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Sathischandra Edirisinghe - Actor and playwright:
50 years in dramatic arts
Jayasumana Dissanayake
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The veteran actor playwright and Television broadcaster
Sathischandra Edirisinghe celebrates his fiftieth year in dramatic arts
this month. Kelaniya Nuwan Youth Organisation is arranging a
felicitation ceremony to mark the occasion at Sarasavi Studio Dalugama
on Wednesday the 14th January 2009.
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An evening, in the year nineteen sixty five. Theatre goers eagerly
waiting at the Lumbini theatre for the play to begin. The play was
Ranjit Dharmakirti's adaptation of Anton Chehov's "Cherry Orchard" as
Mahagedara. Anton Chehov's Cherry orchard is notably characteristic in
the symbolical and historical sense, for it depicts for us the causes
and significance of the decline of the well- born, landed gentry in
Russia.
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Sathischandra Edirisinghe |
When the lights fade in we see Lopakin who was described as a nice,
plain, careful, practical, but rather ill mannered person, a
millionaire. He a son of a peasant; who was born in the village, and
whose father was a serf. We were watching in doubt, as to how the young
actor would play the role of Lopakin adapting all those qualities into
his portrayal. Playing the role of Checov's Lopakin, the new rich, newly
freed and yet to join the elite, is no easy task.
In My Life In Art Stanislavsky explains the difficulty. "All those
try to "act", to "pretend" when taking part in Checov plays is making a
sad mistake. One should become part of his plays; one should live them,
have one's being in them, and follow the deeply buried arteries through
which their emotions flow as blood flows from the heart". Though the
task was so difficult the young man who acted in that evening held his
captive audience glued to the stage with his skill, talent and
innovative portrayal of the character.
Bohemian
The young actor interpreted the character of Lopokin eloquently, with
his deep voice and restraint acting. Lopakin tries to convince madam
Ranevskaia, the bohemian lady of the land owning class, who was heavily
in debt. "As you already know" he says her, "Your cherry orchard will be
sold to pay your debts.
The auction is fixed for the 22ndAugust, but do not be alarmed, there
is a way out..... this is my plan Your estate is only fifteen miles from
the town, the railway is quite close and if your cherry orchard and the
land by the river is cut up into villa holdings and let for villas, you
will get at the least 25,000 roubles.
Of course improvements have to be done. For instance, all these
buildings must be destroyed, and this house, which is no use at all, the
old orchard must be cut down. But madam Ranaveskaia vehemently opposes.
"Cut down? My dear friend, forgive me, you do not understand any
thing at all!"
She did not agree with his suggestion and the orchard was sold by
auction. Lopakin buys the whole property. That evening Lopakin comes to
old house triumphantly and he was slightly drunk.
What a challenge to an actor! To act without being melodramatic and
interpret Checov correctly with restraint acting! The young actor
succeeded. He not only did justice to the role but also drove the vision
of Checov of Lopakin deep into the minds of the audience His overall
Performance was appreciated judging by the standing ovation he received
at curtain call.
The young actor was none other than Sathischandra Edirisinghe. Whose
versatile and remarkable playing in this particular play delights us to
recall our memories even after five decades. I am sure others who were
in the audience too would still cherish their memories of his brilliant
acting which contributed for the success of Ranjit Dharmakirti's
memorable production.
After his landmark acting in Mahagedara Sathis was commissioned by
many veteran and new playwrights and he was able to make an indelible
mark in the annals of Sinhala theatre. Later when the stage was washed
off by tsunami waves of Television plays, Sathis became a much sought
after actor in that medium too.
Contribution
Sathischandra Edirisinghe's contribution as a producer of plays to
the stage too should be reviewed positively. He belonged to the third
phase of modern Sinhala theatre.
After the initiation of modern Sinhala theatre by Professor
Ediriweera Sarachchandra with his epoch making plays Maname and
Sinhabahu, able playwrights such as Gunasena Galappathi, Dayananda
Gunawardane, Henry Jayasena, Sugathapala de Silva, and few others
followed and did a tremendous contribution for the development of the
theatre. The next phase of Sinhala theatre came into limelight
thereafter. Sathischandra was one of the prominent dramatists in that
phase. R.R. Samarakoon, Sunanda Mahendra, Ranjit Dharmakirti, S.
Karunaratne, Lucien Bulathsinghala, Dhamma Jagoda and many other
dramatists illuminated the stage along with him. Sathis adopted George
Orwell's satire Animal farm into Sinhala and produced as Hotabariyudde
successfully. It was acclaimed by the critics of the time, as a good
attempt and was able to stage both in the city as well as in the
provincial towns number of times. During his five decades of dramatic
career he produced four more plays namely Bakatapas, Attickka mal pipila,
Thahanchi, Sokkano rajano, and Apaye awurudu. Soccano Rajano being a
political satire written by him was subject to the wrath of then
political authorities.
I do not venture into his contribution to television play and cinema
due to constrain of space. But special mention has to be made regarding
his mission in the cultural field. He had a vision and he always tried
to imbibe Buddhist cultural values into all his creations.
It is evident in his successful attempts to bring the skills and
talents of poor and down trodden rural children to lime light when he
was handling the cultural section of the Ministry of Mahaweli
development. He took great efforts to promote Sri Lankan culture and
enhance values of our society. It was a way of life for him.
Looking back into his contribution to dramatic arts and cultural
field during past five decades, I firmly believe that he deserves more
affectionate recognition from our society.
(The writer is Formerly Secretary to the Chief Government Whip of
Parliament, Secretary to the Leader of the House of Parliament,
Consultant to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs, Chairman
State Drama Panel of Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Chairman Sinhala
Literary Panel of Ministry of Cultural Affairs) |
