Today there is more diversity on our screens and stages, notes the 30-year-old, whose second play, Stay Woke, about sibling rivalry between two Melbourne brothers of Sri Lankan heritage, will premiere at the Malthouse Theatre.

The latter-day inclusion of more non-white actors in Australian stories is “a progression, a transition”, he says.

“Theatre is at the forefront of that. It’s not like it’s going to change overnight, but things are getting more diverse in general, which is a cool thing.”

Thangaratnam, whose family are Tamil, initially chose to become a doctor. This ambition to study medicine, affording future financial security, made his parents happy. His father, an engineer, and his mother, who until recently worked for Centrelink, both came from Jaffna, on Sri Lanka’s northern tip.

Jaffna was “pretty poor, so they definitely left for economic reasons, but at that time the political climate was pretty crazy. There were riots in 1984 when a lot of Tamils were getting attacked. They wanted a peaceful and good life”.

Born in 1991, Thangaratnam was a naturally shy kid. “I found it hard to initially make a good impression,” he says. “I always withdrew into my shell a bit when I was meeting new people”.

When he was 26, a female friend suggested he try improvised comedy classes as a way to conquer his social anxiety. Slowly transitioning from an audience of classmates to performing on stage, he overcame some nerves while not entirely conquering the shyness. “The sound of laughter and positive reinforcement is such a nice thing,” he says, smiling at the memory.

Thangaratnam began writing a series of sketches for himself to perform, which he worked up into his first play. The Aussie Ethnic Identity Crisis, with four actors including Thangaratnam, who played a 16-year-old boy, premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2019. “I’m not really an actor at all,” he says, “but the other three were. It makes it easier when you’re acting with talented people.”

He found writing a lot less pressure than being on stage, so put the acting aside just as the Malthouse’s new work manager and resident dramaturg, Mark Pritchard, came and asked if he wanted to write a new play.

Stay Woke became one of seven new plays commissioned by Malthouse in 2020 as part of its Engine Room program. Directed by Bridget Balodis, the story takes place in the present day and centres on Sri Lankan brothers Niv, 30, played by Dushan Philips, and 25-year-old Sai, played by Kaivu Suvarna.

“I feel as a Sri Lankan I have to put Sri Lankans in the play, or else what am I really doing?” Thangaratnam laughs.

Set in a cabin at Mount Buller during a ski trip, the brothers are trying to put aside their differences for the sake of their family. Niv was always the black sheep, while Sai was the golden child. But the pair’s banter turns political and a family battle ensues.

“They revert to how they were like when they were kids,” says Thangaratnam. The comedy lies in the brothers’ blindness to their own flaws, their masculine-inflected stubbornness and lack of self-awareness.

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When Thangaratnam hangs out with his own family, including two older brothers, he “turns into a teenager again”. Their own rivalry manifests as a “general competitiveness”, although Thangaratnam’s experiences with his peers at his all-boys high school also inform the play.

While he loves to write, Thangaratnam has no plans to put medicine on hold. “The arts industry is a tough one, you have to do things without any security oftentimes,” he muses. “Medicine is the opposite; there’s always going to be a job. I just like talking to people, helping people out. That’s a really good feeling too.”