and Sri Lanka, because we too have suffered in a similar way in the past. We’re going to be drawing those parallels and asking those questions,” Thusitha said.
The production features writing by V.V. Ganeshananthan, Anne Ranasinghe, Ajith Herath, Parakrama Kodithuwakku, Mahmoud Darwish, Refaat Alareer, and Leonard Woolf, among others.
An important influence on this edition is ‘The Blood on My Hands: A Memoir of a Moral Catastrophe’ by two doctors, Dr. Mimi Syed and Dr. Helen Hwaihi, which documents their experiences as ER doctors in Gaza. Thusitha hopes to place selections from the book at the centre of the performance.
Readings in English and Sinhala will be delivered by Thusitha, Sean Amarasekera, Dhanushka Dias, Murthaaz Abdul Barry, and Hajarah Faleel, accompanied by improvised compositions from musicians Simon Allen and Sarani Perera.
For Thusitha, the experience is ultimately about creating a space in which audiences are able to engage with difficult subjects through literature and performance.
“What we are aiming for as performers and sound improvisers is an immersion and meditation, a feeling of being held by us, the performers,” she explained, adding that she hoped audiences would leave with a deeper appreciation of the writing and the questions surrounding human suffering, redemption, and regeneration.
The changing landscape of Lankan theatre
Beyond her immediate work with Mind Adventures, Thusitha’s return has also given her an opportunity to observe how attitudes towards theatre and acting have evolved in Sri Lanka.
Having left the country at a time when acting was rarely considered a viable profession, she sees a noticeable change in the way younger generations engage with the performing arts. “There is much more time for performance. It’s even kind of cool now to be an actor,” she observed, recalling how, in her youth, she had struggled to take herself seriously as a professional actor, particularly in an environment where theatre was largely sustained by passionate amateurs rather than a professional industry.
“When I left, actors weren’t professionals. They were only amateurs, highly talented, highly determined amateurs, but not paid,” she said, noting that while opportunities had expanded, the financial realities of working in theatre remained a significant obstacle to its development as a profession; for many actors, particularly those working in English-language theatre, the need to earn a living elsewhere limits the time and energy available to pursue performance.
Until acting becomes a sustainable profession, Thusitha believes it will continue to occupy a marginal position in how people think about careers in the arts. Nevertheless, she sees encouraging signs, particularly in the growing recognition of Sri Lankan performers internationally. She pointed to Hiran Abeysekera’s success at the Olivier Awards as an important example of what Sri Lankan actors were capable of achieving.
For those interested in English-language theatre, Thusitha emphasised the importance of being well-read and developing a strong command of language, alongside the technical and practical skills required for performance. She also encouraged young actors hoping to work abroad to consider formal drama training, acknowledging that entering an unfamiliar industry without such preparation would be particularly challenging.
For Thusitha, her return to Sri Lanka and her new relationship with Mind Adventures offers an opportunity to put these ideas into practice, bringing her years of experience to a theatre community which she believes is increasingly finding its footing.
‘De Profundis 2.0’ is perhaps a fitting place to begin, bringing together Sri Lankan and Palestinian experiences through literature and performance, while exploring the ability of art to create understanding across different histories and experiences. As Thusitha reflected on what she hoped audiences would take away from the evening, she said: “We hope they feel immersed in all of that and get carried into the writers’ imaginations.”
‘De Profundis 2.0’ takes place on 21 October from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre, Borella. Tickets are priced at Rs. 3,500, Rs. 2,500, and Rs. 1,500, available digitally via WhatsApp on 076 244 3221. All profits will be donated to United For Gaza and HopeNest, organisations supporting Palestinian children
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