We form 'Nalu Kela' - 'The Actors'

THEATRE: The men and women who had been with me through thick and thin, and I decided that it was time we formed our own little organization to present our plays. We had to begin from scratch.

All our worldly 'assets', so to say were with the Mandalaya. That meant a harmonium, a drum, thablas and other such musical instruments, a typewriter, letterheads and such things - not to mention a considerable bank balance. We had a very informal meeting where I presided and my good friend Santin Gunawrdhana took down the proceedings. We had no constitution. We just exchanged ideas. Some suggested that we claim back what was earned with our money.

I disagreed. "We have worked with the Mandalaya for over four years. We have been good friends. I removed myself from them because I want to work more independently - without any fetters. I do not wish to start our new venture with ill will.

We can always get those material things anew. Let us borrow a harmonium and a drum from somebody and have a few shows and we will have the money to buy these things anew."

And that is exactly what we did. We had four plays - Janelaya, Kuveni, Thavat Udesanak and now Manaranjana - as our main assets. These plays were still in demand. Within a short period of time we had our own musical instruments, an English typewriter [which I still have, but hardly ever use], our own letterheads etc.

Fortunately the costumes and sets were with me because, in any case they were stored in my rented house at Nugegoda - we had built a small store room exactly for that, with our own hands.

We called our new organization 'Nalu Kela' in Sinhala and 'The Actors', in English. At that time, in the sixties, the only other active Art and Drama Circle was 'Kala Pela' under the direction of G.D.L. Perera and other men and women of arts such as Edwin Hewakapuge, Devananda Waidyasekera , Elson Divituragama, Leoni Weerasinghe and Shelton Silva. Nalu Kela and Kala Pela were good friends.

Together we conducted workshops for aspiring young actors and actresses. We even had a friendly cricket match between Nalu Kela and Kala Pela at the Royal Junior School grounds.

I remember that match vividly because of one incident. Somebody hit a ball high in the air and both Santin Gunawardhana and Cyril Dharmawardhana ran to take a catch and they collided rather nastily. They were both in pain clutching their knees. Santin managed to rub off the pain.

I think Cyril did so too for the moment, but had to be admitted to a private Nursing Home later due to some complications. I am not sure who won the match. I don't think that mattered very much.

No constitution

Our new organization - Nalu Kela - was doing extremely well. Although we had no written constitution a set of disciplines emerged with our dedication and hard work as time went on. Participants had to turn up in time for rehearsals. No nonsense during performances.

Everybody had their allotted tasks and they did them. Our shows started on the dot, on time - even if the chief guest or guests had not arrived. When traveling out to outstations, participants had to arrive at a given time - often early in the morning.

Normally the bus from Ebert Silva Tours picked us up at Nugegoda and proceeded to Borella where the rest of the cast waited near the Y.M.B.A. Since there was always a straggler or two we had to device ways and means to stop that. By now we had two Savings Accounts in the Bank of Ceylon, Fort Branch. One was for immediate expenses.

The other was for contingencies and Welfare. We could give a loan up to Rs. 100 for any member for any urgent need such as a journey , buying of school books for children, for sickness etc.

Somebody suggested that we impose a fine of Rs. 2 from late comers. This was agreed upon unanimously. "What happens to the Rs. 2?" Asked a lone voice - one of the younger girls. "How about collecting a few fines and buying a bottle to celebrate afterwards ?" That was a man's voice. "No, nothing of the sort." Santin, our secretary said firmly. "We add it to our Welfare Fund." He added and there was applause all round.

However, the stragglers became less and less after the introduction of the imposition of a fine of Rs. 2 per straggler. It was not so much the amount, but the 'shame' of being 'fined' that made our members more punctual, I am sure.

We were going from strength to strength. After Manaranjana, I ventured into Tennessee Williams the very next year, ie, 1966. I have mentioned earlier in these columns that his play 'The Glass Menagerie' fascinated me. I had been working on an adaptation of 'The Glass Menagerie' for some time. I called it 'Ahas Maaliga'.

In my adaptation, Tom Wingfield becomes Jinasena Denipitiya, Amanda becomes Mrs. Denipitiya, Laura becomes Deepa and Jim O'Conner becomes Upul Aaadipathya. It was in a way 'refreshing' to direct a play with just four characters after directing a play like Manaranjana with a large cast.

I cast Manel as Mrs. Denipitiya - the doting, worrying, effervescent mother, Grace de Silva [later Ariyawimal] as the shy, slightly crippled, introvert Deepa - in her maiden role on the stage, Santin Gunawardhana and Ananda Liyanage as Upul Adipathya and myself as Jinasena - Tom Wingfield.

To this day I wonder why I cast myself in that role where Manel and I had to play mother and son - a daunting task. May be it was because I loved that role of Tom so much - there was so much an actor could do with that role. I was thirty-five at that time. Perhaps I did not look that much.

Nevertheless, I think that was a bad decision on my part. I had been too selfish.

Drama competition

Anyway rehearsals were proceeding and a strange thing happened. Mr. H. D. Sugathapala was the chairman of the Arts Council Drama Panel at that time. Mr. Sugathapala, as I have written on many occasions, was our great good friend.

He invited us also to join that year's drama competition. I refused at first. One competition [in 1963] was enough for me. But Mr. S insisted. I could not refuse him - he had been so helpful to us. So we too were dragged into the melee once again. Something was very special that year. There were two sections to the Annual Drama Competition.

One for total newcomers and the other for old guards. To my surprise I found that two other competitors from the 'experienced' section were Sugathapala de Silva and Dhamma Jagoda. More surprises.

Both of them were also bringing two plays by Tennessee Williams! Sugath was bringing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as 'Hele Negga Doong Putha' and Dhamma was bringing A Streetcar Named Desire as 'Ves Muhunu' I was unhappy about joining in this competition, but it was too late to turn back now.

That year there were as many as 16 plays in the 'invited' or rather 'experienced' section. And three of them were adaptations of Tennessee Williams ! In addition to Ahas Maaliga I also had my Manaranjana in the invited section. That was a very fruitful year for the Drama Panel of the Arts Council.

Finally it was Dhamma Jagoda's 'Ves Muhunu' that grabbed two of the major awards of the 'invited' section of the Festival. Dhamma himself was adjudged the Best Actor for his role of 'Kawlavsky' in Ves Muhunu and Sunethra Jagoda was adjudged the Best Actress for her role as 'Kawlavsky's wife. Roma de Zoysa who played 'Blanche' also was awarded a Merit Certificate.

From my Ahas Maaliga only Grace de Silva won an award - that of a Merit Certificate. We were all overshadowed by the powerful acting of Dhamma and Sunethra Jagoda.

In fact we were so impressed by their performances, I believe it were we - meaning Manel and I - who applauded most as the results were announced! I still believe it was my wrong decision to cast myself as 'Tom Wingfield' that took away the chance of Manel winning an award that year - at least as the Best Supporting Actress....She never complained. She could take it. It was all in the game!

Adaptation

Ahas Maaliga came in for a lot of flak from the critics. Tissa Abeysekera, writing about the whole festival had remarked that I was just not suitable for the role of Tom Wingfield. He had said that he had nothing to carry home, after seeing Ahas Maaliga.

He had also said that I had not been able to capture the poetic language of Tennessee Williams in my adaptation. Nihal Ratnayake, a powerful critic of the times had called me a Yankee - most likely because of my urbane looks and the fact that I had worn rather a trendy jacket as 'Narrator' at the beginning of the play.

As I said it was all in the game and I promised myself not to make the same mistake ever again - that of casting myself in an unsuitable role!

We did have a few shows of Ahas Maaliga in spite of the critics. I particularly remember a performance we had at Peradeniya - in the open air theatre. That was quite a different story as opposed to the sophisticated Colombo audience.

In any case, in spite of the bad reviews etc. I wanted to try it out at Peradeniya before a young and impressionable audience.

After all the play was about a struggling family with so many drawbacks - a very moving play. Mahinda Dias, our theatre electrician and technical man par-excellence had put up a beautiful set for the play, which consisted of a winding service stair case and a stout door for exits and entries.

When our men were putting up this curious looking set at the open air stage there were many curious student onlookers. 'What's this contraption ?' they had asked our set man, Mervyn. "Ah, this is something very 'special' sir. You come and have a look in the evening." He had replied. So they came in the evening.

In any case, students and even the staff and the neighborhood of Peradeniya hardly ever missed a new play in their precincts.

At Peradeniya, my much abused Ahas Maaliga turned into magic. I will be saying more about it next week.

Thought of the week

Talking about magic, there was magic - old world magic - at the Lumbini Theatre last Friday, on the 13th of October to be exact. As I promised my readers a couple of columns back, the revival of Dayananada Gunewardhana's 'GAJAMAN PUVATHA' was magic. I was a little worried, frankly, about the revival, after 30 years, with most of the original players cast in their original roles.

There was Ratmali Gunasekera as Gajaman herself sparkling the stage after the absence of nearly three decades and she had lost none of her verve - even as the young Gajaman.

Then there was Nissnaka Diddeniya as Elapatha Mudali as effervescent as ever. There was Jayalath Manoratne in double roles as Katuvane Muhandiram and Gajaman Arachchi - evergreen as Jayalath always is. Neil Alles, our veteran stage man was as effective as ever as Paththayame Lekam and as John D'Oyly.

Chandra Kaluaratchy still stole the thunder as the effusive Ranchagoda Lamaya [I fail to understand the magic!] and Chandrasoma Binduhewa as Gaardi Arachchi was superb. Ratnassheela Perera, Rodney Warnakula - they were all at their very best - Rodney giving a very touching performance as the young and later, the aged Juvanis.

The last parting scene between the aged and feeble Gajaman and the apparition of Elapatha was very very moving indeed. Congratulations, young Vasantha Gunawardhana, son of Dayananada, for a well thought out and bubbling production!

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