Act of the wise

Channa Bandara Wijekoon

The wise men have spoken. Conclusion of the state drama festival saw the right persons clinching the right awards this time around. Janaka Kumbukage was no exception. The challenging character he played in 'Adaraneeya Sanwadayak' (Pedro and the Captain) brought him the much deserved award of the best actor of 2013.

Janaka Kumbukage

A jubilant Janaka (with a Sean Connery accent) divulging the small child within him in real life was more than happy to share the experience and more with the Daily News Artscope.

According to Janaka, the character in Adaraneeya Sanwadayak is the most challenging one he has played to date on stage. "It was challenging for many reasons", he says. "When Sunil Chandrasiri first discussed about this project with me, I was in two minds whether to take it or not. Then I took the challenge.

The whole drama has only two characters played by Saranga Dissasekera and me, and the first 45 minutes which was crucial was solely in my hands.

I had to keep the audience intact with credible delivery. One yawn from the audience would have destroyed my motivation thus the tempo and rhythm of the play as well," says Janaka. However we unleashed our energy to receive an official endorsement for the drama at the end, he says with a smile. In the drama, Janaka plays the role of an interrogator of a torture-house while Saranga shows up as his victim. The interrogator himself emerges as a victim of circumstances as the story progresses. He who is a person destroyed within... eventually becomes a 'hunter being hunted'.

Grooming period

Janaka had got the inspiration to take up acting from Dharmasiri Bandaranaike's Drama 'Ekadhipathi' shown at the Panadura Town hall in 1982.

"Although I had no intention whatsoever to become an actor, I was stunned by what I saw on stage that day. It was a novel experience for me and an urge was instantly developed within me to become part and parcel of this sheer magic happening on stage," he divulges.

Training obtained from Dr Gamini Haththotuwegama's workshop and joining with his street drama group has groomed Janaka as a budding actor.

In the process, he had worked with seniors such as H A Perera, Gamini Hettiarachchi, Wasantha Vittachchi and Parakrama Niriella.

Attending workshops conducted by the veteran playwright Somalatha Subasinghe and the German playwright Klauz Coozemberg helped me to grasp the essence of acting, Janaka enthused.

Association with the greats

This exercise had paved way for Janaka to achieve greater heights at professional level. It had opened doors for him to perform in Dharmasiri's Makaraakshaya, Ekadhipathi and Dhawala Bheeshana eventually.

Later, Janaka brought his talents to light in the projects of Somalatha Subasinghe, Vijitha Guneratne, Bandula Vithanage, Asoka Handagama and more recently with Jalyalath Manoratne, Sriyantha Mendis, Athula Peiris, Rajitha Dissanayake and Sunil Chandrasiri.

He currently plays the character played earlier by Ajith Jinadasa in Manorathne's "Puthra Samagama". Janaka praises Sunil Chandrasiri as a playwright with a novel approach to drama. He had done three plays with Sunil; Bheema Bhumi (2000), Jana Mithura (2006) and Adaraneeya Sanvadayak (2012).

Janaka became the best actor in 2000 too for his character in Bheema Bhumi.

In the teledrama sphere, Janaka considers the character he played in Wimalaratne Adhikari's "Isiwara Asapuwa" as his turning-point. The role of 'Dr Thaambugala' he played in the tale was much praised by viewers and scholars. More recently he did a powerful role in the first series of 'Malee'.Though he had done few roles in cinema, the local cinema is yet to identify the rare talents Janaka possesses which could be unleashed on screen to attract international attention. (Al Pachinko or Ben Kingsley wouldn't have achieved those heights, had they not given opportunities.) Thus identification of a rare talent of an artiste at the right time is vital.

Scientific acting

Janaka stresses the need for an institute to groom budding artistes. He thinks acting talents has to be polished and finer-points to be taught at academic level. Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg and the like gathered life's changing rhythms to mould a way of scientific acting method. They taught how to grasp many complicated aspects in life and project them in acting.

Janaka and Madani Malwattage after receiving their awards as the best actor/ actress at the state drama festival 2013.

Artistes who have mastered those techniques build a credible way of acting. They have mastered how to creep into nooks and corners in real life and adapt those situations in their performances, discloses Janaka.

A good example is the late Nihal Silva's performance in the Brecht play 'Punthila' directed by Helena Lehthimaki. The actor who was confined to the comedy role of "Seargent Nallathambi", after attending Helena's workshop performed in Punthila to show the real stuff he was made of.

This performance could be kept on par with any world-class actor. Although it was so, he did not receive any appraisal from the scholars apart from Prof. Sarachchandra who said, "The first professional actor in Sri Lanka was born with Punthila."

Nihal had also received a standing ovation from Gamini Fonseka at the curtain-call, says Janaka with emotion.

Self study

Life's experiences are of utmost importance for actor gain perfection. Actors in the caliber of Gamini Fonseka or Joe Abeywickrama had used life's experiences and the acquired knowledge from the society to project credible performances.

This breed of artistes is well versed with the changing rhythms of the world itself on all aspects. This entirety in knowledge gives them the necessary ingredients to bring credibility to their performances.

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