A LOVE and passion for all aspects of theatre has kept Morningside actress and playwright Jayshree Parasuramen involved and constantly coming back for more in the theatre industry.
Whilst still a child, Jayshree was inspired to make her family laugh with comical imitations of family members, friends and neighbours. While her family thought it was a phase, she was not phased and continued her passion whilst studying teaching. “I loved the fantasy and pretend that acting offered me even as a little child performing for my family. It actually gave me the confidence to pursue acting,” she said.
The theatre and radio personality has always nursed a burning desire for the stage and after dabbling in bit parts. she got her break after veteran playwright and director Ronnie Govender saw her at an audition and the rest she said was history. “Ronnie is someone I admired forever, he was impressed not just by the little bit I performed at the audition. but about what he considered my unusual life style. When asked whether I was interested in acting, I enthused no end.”
Jayshree is currently in rehearsals for the restaging of her now mentor, Ronnie Govender’s smash-hit comedy, .“Your Own Dog Won’t Bite You. which will be staged at Sibaya’s iZulu Theatre from 20 to 23 August where she plays Masoodha Habibullah, a spiritual healer. Careful about her onstage roles, Jayshree said this one fun role and people will get to see my playful side.”
During the course of her “life journey” she had a stint as a teacher in a ramshackle mission school run by Catholic nuns from Kerala in a remote village in the Transkei. She had decided on taking up the poorly paid job when she was moved by the plight of the poor children in the area which she visited with friends. “There were no domestic luxuries like heaters or hot water for bathing. In fact there was no water and we had to fetch our own from a small river nearby. In winter it was very cold and I wore a blanket to keep out the biting cold like the local women. The pay was very little so I did some moonlighting in the late afternoons and evening. I delivered bread for a small bakery in a battered van.”
“When I eventually got back to Durban I resumed teaching at conventional schools and grabbed whatever opportunity to put on plays.”
Ronnie Govender gave her first big break in the musical spoof Too Muckin’ Futch! This was followed by an important role in Ronnie’s searing drama, Botoo about the life of the feisty women’s rights campaigner and political activist, Dr Gonum.
Then the actress took a year off teaching while she wrote, directed and acted in an highly acclaimed one-person play, Chats-Worth! on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Chatsworth where she spent her childhood.
Jayshree is the PRO and Ronnie Govender’s production manager for Shah Theatre Academy, she also runs her own entertainment company Jzee Entertainment, and works on popular radio drama Sunshine Mall, and is currently working in Essop Khan’s 30th Celebration Production entitled Fabulous Four In One. She is also involved with at the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre.
