A Critique on the State Sinhala Drama Festival of 1966
Prof. Ariya Rajakaruna
Translated by Ranga Chandrarathne
'An actor is one who is made and not one who is born' should be the
motto of Sinhala theatre
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 A
Scene from Depano |
Subject matter of realistic conversational original Plays in 1960's
(This is a translation of a critique by Prof. Ariya Rajakaruna. He
served as the Head of the Department of Sinhala of the University of
Peradeniya. He is currently a visiting lecturer attached to the
Department of Fine Arts and Sinhala.
This is the only comprehensive review written on any State Sinhala
Drama Festival held during the last five decades. This review was first
published in 1967.This critique has been translated for the first time)
Continues from the last week
Depano- Folk music on stage: A Result of In depth Research on folk
songs and music
W. B Maculoluwa's Depano is an important work, which can be
considered as a musical drama. As it is a musical drama, it is not
inappropriate to use an unusual plot for the drama. Even in the West,
unusual plots are being used for musical dramas. The director says that
all the notations of songs used for the drama are folk songs.
However, it is up to the musicians to decide whether it is possible
to create a sound system of music solely based on folk songs. Sometimes,
the monotonous nature of folk songs makes the audience rather tired. It
is doubtful whether the folk music, which is confined to few notes be
able to satisfy the present audience which is used to an extensive
system of music.
It should be mentioned here that the limited nature of folk songs
also limits the range of experience that can be expressed by means of
folk music. It should be examined whether it is possible to create a
tradition of popular musical dramas based solely on notations of folk
songs. Stage decorations have been a stumbling block in portraying
required limited range of acting for a musical drama. Therefore, the
cast has to sing stationed at a point on the stage.
This, even in a musical drama, contributed to decrease its vitality.
Costumes of some actors and actresses show an Indian outlook. The
chronicler's lengthy lecture which is delivered from the south of the
stage was incomprehensible.
The principal characteristic of a musical drama is singing and the
acting in a musical drama should be different to acting in a natural or
stylist drama. That is that the acting should be in a certain aesthetic
manner. Maculoluwa has a perceptive of the appropriate acting for a
musical drama which is vindicated by acting of some actors and
actresses.
Maculoluwa can make a contribution towards creating a tradition of
musical dramas. Present state of Sri Lankan theatre is brought to light
when examining the 18 dramas presented for Sinhalese drama festival held
in 1966. The Sinhalese dramas, which follow diverse traditions, has
gradually assumed vividness.
The natural conversational drama tradition which has its origin in
the West has captured the audience's attention. According to this
tradition, a number of adaptations of foreign dramas have been staged.
Most of them depicted the complex life in contemporary urban middle
class.
One of the principal weaknesses in those adaptations was the failure
to adapt them to suit Sri Lankan society. However, they serve the
purpose of introducing new techniques to Sinhala theatre. Another
characteristic of Sinhala theatre was that the foreign natural dramas
were presented with a foreign outlook.
Sinhalese drama can be enriched by successful adaptations and
translations of higher quality foreign dramas. Popular characteristic is
to write scripts according to the tradition of natural conversational
drama.
In such dramas, often the subject matter was the complex life of
urban middle class. Of them, special attention is paid on those woven
around sex life. Those who wrote this type of drama had only a bookish
knowledge of such issues.
Therefore, even in instances where the dramas have been rightly
contextualised, there is only a superficial interpretation of life. The
subject matter of natural drama is required to be avoided from being
limited.
A tradition of drama consisting music, dancing, acting and
conversation with admixture of Western and Eastern characteristics will
born. Because of this tradition, the scope of Sinhala drama will be
widened. Such dramas are based on issues of day-to-day life.
Special attention is paid to irony. There are some instances where
the context of such dramas becomes weak. When drama is alienating itself
from life in terms of style of acting and subject matter, it would be
difficult to win the heart and mind of the present audience.
Stylist drama has been evolving as a distinct tradition undergoing
various experiments. The principal characteristic of these dramas is the
inclusion of singing, playing music instruments and dancing. These
dramas attempted to create diverse zests.
Humour and irony seems to be more appropriate media for this purpose.
This tradition can be degenerated owing to adaptation of plots, which
have no dramatic qualities. These dramas have not attempted to create
diversity in terms of acting styles.
However, monotonous action on the part of actors and actresses which
has been a regular feature and sometimes, unpalatable action, would
cause the audience weary of.
In this type of drama, the zest created by singing, dancing and
playing instruments of music should not be allowed to supersede the
principal zest of the drama. Musical drama is evolving as a distinct
tradition.
However, utilising folk songs only for musical dramas is not
sufficient. Children's drama tradition is evolving through school
dramas.
Dramatists have understood that stage decorations, costume designed,
make-up and lighting has contributed to intensifying the zest. However,
some directors fail to derive the best out of them. The dramatists, who
have a thorough understanding of stage techniques, utilise these
features and other means to attract audience.
The acting on Sinhala theatre has not achieved a considerable
progress. Sinhala actors and actresses do not think that acting is a
craft, which should be developed by dint of perseverance.
Some actors, who have been praised at previous drama festivals, have
shown no talents at this festival. Some actors showed a marked drop in
their talents instead of an improvement. Nature of acting is static
irrespective of diverse nature of characters.
Although village characters and characters full of humour have been
portrayed with a certain talent, portraying complex characters has been
a difficult task. Static facial expressions are seen in actors who
portray 'dark characters'. They have failed to change their facial
expressions to suit different occasions. |
