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| Wednesday, 29 May 2002 |
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by Malini Govinnage
A man who has been involved in popular theatre for the past twenty three years, Sisil Gunasekera is in love with the blacks - blacks in Africa. More precisely, the black freedom struggle and the man who engineered the freedom struggle - Nelson Mandela. "Mandela - Mandela" Sisil's latest play based on the
biography of the first black President of independent South Africa will be
on the boards early next month. First, the play will be staged in Colombo
then in Jaffna and later in the SAARC countries.
"Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando gives me his ardent support in my new production" reveals Sisil showing me a dog-eared document, lines of it almost blotted by much handling. It is a letter addressed to "Consultant Hon. Tyronne Fernando and Director Mr. Sisil Gunasekera" by Nelson Mandela, congratulating their effort to make a play out of his life story. (Please see box) How Sisil got the Foreign Minister involved in his play:
"Since his student days at Oxford University, Minister Tyronne Fernando has been an ardent supporter of Mandela and his freedom struggle. The best possible honour for this great personality is to bring his life before the people in the form of a play "Minister believed" Sisil says "In fact, for the past five years Minister has been supplying me with required details to build up Mandela's character". The play script is a combined effort of three people: Ruwan Bandara
Narasinghe, Athula Pathirana and Sisil himself.
Who plays Mandela? Sisil wishes to keep it a secret until the exact
date of staging is decided. Two important characters in the recent history
of South Africa, Ian Botha and F. D. W. Klerk will be played by two
"white-skinned officers from foreign diplomatic mission. Mr. Sanne D.
Kaasjager, second secretary of Royal Netherland Embassy is billed to play
Klerk's role. Ian Botha's character will be played by the Sri Lankan
representative of the Rumanian Embassy. Vimalendra Kumari will play the
role of Mandela's former wife Winnie.
Sisil who has been both the director and producer for all his previous fifteen plays has been faithful to his latest production in the same manner. He both directs and produces it. After almost two decades of his debut production "Guwan Karanam" and thirteen other popular plays by him. It is this year that a play directed by him was considered worthy of being selected to the final rounds of the State Drama Festival. It is "Eliya" a play adapted from Joe Garden's What the Butler Saw. Eight years ago, his 'Ithaliye Kathavak' based on Italian playwright Carlo Goldonie's One Servant Two Masters went on the boards for one whole week at John de Silva's Theatre, Colombo. As a token of appreciation of it the Italian Cultural, Ministry sent him Rs. 80,000. Why "Mandela - Mandela" - the repetition: "Because there will not be a second Mandela. He is a unique personality in this century. I wanted to emphasize it in the title". Sisil explains. He hopes to bring his dream play on stage by mid June, and his fervent hope is that he would be able to bring it before the very eyes of Mandela one day very soon. Message from Nelson Mandela It is a great honour to contribute these few words on the occasion of the preparation for the premiere of this drama named after ourselves and dealing with aspects of our life. What makes the occasion of special meaning to us is not in the first place its reference to ourselves. The major significance is its reference to the South African experience of seeking change through dialogue, negotiations and peaceful settlement. Most of the world expected our country to experience one of the bloodiest racial conflagrations. As a people we confounded the prophets of doom by finding a negotiated settlement amongst erstwhile foes and adversaries. Today we live in a united non-racial and non-sexist democracy where people live and act out their differences within the framework of our constitution. We have noted with great appreciation the recent efforts of the Sri Lankan government under the leadership of Honourable Ranil Wickremesinghe to find a peaceful settlement to the long standing conflict in Sri Lanka. The ceasefires declared by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Government, respectively, augur well for the road ahead. We congratulate both parties and wish them wisdom, endurance and above all the gift of tolerance as they proceed with the peace plan. We hope that this play will be successful and that it will in some way serve as an inspiration to the people of Sri Lanka to find lasting peace for themselves and their children. My congratulations to the author, the director and the players. May
this be a beautiful evening for all. "Butterfly Lovers" by "Temple of Fine Arts" The world can survive and progress only with a strong sense of unity of mankind and an appreciation of cultural diversity. With the aim of creating an atmosphere of unity, peace and understanding among people of different regions the "Temple of Fine Arts" of Malaysia presents "Butterfly Lovers" at BMICH, Colombo, which is on till May 30 daily at 7 p.m. The Temple of Fine Arts is a non-profit making Institutions founded by Swami Shantanand Saraswathie committed to developing a higher awareness of Fine Arts and the Performing Arts. The Institutions of Fine Arts has centres in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca, Johas Bahru, Singapore, Perth, Madras, Coimbatore where Indian classical dance and music are taught. Swami Shantanand is an Indian by birth, a Swami by choice, a Sadhu by temperament. His ideas are natured by the simple universal truths repeated endlessly in all cultures - serve, love, give, selflessly. He mirrors the minds of those around him. The Institution of Fine Arts of Malaysia tries to establish bands of friendship among those who are active in many fields of culture and urge them to contribute their mite to the process reconciliation and concord. In short it propagates the ideal of humanism through cultural activities and aspire to be a bridge among various countries and communities. |
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