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Bandula Vithanage came out with a great guest performance in the cinematic masterpiece Guru Gedera. Sauntering thoughtfully within an auditorium packed with distinguished guests, he seemed engrossed in the mesmerizing voice of singers, who sang a nurthi song to entertain the crowd. This performance of a few minutes duration was sheer proof of Bandula’s versatility in acting.

Bandula Vithanage could be called the local Shakespeare for his esteemed contribution over many decades to the motherland as a playwright, actor and a producer of Shakespearean drama. He sent pleasant vibes in the minds of local audiences by bringing the Shakespearean masterpiece ‘Merchant of Venice’ to local stage.

Bandula Vithanage Picture by Sudath Nishantha

A calm and collected, yet wise visionary, Bandula Vithanage is Artscope’s ‘Encounter of the Week’.

A: The inspiration came from the association with our English teacher Bertie Abeysuriya at Ambalangoda Dharmashoka College. He used to teach us fairytales.

The way he brought life to the characters motivated me to write the drama ‘Cocks and Box’ and perform it with my friends when I was schooling. I loved to read Sinhala folk tales and English literature alike. The characters in these stories made pleasant stimuli in my mind to bring them into real life.

Also the humour imbedded in these characters enthralled me. Thus I read more and more and got the privilege to read Shakespeare too.

I did my secondary education in Sinhala medium. While in Colombo University, I got the opportunity to associate with Prof Sarachchandra.

This opened doors for me to perform as Vidushaka in the P Welikala’s cultural play Rathnaawali. The way I brought humour to this character was commended by scholars.

While in University, I produced Megha Garjana (1969) the Sinhala version of Harold Pinter’s short play ‘The Collection.’ Piyasena Ahangama, Nirmani Kiriella and Vickrama Bogoda were casted. This was followed by my production of Gangaawak… Sapaththu Kabalak saha Maranayak, a script by Simon Navagaththegama.

We invited Sugathapala Silva to stage his play Thattu Gewal at the University and made a relationship with him. This paved way for me to become a member of the then famous Apey Kattiya headed by Sugathapala Silva.

We used to watch his dramas rehearsed at Royal College and Thurstan College. Eventually I was casted in his dramas Dunna Dunu Gamuwe, Daawaddo and Thuranga Sanniya.

Q: Then you ventured into mega productions. How did you bring your talents to the macro level and how was the initial response?

A scene from Bandula Vithanage's direction ‘Romaya Gini Gani’ (comedy) shown in Brisbane, Austrailia in 2009. Picture shows Jaka Kumbukage and Bandula Vithanage in a scene.

A: We were encouraged by Sugath to read and study the works of contemporary dramatists like Harold Pinter. Then in 1974 I produced Jean Anouilh’s ‘Becket’ which had a cast of 53 artistes. Dharmasiri Bandaranaike and Lucian Bulathsinhala did the main roles. Becket was not recognized in the State Drama Festival though it was a milestone in the translation drama history in Sri Lanka.

Acceptance by the audience was the significance of the drama and also our motivation.Few years after, I got the opportunity to watch Becket while in England. I did not see much difference between it and my production.

Q: You pioneered in translating and producing Shakespearean drama on the Sinhala stage. It may not have been an easy task. For instance, the way great actors like Sir Laurence Olivier and Al Pacino performed in Shakespeare dramas are benchmarks for other actors in the world. How did you muster courage to translate and stage Shakespeare?

A: Shakespeare was in my whole system from childhood (laughs). I have read a story like ‘Merchant of Venice’ over and over in regular intervals and every time it inculcated in my mind unsullied notions about the characters and their temperaments.

Shakespeare was the greatest playwright in history. He used the drama as a mirror to examine his own city and society with particular attention to the double standards of the rising merchant class. He could forecast and see the logic of everyone’s actions. In the story of Merchant of Venice, he at times takes Shylock’s side to justify his actions.

The core story is very much similar to a fairytale. I loved fairytales from my childhood. Antonio, Bassanio, Portia and Shylock stimulate the feelings of emotion, humour, hatred and compassion in reader’s (or viewer’s) mind.

I did a role of a university student in the film Pembara Madhu. In the sets of the film in my leisure, I was reading ‘Merchant of Venice’ and Tony Ranasinghe who starred in the film saw it. He said, “Buddy why don’t you translate and produce this for the local stage? If you do it, cast me in the role of Shylock.” His words aroused the Shakespearean creature in me.

I tried my level best to maintain the poetic rhythm in dialogues of the original story in my translation. Maintaining the impact made by the original story was my challenge. Bridging the gap of cultural barriers was another challenge. However, I did the translation within one year.

Tony made a comeback to the stage after a lapse of twelve years in 1980. He performed the character of the crafty Jewish moneylender Shylock emerging from ghettos of Venice. Avanthi Aponsu was Portia. Later on, Kinsley Louse played the character of Shylock differently, yet maintaining credibility of his performance.

A: The play was an instant success. That was mainly because Tony’s performance as Shylock. He is one of a kind; a word perfect actor. Before every show, he used to sit with me and memorize his dialogues. The famous ‘Pound of flesh’ quote by Shylock went well with the local audiences.

Henry Jasaysena was in the front seat at the premiere and soon after the show we got a standing-ovation from the crowd. Usually all Shakespeare dramas come to a climax and then conclude with an anti-climax. So does Merchant of Venice. When we rehearsed the play at Carey College, we took a collective decision to end the play when it reached the climax - Shylock sentenced to death. We thought the local audiences may not like to see an anti-climax ending.

However, Sugathapala Silva suggested that we do some test marketing before going public and thus the full drama with the anti-climax was shown to the hostellers of Carey College around 10 o’clock on a particular day. To our surprise, the audience liked it that way. We staged it that way and five years at a stretch we got bookings for the drama. In certain months alone, we staged the drama for more than 25 times. I worked at SLBC at the time and we got the fullest blessings of our superiors. They even went to the extreme of giving free publicity.

When TV was introduced to our country, we were invited to do the drama in a studio and it was televised with three cameras to be shown on TV. Becket too followed suit. Thus masses saw them on TV.

Q: You had got the rare opportunity to see dramas while your stay in England. You would have grasped finer points in drama acting and producing by watching these dramas, especially Shakespeare. Your comment.

A: I lived in England for three and a half years after the expulsion of me and Lucian Bulathsinhala from SLRC. I was without a job and my brother took me to England. I spent time watching dramas. A ticket for a matinee show could be obtained for five pounds. Shakespeare dramas were shown in Barbican Theatre in London. I have seen four versions of Hamlet there.

I have seen on tape, Sir Laurence Olivier performing Shylock. He had a free way of expressing. When the final verdict is given to Shylock, Sir Olivier as Shylock plays havoc by generating a roaring sound from his throat which gives shivers to the audience.

More recently, Al Pacino did the same character and he underplayed it. Yet, they both added credibility to their performances and the audiences liked them both. Even our own Tony Ranasinghe too played Shylock differently time to time. When I enquired he told me, “Doing the same character over and over again the same way make me bored. I think my audiences do feel the same way, thus I bring variation to delivery of dialogues and gestures in a subtle manner time to time.”

Tony adapted Sir Laurence Olivier’s way of free acting style to do Shylock’s role. We all thought at that time, it is the best way to project Shylock.

Q: This is in contrast to method acting, a different school of thought which had evolved alongside.

A: Stanislavsky said acting cannot be taught. When casting is done and each actor knows what his or her character is, automatically chemistry is developed between them. When they start delivering dialogues, the cast automatically convert themselves to the alter-egos of hero, Villain, girl and so forth and so on. Thus in method acting it is told, only the director knowing the script is enough and the actors should know their dialogues.

The American method acting which evolved from Stanislavsky’s school of thought is being practiced by many versatile actors now. The actor adds credibility to the character by first conceiving the concept of the character and then delivering it.

Many actors such as James Dean, Dustin Hoffman and even Marylyn Monroe have studied American method in Lee Strasberg’s ‘Acting Studio’ in New York. Strasberg is called the father of method acting in America.

Once Joe Abeywickrama told me, he originated the emotion to cry in a film scene by visualizing in his mind the day of his dog’s death. This is something taught in method acting schools.

A: For ages ‘Hamlet’ had been considered the best one. However in the present context, ‘Macbeth’ the shortest tragedy of Shakespeare is considered the best one. It is more poetic too. In ‘Macbeth’, the main character is an anti-hero. He kills everyone who had the legacy to become the king, like in ‘Richard the Third’. However, Macbeth justifies his actions in the eyes of the viewer (or reader). The strongest becoming the ultimate survivor had been the norm in olden days. Macbeth did not have a birthright for the throne. Thus he vanquished all contenders stood in his way, to become the King.

Thespian with Shakespearean touch