Waiting for permission to travel

THEATRE: By the end of January I had completed my intended four months in Moscow and I was rearing to travel to other parts of the Soviet Union. For one reason or another the Gosconcert and the Foreign Ministry officials seemed to be reluctant to let me travel but I was equally adamant that I should - after all that was in the itinerary I had put forward to them.

Anyway, things were not all that bad. I had plenty of things more to see in Moscow, had plenty of places to visit and of course there was Breck and Asoka Subasinghe to spend the free evenings with.

Let me quote some of the entries from my diary, which on retrospect explains my frustration and some of the actions I took to break the impasse. (28th Jan. - ?Zoya tells me that there is an epidemic of ?flu? (?hrip? in Russian) or some such thing in Leningrad and my trip will have to be postponed.

Zoya is a very honest person. I could easily see that she was only conveying something that the Ministry had concocted and that she was feeling pretty bad about it. I said that was okay and that I was prepared to wait. I asked her to get some tickets for children?s plays and puppet plays, to while away the evenings and suggested we visit an amateur theatre group too - preferably to see them rehearsing some play.

Zoya agreed gladly. She was not sure about ?Amateur? theatre, but said she would find out. She gave me my lesson in Russian and was extra kind - perhaps she is trying to make amends. She may have seen the frustration in my eyes...?

29th January - ?Went to Embassy. No letter from Manel. Proceeded to Breck?s to finish last night?s rice and curry! ?EE-GO-GO? at the Puppet Th. in the evening. A satirical puppet play on modern morals linked up by an actor and actress. Unusual, but not as funny or as absorbing as ?God?s Comedy? which I saw previously.?

Exhibition

30th January - ?In the room all day. Recd. A letter from Jayantha Premachandra from Bulgaria where he is having an exhibition of his paintings. My back-ache has been troubling me for the last few days.

I got Olya (a hotel maid) to give my back a rub with some oil given by Breck....When I came here I never imagined I could be so lonely. If the Ambassador and the family were here, I could have at least gone there...?

31st January - ?Sunday. Went to Embassy in the morning. It was a nice day - not too cold - about 2 degrees below. Enjoyed the walk to the Embassy. No letters. Went to Breck?s from there with him and Asoka. I spent the day with them and stayed the night over. It was a nice change from yesterday...?

1st February - ?Monday. Went to meet some amateur theatre people. Zoya had done some hard work to find them. I met the director and saw a play being rehearsed - ?As You Like It?. Much the same as our rehearsals. This is a particularly well known and recognized Amateur Th. Group.

There is a sharp difference, not only in the quality of acting etc. but also their attitude - a relaxed and easy going one. The actors and actresses are from all walks of life. This group has a repertoire of about six plays which they perform from time to time while also rehearsing a new play or two.

Went to Saranelis? little flat from there, for dinner. Saranelis is employed as watcher and odd-job-man in the Embassy. Breck and I call him Saranelis Appuhamy. He is very fond of the two of us, but is mortally scared of Tissa Jayakody...?

2nd Feb. ?Tuesday. My trip to Leningrad is being postponed day by day. Apparently the Ministry has not recd a reply from Paris - or so they say. I asked Zoya to try and get me an interview with the Ministry official...?

3rd Feb. Wed. - ?To Embassy in the morning. A letter from Manel. Came back and wrote a reply. I did not write about my problems to her. Should keep her happy. To Friendship House (Dom Drushba) in the evening. Commemoration of Ceylon Independence day.

There were speeches from the hosts and our Tissa Jayakody, who is now acting Ambassador, made a superb speech in Russian. The whole audience rose to applaud him. The speeches were followed by an excellent concert of Russian songs, a puppet show and a display of acrobatics.

I saw my favourite folk-singer of all Russia - Lyudmilla Zikina - who was gracious enough to sing on the occasion of our Independence. She is a roly-poly woman with a sweet and smiling face. She sang my favourite Russian folk song too ?Tselovat sa ne veri..? - (The snow is falling, but my lover has to leave.

My mother would not let me kiss him...) Miriam Salgenik also attended the function. I handed over my Kuveni translation to her. Melkovitch (a former secretary of the Russian Emb. In Colombo) and his wife accompanied me to the hotel. We had a drink and quite an interesting chat in my room.?

4th Feb. Thurs. - ?Independence day. Waited all morning for Zoya?s call about the interview. Jayantha, Oruwala Bandu and Jayasena dropped in. Went to Embassy at 5 in the eve. For the Independence day party. There was quite a crowd. Some of us lingered on and had a sort of second ?party? after the official thing was over at 7.30!?

5th Feb. Friday. - ?Interview with Ministry official (Alexeyev) at 2.15. He repeats that my Fellowship award does not provide for an interpreter and they have referred the matter to Paris as to whether UNESCO would meet those extra expenses.

I pointed out to him that I had included travel in my itinerary and that time was running out. I was sure that UNESCO would allow these expenses, I told Mr. Alexeyev. If it was turned down, I would proceed to London on the next phase of my fellowship and explain to British Council the reason for my early arrival, I added.

This seemed to peeve Mr. A. I let it go at that and left him...Went to the Amateur Theatre from there. Had an interesting discussion with the Director and his Assistant. Went to Breck?s at 7.30. Listened to Kuveni on tape...Breck?s apartment in Kuthusovsky Prospect is on the 17th floor and the scene from there in the night is panoramic. Stayed over. Could not fall asleep for a long long time...?

Stiff attitude

6th Feb. Sat. - ?Telephoned Miriam Salgenik and saw her at 12. I told her my problems and about the stiff attitude of the Ministry. She telephoned several people and finally got in touch with someone at the Ministry.

He had promised to ?straighten things out?. Miriam is a fairly powerful woman. While being there I met a playwright/poet who invited me for the premiere of his first play, on the 13th. I also met a lecturer of the Moscow University. He arranged a discussion for me on Monday with a professor of the History of Theatre.

Later we went to the Writers? Club and had some coffee. Altogether it was a very interesting and profitable afternoon. In the evening Asoka came and picked me up from the hotel. We went to Breck?s - where else to! Stayed over. Far better than moping in my hotel room...?

7th Feb. Sunday - ?Came back to hotel at 10 in the morning. Jayantha and Jayasena came and they took me to a friend?s home in the outskirts of Moscow. We went by train. The landscape is quite different with lots of trees - some of them still covered with snow.

All the houses are made of timber. Jayasena?s friend owns one such house. It?s quite warm and comfortable inside and they have gas and electricity (I wonder if it was bio gas) The man is from Azarbajan and the wife is a Russian. Very hospitable. Second time I have been inside a Russian home.

We were treated for lunch and came back to Moscow about 7 in the evening. Took a taxi and went to Ananda?s place. He had invited Breck and Asoka too, for dinner. Dropped in at Gerry?s too. They are neighbours.

The typical Russian timber home (house) is very interesting. The only drawback is that there is no inside bathroom. They have to go to a common bathing place to bathe - rather like our ?pihilla? or ?pokuna?.

In any case who is the fool who will venture out in this winter to have an icy cold bath? I believe they boil some water and have a hot water bath in the outside shed. There is an outhouse where coal and other knick-knack are stored. The lavatory is also there.?

11th Feb. Thursday - ?Went to state Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations and met Mr. Mashaev, the man in charge of my program. It appears that finally my travel program is okay and he promised to arrange it as soon as possible. This is a great relief to me. I was very unhappy the past few days.

Went to the Gypsy Theatre in the evening - a play called the ?Gypsy Man?. I expected something quite different from the ?Gypsy Theatre?. This was neither ?gypsy? nor folk theatre. It was sentimental, half-backed fare!?

12th Feb. Friday - ?To Soviet National Theatrical Society at Gorky street. Met the Secretary and he spoke to me about his Organisation. The President is a well-known artiste of the Maaly Theatre.

This organisation has a vast library and also maintains records of all important theatrical fare. This institute has a history of 80 years. It has books, picture sand records of every conceivable theatrical subject. Has a separate bureau on each well-known Soviet and foreign playwright. Has records of even Chitrasena?s and Dayananda?s visits here.

Has an Actors? Club which displays drawings, sculptures, wood-work etc. done by actors. It has branches in all the principal cities. They have regular conferences with Directors, Artistes and others involved with Theatre, about their problems etc. Provides Rest Homes, Convalescent Homes and Holiday Homes for Artistes - even a kindergarten school for their children.

I got all the pictures I asked for from the Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage, The Idiot, The Three Sisters etc. Good heavens, when will we have anything even vaguely similar....!?

Thought of the week

We must be the only country in the civilized world that does not have a Film Archive or a Theatre Archive. I remember when Ranasinghe Premadasa was Prime Minister and he rebuilt and revived the Tower Hall Theatre, part of it - a room in fact - was reserved to display old costumes, stage props, stage jewellery etc.

Those items which had been collected by former famous artistes of the Tower Hall as heirlooms were gifted by them to Mr. Premadasa. I believe it is still there. That is the only stage archive that I know of. I believe there is some memorabilia of our greatest stage and screen star, Rukmani Devi, in the Rukmani Devi Memorial Centre at Negombo.

Most of us theatre people have loads of costumes, stage designs, sets, stage props, stage scripts etc. which are rotting in old suitcases in our homes. I have old costumes of Kuveni and Tavat Udesanak at least, designed by the late Kalasuri Somabandhu Vidyapathy, some costume designs and other paraphernalia and I don?t know what to do with them.

There is no use of talking about a Film Archive. Dr. Lester James Peries, the doyen of our cinema has been agitating about this ever since I knew him. Alas, nothing has happened.

Thanks to the enterprising efforts of one man, Tissa Nagodavitana, we have some of the old films, painstakingly preserved. But some of the milestones of the local cinema such as Kadavunu Poronduwa, Asokamala, Deviyanne Rate, Kele Handa and Sandesaya have disappeared forever. The new Chairman of the Film Corporation, perhaps, could take some action to retrieve some of the old films - especially the good ones.

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