My final destination cinema and theatre - Saumya Liyanage

Sachitra MAHENDRA

Sri Lanka has only a few artistes who walk tall like Saumya Liyanage - sad enough! From Sittara Gurunnanse, the starting post of his career, to Colombo Colombo, he has been concerned about only one thing: creative simplicity.

It casts a bewitching spell, whenever we watch him perform with such a rare virtuoso. It makes us wonder where in the world he won over that gifted faculty. Saumya hardly needs a preamble when it comes to television, cinema and theatre.

He was still a lad at home waiting for the Kelaniya University to start its first academic year, when Dr. Ariyaratna Atugala sought him to play with his father, Hemasiri Liyanage, in Sittara Gurunnanse. That was 1992 vintage, and Saumya just passed his teens.

"I read quite a lot and wrote a few short stories too. But I never had the idea of publishing them."

He was more fond of scribbling down his thoughts, but Saumya had a flair for acting out his own thoughts ven then.

He scripted and performed a few plays at the school. Since Hemasiri was a playwright and an actor himself, Saumya naturally inherited the genes plus a good exposure of the theatrical scene - ironically though his career did set about in the small screen.

"Now I feel so depressed about my performance in Sittara Gurunnanse. I would and should have done better. I was very much a novice back then."

That feeling creeps in over time, experience and, above all, maturity. Saumya is no exception to the rule. Television is now becoming deteriorating day by day, and he is no longer fascinated about becoming a tele icon.

"Tele play doesn't have room for ethics anymore. Art is business, we all know that. But 'business' is only a part of the process for me. For many tele directors anyway, it is only a money spinning machine, and nothing more than that."

Honestly speaking, whoever can compare the small screen with cinema and theatre, so much larger than life?

It is a live art, almost a luxury, enjoyed by a handful. Saumya has written off more than 17 teleplays for the last five months. He keeps on shunning tv programs too.

"One channel invited me to have a talk about a stage play. I turned down but my fellow cast appeared in the program. They could allocate only 15 minutes to the talk, while they covered up the rest of 45 minutes with just riffraff. This is how our art scene is handled in the television."

He always has a thorough go through on any script before accepting the contract. His latest films are Nimnayaka Hudakalava by Boodie Keerthisena and Ira Handa Yata. His performance as Habara in Aba was well received in all quarters.

Of both cinema and theatre still Saumya has a soft corner for the latter because it combines the life and collective effort. The stage performance is always a challenge, because you perform before a live audience.

There are no repeated takes. Simply said, you cannot fool the audience. It is not perfect - there is nothing called perfection in theatre - but it is the pure form of your performance. Surely no camera can profane it.

"We are like one family both on and off stage. Our links are very sharp, quite unlike teledramas. The most important element in theatre is the actor, who is just a hired throw-away in the tele industry."

Theatre encourages communal arts; everyone can share their agony with each other. In a teledrama, the business is over once the money transaction is done, but on theatre everyone has to be together to keep the play on the run.

The teledrama, despite all its setbacks, has the charm over anyone fond of overnight popularity. Theatre needs a lot of effort, and doesn't get much attention.

"Stage performance is comparatively hard and that is why it means suffering. It has its own ups and downs."

Whatever said and done, says Saumya, teledrama is a strange species of art.

"It's a must, you see. When you hear the word 'action', you have to start acting, no matter what. As a novice I found it something very difficult to cope with. But the crew supported me very much."

Saumya as a teenager loved writing a lot, but that was the creative side. Now being a university don, more than a performer, he is more bent towards the academic mode of theoretical writing.

"I didn't get the feel of acting until I was halfway through my undergraduate years. I started enjoying it when I started getting more and more chances to act. Then I thought to myself: Why shouldn't I pursue my postgraduate studies in acting?"

He is still fond of reading as well as academic research. Just the way he did quite a lot of script readings under Dr. Atugala's roof about 17 years back.

Saumya’s odyssey of creative works

Theatre

2009 Colombo Colombo by Indika Ferdinando.

2008 Apasu Herenna Be (No Turning Back) by Rajitha Disanayake Sihina Ranghala a collection of short plays by Dhananjaya Karunarathna

2006 Weeraya Merila (Hero is Dead)

2005 Horu Samaga Heluwen (Virtuous Burglar and One was Nude and One wore Tails)

An Original Play by Dario Foe

2002 ‘Closer’ (An Original Play by Patrick Maber)

Performed at the Flinders University, South Australia

2001 ‘Mata Erehiwa Mama’ (Against Myself)

1999 ‘Last Bus Eke Kathawa’ (The Story of the Last Bus) A Short Play ‘Mata Wedi Thiyannedda?’ (Aren’t You Going to Shoot Me?)

‘Dawasa Thama Gewne Ne’ (The translation of the American play “The Typists” by Murry Shisgal)

1998 ‘Gabsawa’ (The Abortion)

1997 ‘Daru Prashne Puthra Prashne’ (The Conflict of Children) A Short Play

1996 ‘Hansaintath Man Asai’ (I Love Swans Too)

1995 ‘N’Kruma Ni Africa Ni’ Directed by Dr Neloufer De Mel

‘Kontharaththuwa’ (The Translation of Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter)

1994 ‘Clouds Nine’ Produced by the Department of English, University of Kelaniya

Films

2009 Ira Handa Yata by Bennet Rathnayake

2008 Aba by Jackson Anthony

Nimnayaka Hudekalawa (Alone in a Valley) by Boodee Keerthisena 2007

Machang by Uberto Pasolini

2006 Nisala Gira (Silent Honor) by Tanuj Anawarathne

‘Orange’ (A Short Film) by Dr Sivamohen Sumathi

2005 Aksharaya (A Letter of Fire) Directed by Asoke Handagama

Aganthukaya (Outsider) by Wasantha Obesekera

Wala Patala (Penumbra) by Vijitha Gunerathne

2004 Sulanga Enu Pinisa (Forsaken Land)

2003 ‘Jean & Julie’ by Tait Mullar 2001

Mage Wam Atha (My left Hand) Linton Semage

Udu Gam Yamaya (Against the Tide) Sudath Dewapriya

2000 Mathu Yam Dawasa (Some Day in the Future) Dr.Dharmasena Pathiraja

Aswesuma (Consolation) Bennet Rathnayake 35mm, Feature

1999 Salelu Warama (The Web of Love) Wasantha Obesekara

Me Mage Sandai (This is My Moon) Asoka Handagama

1998 Padadaya (The Vagabond) Linton Semage

1997 ‘Mother Theresa’ by Kevin Konner

Theertha Yathra Wasantha Obesekara

Television

2007 Diul Gase Kola Sulange Wisira Yathi by Aruna Lokuliyana

2006 Apparitions by Anuruddha Jayasinghe

2001 Mangalam’ by Tanuj Anawarathne

1999 Nikini Paluwa by Presanne Jayakody

1997 Imadiyamankada by Presanne Jayakody

1996 Itipahan by Somarathna Disanayake

Manasthapaya Directed by Bhanu Presanne

1995 Bambara Sakmana by Kumarasiri Abayakoon

Ramya Nagaraya (The Translation of the “An enemy of the people’ by Henrick Ibson by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra) by Dr Ariyaratne Atugala.

1993 Kalpanthayak by Kumarasiri Abayakoon

1992 Siththera Gurunnanse by Dr Ariyarathne Ethugala

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