Ratu Hettakari REBORN

Francis Keenavinna

Lucien Bulathsinhala

Lucien Bulathsinhala belongs to the rare calibre of rare dramatists. As Gamini Dissanayaka once pointed out aptly: ‘Young Lucien has successfully exploited deeper, the avant-garde trends of Brecht and Pirandello in the Sinhala theatre pioneered by the veterans Dayananda Gunawardene and Sugathapala de Silva, and in addition to exploding the convention of illusion of reality, he has mixed judiciously absurd and symbolic drama with remarkable virtuoso. The witty, lyrical genre makes the play enjoyable both at a superficial and at a higher level.’

Reviving the good old stage plays for the modern audience is now becoming routine on the local stage. Positively this is an opportunity for the young generation to have an idea on the theatre’s past decades.

Lucien Bulathsinhala’s revival of ‘Ratu Hettakari’, in this light, is timely.

For we remember how it received applause in the seventies – Lucien’s plays anyway had a ready audience, especially on the grounds of his knack for witty lyrics. And it did not just come to be. A series of experiences had paved way for it.

“I was shocked when my ‘Nonivena Gini’ was removed from the final rounds of 1964 state drama festival. I came to realize it was not because of the play itself, but because of the panel chairman M J Perera’s personal choice.”

Scenes from the play

Bulathsinhala recalls how his play came under the veteran’s personal wrath. His wordings flooded: “Are you writing plays to bring family problems into the stage? Drama must be a medium everybody can enjoy. What does this play have? All personal issues!” And the outcome was that ‘Nonivena Gini’ was no longer in the 1964 state drama festival. But since it received a major audience response, the play was staged again at the 1966 state drama festival as a guest play.

“This led me to think beyond the natural play method. I gradually realized the symbolic reality is more effective for the theatre. I penned ‘Ratu Hettakari’ with this in mind.”

Lucien met Perera again in 1982 when the latter was the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Chairman. He never reminded this experience while Perera was at the office. “I had a chance to go to his home for an interview while he was in retirement in 1993. I reminded the incident during a short break.

‘Why did you remove the play after shouting at me, sir?’

He questioned Lucien instead of answering.

‘Was it a loss for you, Lucien?’

‘That was the first downfall in my drama life, sir.’

But it was not, in reality. That enriched Lucien’s imagination power. He further worked on the ‘king’ concept, which, in other words, is simply how the corporate powers affect the society in a large scale.

“This is a small island surrounded by seas. And the people are also small. They don’t like – or don’t have guts – to think beyond themselves and their families. The artistes think of money, they don’t have human qualities. There is no single artiste, who works for the common welfare. So every medium of art is falling apart before our eyes.”

This must be precisely why ‘Ratu Hettakari’ thematically addresses today’s society. It is a universal theme. Lucien has amply made use of folklore, legend, religious and historic tales to breathe life into this play. Ratu Hettakari is written solely for the actor. The actor can address the audience going beyond the spell of naturalism. And that won Jayalath Manoratne the award for the best actor. Ratu Hettakari even won the best script award.

With all these credentials lying aside, the revival of an old play would still have been impossible if not for genuine well-wishers.

“I am deeply indebted to Serenity Entertainment Chief H D Premasiri for shouldering this project. His team: Bandula Ekanayaka, Bandara Eheliyagoda and Channa Fernando also helps me a lot.”