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| Wednesday, 5 May 2004 |
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Focus on books Innovations in playwriting by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra Perhaps Shakespeare or Kalidasa may not have wanted their play scripts or texts to be seen as printed readable material. But the day dawned when the need was felt by the reading public. Playscript or text is meant for a theatre production, and in that process the players read the text and present in the form of expression and gestures and mimes as needed by the play director or the chief creator of the play intended. In Sri Lanka, I have observed that quite a number of playwrights inclusive of such persons as the late professor Sarachchandra, publish playscripts as there is a ready reading public. But in the initial stage a play is never printed or published prior to the stage production. There is also a group of playwrights who so desire to publish a playscript prior to the stage production and the printed text is sometimes utilised by the players in the course of the play production. The great dramatist Bernard Shaw also underlined the fact that playscripts could be presented as reading material and for most of his plays, he wrote long prefaces explaining the intrinsic values of the experience. As some critics believed, that for the most part some major plays of Shaw are better for reading than actual theatrical presentations. Anton Checkov who was a great play wright and a short story writer believed that all his five major plays, like Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Sea gull, Three Sisters, and Ivanov are written as theatrical presentation rather than for reading purposes. But coincidentally enough all his plays, may they be short one act plays or long plays, were equally received as world classics meant for both reading and acting. As such according to records available, all his plays are translated all over the world. The influence of great playwrights is one of the most significant events in our theatre history as well. Sometimes it is observed that some plays of Shakespeare and Moliere are adapted as stage productions withdrawing the essence of the original writing. Influence But over the years we have seen that both forms, the translations as well as adaptations have influenced the younger generation of playwrights immensely to create their own original plays. Two young playwrights and their works come to my mind when I note this point. They are Rajitha Disanayaka and Piyal Kariyawasam. For the most part both of them are seriously inclined on learning the art of writing plays in the classical tradition while retaining their originality. This is observed in the two plays of Rajitha, the two playscripts, Veeraya Merila (the hero is dead) and Mata Vedi Tiyannedda? (why not shoot me?). Both these plays exhibit the vibrance in which a modern sensibility could be investigated via a theatrical experience. For those who saw these two play productions, and I for one, had the inclination to examine how they were written down. On reading the two printed texts, I found that the three segments, of the individual, the worth of living and fear are interlinked. Rajitha as a young dramatist has the ability to present vibrant social behaviour situations in the tragi-comedy level, which I deem as one of the best literary techniques that was perhaps undermined for the most part by the generation of playwrights, who are senior to him. Like in the plays of Harold Pinter, who utilizes a series of dialogues and monologues, which contain the sub text as the investigative layer of meaning, Rajitha too makes use of a similar manner in both plays, which to mind is a challenge to the player, for he or she has to be transformed from one line to another. Perhaps on the external layer an utterance may not mean much, but on further scrutiny the very line carries a meaning and human experience linked to the next line. In this manner, whole play looks a web intertwined. He carefully chooses pubs, boarding rooms, young undergraduates who so talk politics at a moment and then shift it to post modernism, then try to understand love and sex. Then comes a media person, with her note book, discussions etc. There ensues quite a lot of short interview like episodes. Violence comes as a latent human interest story transcending the normal human relationships. Language In several ways these two playscripts are a study in the modern use of Sinhala language. As poets, novelists and short story writers have often emphasized the changing nature of the language has to be utilised for creative skills, not merely for the sake of trend setting but as an act of modern creative communication. As Roland Barthes, who is grossly misunderstood by several Sinhala critics, once said; whatever the complexities of literary theory, a novelist or a poet or any other creative artiste is supposed to speak about objects and phenomena which whether imaginary or not, are external and interior to language. The world exists, and the writer uses language; such is the definition of literature. The object of criticism is very different, it deals not with 'the world', but with the linguistic formulations made by others. This promulgation does not mean that the writer has the full liberty to vulgarize the langauge but to use it more appropriately. The end result should prove an edifying creative work that stands as an epitome of social cadres. Thus taking a synoptic view these two playscripts provide us with a laboratory of theatrical ingredients. *********** A cultural tour of the North and East Sinhala Bauddha Urumaya
If we begin from the North, history and archaeology tell us that this peninsula in the North was Nagadeepa. And legend tells us that this was the site where a historic struggle took place between Chulodara and Mahodera over the possession of a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha in one of his visits to our country is reported to have sat. The interconnection between North and South is also revealed in one of the Dhamma stories narrated in Buddhist literature of how a male crow which had made his home in a kaak-bo tree in Tissamaharama, once came to the North and married a female crow living in the shade of a palmyrah grove. All went well for a while until a quarrel broke out between the newly married couple, and the female went back to her palmyrah grove. Undaunted by this setback the male took flight to the palmyrah grove and succeeded in bringing her back. Quite a significant story which gives us many ideas, says the author of this book, Ellawala Medananda Thera who is guiding us on this cultural tour all the way from the North along the eastern sea coast right down to Magama, the modern Tissamaharama. The Buddha's visit to Nagadeepa was commemorated by the building of two Dagobas in Nagadeepa, not in the little island of that name, but in the peninsula itself. The dagobas are no longer there, but in his search for those sites during his visits in 1977, 1981 and 2001 the author has come to several interesting places containing evidence of many Buddhist ruins and to the conclusion that these could be the sites where the first dagobas were built in the Nagadeepa. One was close to the Mallakam railway station. During an excavation there some years ago, the head of a Buddha image was discovered. Close by the author had noticed a place name Katpokanai which, he says, is the Tamil form of the Sinhala name Galpokuna. This, and the remains of mounds of scattered bricks everywhere suggested to him that this could also have been an ancient Aramaya, a place of residence for Buddhist Monks. Impressive The other place was Vallipuram. Here there was a Vishnu Devalaya which had come up amidst the Buddhist ruins and leaning against a bo tree nearby was an eight foot standing figure of an impressive Buddha statue. The King of Siam who visited Ceylon around the beginning of the last century admired this statue so much that the Governor at that time, Henry Blake, presented it to him. It is now on display in Thailand. That Vallipuram could have been a prosperous town at one time was indicated to him by the remains of a broad rampart stretching for over a mile. Though it was, according to reports, well protected in 1916, today it is badly neglected. Further away from the Vishnu Devalaya is a huge mound of sand, which, he suspects, could be the remains of a Stupa and its excavation may provide some useful information about the history of Vallipuram which is also the spot where a gold foil with an inscription in Brahmi was discovered around 1936. He had been led to these spots by people living in this area who also provided him with some useful background information. The third interesting site of Buddhist ruins in Jaffna he visited, was Kantarodai. In all there are, he says, over 40 sites of Buddhist ruins in the peninsula. Kantarodai is situated a few miles away from Palali on the Kankesanturai road where the turn off from the Mavaddipuram kovil leads to a village that contains the ruins. The time he visited this spot was soon after the General Elections of 1977 when the place was under civil administration. Except for the cadjan fences this village hardly differed from any Sinhala village. The greenery of the place made him forget for a moment the dry heat of Jaffna. Moist land One of his guides on a part of this tour was a Hindu priest through whom he was able to find out what the common man's reaction was to the flurry of banners, posters and slogans blaring forth "Our liberation is Eelam". Apparently, what he found was that Eelam reigned only in the minds of politicians whereas the common man was indifferent to it. To come to the Kantharodai ruins, this name according to the author is the Tamil form of Kadurugoda. Kaduru and the Pali word Kandura, according to the author, have similar meanings of moist land or stream, which is descriptive of the Kadurugoda site because a stream ran by its side. He also says that the Portuguese took the Sinhala name and called the place Kandara Goday. The place was first referred to by Paul Pieris in 1916 and excavations took place only in 1965 by Godakumbura. It revealed a unique sight a cluster of small dagobas with only a six foot cirumference, around a large one whose base was only 23.5 feet. Among the relics recovered were a variety of coins belonging to the ages of Parakrama Bahu the Great, Dharmasoka and Buvenekabahu among many others. A unique feature of the Buddhist ruins in Jaffna is that, though they suffered some damage under the cruel rule of Sankili, they have remained untouched from the 16th century onwards. The evidence for this is that when in 1917 Paul Pieris visited the place it was free from the usual vandalism places of religious worship generally suffer. Commenting on this phenomenon Ellawala Medananda Thera says," Yet, in places where the Sinhalese Buddhists inhabit not one stupa or image has remained undamaged by the vandals. When I reflect on this I think that the Sinhala Buddhists should be ashamed of themselves when considering the respect and regard the Tamil Hindus have shown to places of Buddhist worship in Jaffna. They have no ambitions of reaching for Eelam nor are they motivated by anti-religious feelings. Their only hope is to live in peace and unity with the Sinhalese." This was the impression he got on his second visit in 2001 to Jaffna. When he was on his way to Kantharodai for the second time, soon after performing the functions at a funeral ceremony for Sri Lakan sailors of a ship which had just been sunk off Kankesanthurai. At the turn off from the Mavaddipuram Kovil, impressed by its height, he stopped to get a better view. On seeing him the Poosari of the Kovil welcomed him warmly, showed him the interior of the Kovil as well and then invited him to his home to have a cup of tea. Although he spoke well in English he had no knowledge of Sinhala at all. But his wife and daughter spoke Sinhala well. The Poosari finally insisted on taking a picture of himself with the monk, and he took the Thera's hand and put it over his shoulder in a very friendly gesture. They bade each other goodbye with the Monk saying poittu varen and the women saying gihilla enna. Vandals Going down the east coast he was saddened by the neglect and ruin into which hundreds of centres of Buddhist worship were languishing in the Sinhala areas and at the mercy of the vandals. He notes in passing that there are over 350 village tanks in the Eastern Province which are the lifeblood of the farmer. With greater care and maintenance the Eastern Province could serve as another granary for the whole of Lanka. Among some notable events in his trek to the South was his visit to a shrine of historic importance situated to the south of Lahugala. At first it looked like a tall hill covered with trees. On getting closer he found that this could be the stupa of Nilagiri. It was at this Vihara, according to the Mahawansa, if it could be definitely identified as such, that the king of Magama at its ceremonial opening brought his Dasa Maha Yodayas together and got them to agree, that if ever his two sons Gemunu and Tissa fell out, the Yodayas should not take anybody's side. To get to the top of the ruined Stupa was an arduous task which he did by fighting his way through scrub and jungle. It appears that in a way, it is the jungle which has helped to preserve Nilagiri from further deterioration, His guess is that the circumference of this Stupa as it stands today should be around a 1,000 feet. Except for a preliminary report made by the then Archaeological Commissioner, Hocart, there has not been any further investigations done in the whole of the last century. Perhaps the new Prime Minister with the interest of Ruhuna at his heart may order a restoration of this huge Stupa rivaling the ones in the Raja Rata. We should also be thankful to Ellawala Medananda Thera for the compilation of this book which he has done after several visits over the years single handed, suffering many hardships in that process to awaken the people to a forgotten great heritage of this country. - S. Pathiravitana *********** First in a series of books on films Ilankai thirai ulaka munnodigal(Pioneer of Sri Lankan Cinema)
This is understandable, because there is hardly any quality films, as in yesteryears, created in any part of the world at present. Hollywood, Digital Video, Action, Technology et al, have taken over artistic sensibility. There is no more serious cinema in a European style. One should recall the pioneering efforts made in Sri Lanka to make film making a viable enterprise and a thriving industry in our country. However stupid, alien, melodramatic and hotchpotch earlier Sinhala and Thamil films had been in the past, it is ungrateful to dismiss the pioneering brick-building that members of different communities in our little island, had made in the past. To put the records straight, a Sri Lankan writer in Thamil has compiled a little book which gives at least a few forgotten facts about the making of a Sri Lankan cinema. He is Thambyayah Thevathas a teacher, broadcaster, translator and author. As a translator of the Sinhala fiction of K. Jayathilake and Karunasena Jayalat the author should write this book in Sinhala as well for the benefit of the majority of readers in Sri Lanka. Some of the big names in the production of Sri Lankan films mainly in the Sinhala language are mentioned and brief write-ups on each one of them are included in this 245 - page book printed in Chennai, India. The book is the first in the series that the writer hopes to publish in succession. Specializing in filmography rather than critical evaluation. Thevathas has already published two other books on Sri Lankan Cinema. They were The Golden Age of the Sinhala Cinema and The Story of Thamil Cinema in Sri Lanka. The 40 pen-portraits of artists and businessmen featured in the book include the following: S. M. Nayagam, Henry Chandrawansa of Kerala origin, Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner, B. S. Krishnakumar, W. M. S. Tampoe, T. Somasekeran, K. Gunaratnam, M. Vedanayagam, Jabir A. Cader, Lenin Moraes, Joe Devanand, A. V. M. Vasgam, Helen Kumari, A. J. Vincent, M. Masthan, Rukmani Devi, V. P. Ganeshan, K. Thavamani Devi, Mohideen Beig, A. S. Rajah, S. N. Danaratnam, V. S. Muttuvelu-Ranjani, R. Muttusamy, Anton Gregory, M. K. Rocksamy, Robin Tampoe, S. Ramanathan, K. S. Balachandran, M. S. Anandan, Eelathu Rethinam, K. P. K. Balasingham, V. S. Thurairajah and K. Venkat. - K. S. Sivakumaran **** Back **** |
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The splendour, even in ruin, of the ancient royal cities of
Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa has diverted us from taking a look elsewhere
in the country for their extensions. For these ruins were all
interconnected - one small island, one Sri Lanka. From Peduru Tuduwa in
the North to Devundera in the South, from Wattala in the West to
Samanthurai in the East the marks of a Buddhist civilisation are
everywhere.
While the outstanding Sinhala language films made in Sri Lanka have
earned respectability and appreciation in arty cinema of the world and
thus deserving to be proudly called indigenous Sri Lankan cinema, most
films made in Sinhala and Thamil in the island are far from greatness.
