Playwright Ruth D’Silva speaks to The Theatre Playbook about penning her debut feature play Bungalow, how she developed it for the Theatre503 stage and reveals the details of her writing process.
In her debut feature play Bungalow, writer Ruth D’Silva explores the secrets, the duty of care and the burden of shame within a modern Anglo-Indian family as an adult daughter returns to her childhood home.
Now playing at Theatre503 until Saturday, March 15, it is directed by Beth Kapila (Our Streets) and produced by Jessie Anand Productions (This Might Not Be It). The cast is led by Lydia Bakelmun (Antigone) as Agatha, Fisun Burgess (PRU) as Bernadette, Mikhael DeVille (Grace) as Luke and Jack Bence (Bad Education) as Steven.
Here, D’Silva discusses the origins of the project, working with Kapila in rehearsals and the lessons she’s learned from the show.
Introduce us to Bungalow.
Ruth D’Silva: Working class, Anglo-Indian Agatha returns to her childhood bungalow to look after her elderly mother Bernadette after her father is laid up in hospital following a heart attack. With her father out of the picture and alone with her mother, Agatha unsuccessfully tries to have a chat with Bernadette and reveal a dark family secret. But Bungalow, who is very sensitive to events that have occurred within her walls, decides to help.
Who are the characters that we meet and how do we follow them through the story?
We meet Agatha, her mother Bernadette, her brother Luke and her boyfriend Steven. There is a fifth character – the bungalow in which the action takes place. Agatha is desperate for a dark family secret to be revealed and tries different ways and means throughout the play to have the truth come out. We follow the dramatic impact her efforts have on the whole family and the bungalow itself.
What are the origins of the project, and how was the show developed for the stage?
They say that everyone has an essential story they must tell. Bungalow is mine. Beth Kapila picked the script up from the pile when she was an associate director at the wonderful Tara Theatre. We talked, finding an affinity in our dual heritage, and Beth put the script up for an R&D week at Tara where the script was presented as a reading. Lauretta Barrow from Theatre503 attended this reading and then put the script forward to the Theatre503 team. After that we found our producer Jessie Anand, another person of dual heritage. There have been many twists and turns along the way, and we wouldn’t be here now if it were not for the support of Theatre503, Tara Theatre and the encouragement and emotional support of many other kind souls including Helena Bell from Kali Theatre.
How did you bring together the team behind the show?
I’ve already mentioned the wonderful Beth Kapila and Jessie Anand. I have to say, having this nuclear team in place and the contacts we share between us was useful in finding the rest of the creative team.
What are the themes you wanted to discuss, and how did you want to convey these on stage?
I wanted to tackle some delicate subjects including: caring for the elderly parent who is abusive; how religion is sometimes commandeered to promote misogyny, self-loathing and to keep people in servitude to white supremacy; and how victims are vilified and abusers are protected. I wanted these themes to play out in a family setting within a home that everyone is familiar with.
What can you tell us about what audiences can expect from the performance?
Bungalow tackles some delicate and difficult subjects, but also expect humour, familiarity, shocks and a magic bungalow who will hold your hand along the way.
How would you describe your writing process?
In 2020, I made myself a pact: no matter what money-earning job you’re doing, find four hours a day Monday-Friday to write. This has worked for me in developing a craft, and it’s been a beautiful thing to rely on – four hours of just me and the page. As a rule my first draft is torturous and very hard to get out. I find the real writing in the redrafting. I’ve learned that the moment you bring someone else into this solitary practice defines where the piece goes next, so make sure you trust the artistic judgement of that person. For Bungalow, it was my director Beth Kapila. What also works for my writing process is that writing can sometimes happen when you’re doing the washing up, when you’re out shopping, when you’re walking through a forest. These activities are necessary to daydream and connect to a freer brain which can problem-solve and create magic.
How have you worked alongside the cast and director Beth Kapila to bring your script to life?
Once we hit the rehearsal room, I saw Bungalow as the ship and Beth as the captain to bring it to shore. I was present in the first week of rehearsal as the world was being built for the cast to ask me questions about the culture, themes and political context. After that it was important for me to get the hell out of the rehearsal room so the cast didn’t have to worry about another pair of eyes on them. I then attended the odd run-through so I could see it with fresh eyes.
What have been the biggest challenges bringing the show to the stage?
By far the biggest challenge was lack of funding. We didn’t get Arts Council [funding] twice, [which was] very nerve wracking for us and for Theatre503. It’s hard to make plans when you don’t know where the money is coming from. Luckily, Theatre503 have shown us an emotional and practical support that saw us through the difficult times, and I also had my wonderful team in Beth and Jessie Anand to share the pain and uncertainty with. We got Arts Council on the third go, and I thank my lucky stars that ACE (Arts Council England) exists.
Bungalow is your debut feature play. What lessons have you learned from the experience?
I’ve learned something about the kindness, back-breaking work and goodwill it takes to put a play of this scale on. I don’t know how Theatre503 can support the large number of writers they do being such a small team, unless they keep ungodly hours. We also had advocates and supporters like Tara Theatre who don’t stand to gain from helping us, but gave us a large amount of support. Stewart Pringle (now at the RSC), Craig Gilbert at the Donmar, Jane Fallowfield who was then at the Royal Court and Daniel Bailey at the Bush somehow found time to have coffee with a writer they weren’t programming. This encouragement was instrumental to me feeling plugged into the industry and feeling that a writing career was possible.
I’ve also realised representation is challenging. Bungalow represents a working-class family of colour. It was important for me to have this representation on and off stage and slightly disappointing to realise how difficult it was to achieve due to people with less privilege not having sufficient props to flourish in the industry. The danger is that we end up with glossy middle-class creatives with reliable technical skills representing all the stories. This hasn’t happened with Bungalow and I’ve reflected how grateful I am to theatres such as Theatre503, Tara, Kali, Synergy Theatre Project, Clean Break Theatre Project, Cardboard Citizens, Mercury, HighTide, Bush Theatre and others who, through free classes, scratch nights, young persons’ companies and schemes, are able to nurture emerging talent, enabling artists who otherwise wouldn’t have got the opportunity to progress in the industry.
What do you hope audiences can take from the show?
I hope audiences leave Bungalow feeling thrilled, entertained – and if they’ve experienced any of the themes of the play, I hope they leave feeling held and understood.
What are you working on next?
I won an MGCfutures bursary to adapt the classic colonial novel Black Narcissusin, which I flip the perspective from the colonisers to the colonised. The development of the play is supported by the Donmar Warehouse and Stratford East. I was selected for the 2024 Kay Mellor Screenwriters’ Lab for my TV drama script Merle about Merle Oberon, a real-life Indian Hollywood star who was the first POC to be nominated for an Oscar, and who passed for white all her life. I’m also developing I Love You Priti Patel, focusing on seven love and sex addicts who ask themselves the question, “Why do we love in the places that don’t love us back?” Medusa Heard follows the story of Amber Heard who, in the middle of the Johnny Depp vs The Sun trial, auditions for the role of Medusa for a misogynistic director. The play asks the question, “In order for the story to work, does the woman have to be hurt?”
Bungalow is playing at Theatre503 until Saturday, March 15. Find tickets here.
Top image: Lydia Bakelmun in Bungalow. Image by Harry Elletson