Hiran Abeysekera: ‘After the tsunami, I decided that I wanted to do something I truly love’

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

I was in a play before I saw one. I was a rat in a version of The Pied Piper at Nalanda College, an all-boys school in Colombo. That was my first theatre experience. I also remember watching an adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding in Sri Lanka, too. I was hungry to do more theatre after that.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

There is a story that after Buddha reached enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he sat and looked at it for seven days without blinking. It is meant to teach you that in order to respect something, you have to truly see it.

When I started to feel low last year, I tried to do that. I look at the leaves in my garden. I sit by the river and watch the sun on the water. It is those everyday things that inspire me.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it and ensure that the biggest worry for everyone in the performing arts world was the work that they create, rather than anything else.

What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?

There was a moment in Life of Pi when my character had a panic attack. I had this technique that choked me up and made me gag a bit. After one matinee, we went to Saravana Bhavan on Charing Cross Road. I had a full thali. That evening, when I had my panic attack, instead of choking, I threw up dhal all over the stage. I had to take my shirt off and mop it up. It was so disgusting.

What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?

My best friend from Sri Lanka is an actor called Dilum Buddhika. He moved to Italy, but couldn’t speak English or Italian, so the only job he could get was washing dishes. When I was in Peter Brook’s The Tempest in Paris, I asked him if Dilum could join us in the rehearsal room. Peter said: “Of course.”

Slowly but surely, Dilum became more and more involved in the production. He became one of the sprites in the show and he got a contract. I remember looking at him at the curtain call after our first performance, and he was just beaming. That was one of my happiest moments.

What role do you really want to play?

I did a speech from Richard III as my audition piece for RADA, so I would like to do that. I would like to do Hamlet, too, and I would like to do more TV and film. Then people back in Sri Lanka can see me. Life of Pi is showing in cinemas in Colombo at the moment. All of my friends are going to see it.

What projects are you involved in at the moment?

I am playing Nathuram Godse – the man who assassinated Gandhi – in The Father and the Assassin at the National Theatre. I have wanted to work with Indhu Rubasingham – a fellow Sri Lankan – forever. Then I read the play, and I had to be part of it. It is an awesome piece of writing. Gandhi has been quite prominent in my life. Sri Lanka got its independence only a few months after India did, thanks to Gandhi, so he is a big figure there, too. I grew up with my dad quoting him.

The Father and the Assassin is at the National Theatre from September 8-October 14. Visit: nationaltheatre.org.uk