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Focus on books:
Premaranjith’s world of books
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
Perhaps it looks as if it is an occasional happening where from time
to time there appears an administrator (or better known as a Civil
Servant) a creator and connoisseur of culture and arts. There also one
observes certain rarities, and one such example is Premaranjith
Tillakaratne, known to literary and theatrical scene for his
translations, original creations, adaptations and many more aspects
embedded in one single body.
PT emerged into the theatrical scene in the sixties with the other
veterans of the scene with his original play Vaguru Bima (the mire) in
1963. That may not have been the beginning of a long trip which still
persists. To his credit he has written ten long plays with varying
genres, tragedies, comedies, operas, musicals and farces.
He was the theatre man responsible for the introduction of the
Scandinavian playwright August Strindberg.
That was the event when he translated and produced the play The
Father, as Ammai Appai. While he was experimenting with the realism, he
too attempted to produce some of the old theatre pieces from the
celebrated collection of John de Silva.
This was Sri Wickrama, which he produced for Tower Hall Theatre
Foundation when it was revived in the late seventies. Notwithstanding
his adaptations and translations from foreign sources, he too geared
himself to translate his own plays into English. The best example comes
from the translation of his award winning Sinhala play Vahalak Nethi
Geyak (1964) which bagged three State drama awards.
The English translation A House without a roof also won the best
translation award in the English book group in 2004. I see him as a
quite observer of most sensitive areas of literary susceptibilities
where at times he is glimpsed as an outspoken person who battles hard on
his literary path as a lonely flag bearer.
He would unrepentantly air his views despite barriers and monetary
losses. In this direction the truthful outspoken creative artiste in PT
raises himself and elevates to the plane of an unusual fearless
administrator, who is almost absent these days. Perhaps this comment of
mine may sound somewhat harsh, for he is a silent worker with several
remarkable translations from French literary sources.
They are Emile Zola’s Shame and Therese Racquin about which I have
already commented in these columns some months ago. Prior to these
attempts he had also translated a short novel of Anton Chekhov titled
Three Years and the most recent being a translation of R K Narayan’s The
Financial Expert into Sinhala as Masuru Sihina (2008).
One of the main reasons why I was compelled to write this note is the
event that is going to take place on the September 1, where he will be
felicitated by the Tower Hall Theatre Foundation. The younger generation
of writer and theatre persons will have the chance of listening to some
of his associates in both fields. With a bit of luck this would be a
good start.
The Buddhist attitude of the concept Pujacha Pujaniyanam (those who
deserve homage, should be adhered to) may be a truism at this ceremony.
The theatre enthusiasts in the contemporary theatre scene may have the
added chance of a dialogue, which I deem as the most significant wave
absent amid them. Gone is the past, something has to be done to usher in
a better theatre scene.
PT once said that he is still learning, which, I felt, is the key to
his methodology in success, a meticulous factor that is undermined by
most of us. As a contemporary as well as a fellow sufferer in the field
of theatre, and other aspects of the literary field, I wish him all good
luck in his future endeavours, resourcefully.
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