KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 26.12.24

The theatre enthusiasts, who saw Maname in its maiden presentation in Colombo and before that at rehearsals in Peradeniya, saw its significance and artistic value. Many years later, this group wrote up their recollections for Sunday newspapers. They also provided contributions to publications issued to mark Maname anniversaries, such as the Silver Jubilee of Maname” (1981). Sarath Amunugama wrote Maname mathak vee” was for Sarachchandra’s 100th birth anniversary.

These writings are informative and perceptive. They should be brought together. I have therefore added further essays to this series on Maname,   in order to present extracts from these writings with a few observations of mine. There is repetition. That could not be avoided.

I was taken to see Maname at Pushpadana School hall in Kandy. My father, who had seen theatre in London in his student days, was very enthusiastic. I was intrigued by the actors going round and round in a circle, but that was all. I saw no significance in Maname. I went home and forgot about Maname.

Sarath Amunugama has also gone to the same performance. He was then an Advanced Level student at Trinity College. His reaction was different. He saw the value of Maname. Maname made a permanent impact on me, said Sarath. [1] Maname showed that we could develop a creative modern Sinhala culture.

The Pushpadana performance would have been the second performance of Maname and the first for Kandy and Peradeniya. Sarath Amunugama says there was a large audience, mainly of university academics.  Their Volkswagen cars were parked in a row by the school.     Kandy intelligentsia, it appears, was also informed and they too had turned up to see Maname. That is why I was there.

Commentators have pointed out that the year in which Maname appeared was a significant one. The year was 1956.  Bandaranaike’s electoral triumph of 1956 brought about a political transformation which heralded the common man’s era, the birth of linguistic nationalism and a social and cultural revival of unprecedented magnitude, said K.H.J. Wijedasa.

1956 was also the year which marked the birth of three classical landmark artistic creations in the fields of Sinhala drama, cinema and fiction namely Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s ‘Maname’, Lester James Peiris’s ‘Rekhawa’ and Martin Wickremasinghe’s ‘Viragaya,’ he said.[2]

Ralph Pieris ‘Sinhala Social Organization’ was also published in 1956. This dry academic tome was enthusiastically received and eagerly read. It was translated to Sinhala as ‘Sinhala samaja sanvidanaya’. That increased the readership for the book.

Why Maname was such a huge success sixty years ago and why is it so popular even today asked K.H.J. Wijedasa. Maname gripped the imagination of both the westernized urban audience as well as the traditionalists. It introduced a new genre to the Sinhala theatre. Its lyrics, music, choreography, costumes and make up heralded a new trend in theatre, he said. The musicality of Maname is undoubtedly a major factor in its artistic success. The new stylized dramatic medium with beautiful melodies and choreographed dances was intriguing.

Maname conjured up a special world that our audiences had not seen before. Larger than life players in unusual costumes and distinctive make-up walking the stage in a mild dance like manner (gamana) talking in an unfamiliar way and telling the story in melody, rhythm and drum, all beautifully integrated, gave the audience an uncanny feeling,  concluded  Wijedasa.

I remember vividly the first night performance of Maname. As the curtain rose and the rich chant of the Pothegura (narrator) filled the auditorium, I sat spellbound at what seemed to me a theatrical miracle. Sarachchandra’s total transformation of theatrical aspects he had taken from the traditional rituals and folk plays, into a sophisticated modern drama, the bare stage emblazoned with colourful costumes by the artist Siri Gunasinghe, the sheer poetry of the verse enhanced by Sarachchandra’s creative use of music and dance, left me and the audience stunned”, said Ranjini Obeyesekere, in an oration she delivered in 2014 to mark the birth centenary of Sarachchandra. [3]

Here was something new, exciting, and different from anything seen in the Sinhala theatre so far, breaking away from the western influenced fourth wall proscenium dramas and opening new directions for the Sinhala theatre.  As I walked out, dazed and excited I remember meeting Regi Siriwardene, at the time the leading critic for the English newspapers, and he was equally transfixed. We talked briefly, at a loss for words to express our excitement, Ranjini concluded.

Amaradasa Gunawardena who was at the first performance, as a member of the Maname team recalled that as the concluding song ‘Mangalam suba mangalam wewa jayasiri mangalam’ came to an end, a great applause arose and continued without ceasing. There was a  call for the dramatist.

Those days there was no curtain call and Sarachchandra was reluctant to appear.  What need is there for the people who came to see the play to see me,” he said. Gunasena Galappatti, Arthur Silva and  I  pushed him  on to the stage . He stood  there to receive  applause, which he had  never expected, said Amaradasa.[4]

Lionel Fernando who played the role of Chief of the Foresters in the original castrecalled  It was around July 1956 when Sarachchandra held a couple of auditions for those who were willing to help him in this new venture. I was among those who were keen to join it. [5] Several months of rehearsals followed.

Years later, Indrani Wijesinghe reminisces:After the annual vacation, we returned to the campus, for the second academic year, there was good news awaiting us that Dr. Sarachchandra was going to produce a drama and anyone interested could meet him at an audition. Once inside the audition room I was at completely at  ease, when I discovered that all who had gathered there were in the same boat, Trilicia, Hemamali, Trixie, Swarna, Lionel,.”

Hemamali  tells us how she entered the world of Maname in that historic year, 1956:So one damp and drizzly Saturday afternoon, Piyaseeli Sirisena and I walked up Sangamitta Hill, past Sangamitta Hall, to the secluded B Bungalow that was the Sarachchandra residence. It is funny how little details retained in your memory suddenly spring to mind when you try to reminisce.

My most vivid image of that rather hesitant walk up to the Sarachchandra door is of a rain-drenched Thumbergia creeper, its few remaining blossoms, beaten down but bravely glistening with raindrops trembling upon the velvety petals like dew. Even with  the drizzle outside, the door was open. Shaking the raindrops off our hair and clothes, we entered a world of chaos and buzzing activity”, concluded Hemamali.

I  have always wondered how the University suddenly  produced  such fine singing undergrads , who  were able to launch Maname so successfully with a few months of rehearsals. It appears that they had been performing under  Sarachchandra for  several years before  and understood each other.

The first University departments to move to Peradeniya from Colombo in 1952   were the Oriental and Arts faculties. There was plenty of  cultural activity in Peradeniya  for them,  all of it  centered on Sarachchandra, noted Sarath Amunugama. Sarachchandra connected each year with the dozen or so talented students  newly arrived into these two faculties. He had no use for the rest . He had a talent for  associating with the young undergrads, said Amunugama.

There were enough good singers  in each batch  and Sarachchandra   organized ‘singing groups.’ They sang so well that  when Sarachchandra  had musical evenings at his house in Sanghamitta hill, students  at Sanghamitta Hall used to listen  at their balconies.’

Sarachchandra  also made  his singers perform before an audience. Sarachchandra  organized song recitals at the University . He would select the songs, roneo them and  train the singers at his home.  We practiced every evening.”  Amaradeva and others who were visiting him also took an interest in these rehearsals, reported Amunugama.  After training for 2 weeks they would  give  a musical evening at the Arts theatre. 

Sarachchandra also started a carol group which sang bhakthi gee at Wesak. He never had to look for students for these projects.  The  undergrads, specially the girls, ran to join when they  heard that Sarachchandra was  planning a musical  evening or bhakthi gee performance , said Amunugama.

Amunugama’s information can be accepted. He was close enough  . He  entered University  in 1957 , the year after Maname  and gained almost immediate access to that magic circle which surrounded Sarachchandra, noted Ajit Samaranayake..[6] Practically every evening  students used to gather at Sarachchandra’s house, Amunugama recalled  They  included Gunadasa Amarasekera, Gunasena Galappaththy,  Dayananda Gunawardena as well as visitors such as  Amaradeva.  This was in the 1950s, the first decade at Peradeniya . By the time I, (Kamalika Pieris),  entered University, Sarachchandra had left Sanghamitta Hill. As far as I know, there were no singing groups  either.1961 was spent rehearsing Sinhabahu.

We must  recognize the special talents of the original  cast  of Maname, noted Sarath Amunugama. Those who entered Peradeniya in the 50s and 60s came from central schools. They had been taught by clever dedicated teachers and were the best products of the school.  

 They  came from schools which had encouraged   song, dance and music. Classical music was in the syllabus, so  they could play tabla, sitar as well as sing.   The music for Maname came from those who had studied at Horana Central, where they had learned to play oriental instruments. HL Seneviratne, Hemapala Wijewardene, Kithsiri Amaratunge came from Horana. Their background helped the cast to adapt to the Nadagam style and benefit from the teaching of  Gunasinghe Gurunnanse.

The young undergraduates who took part in Maname were unaware that they were creating history. When we read the reminiscences of those pioneering actors and actresses we begin to feel the youthful ebullience with which they undertook the task, said  Dharmadasa.

Despite the exultant praise of the very small but distinguished first audience of scholars, journalists and critics who gathered that night, it didn’t occur to any of us that we had placed our own humble footprints in  a notable venture, said  Shyamon Jayasinghe.

Shyamon recalled, it was simply an innocent collective enjoyment that we experienced. To me and our team of actors and organizers it meant simply the culmination of a six month period of sheer fun and camaraderie in rehearsing the play, nothing more. We did  it  for the enjoyment.

At the auditions Sarachchandra tested their singing, not acting ability, said Shyamon. We  rehearsed for about five months. Sarachchandra allowed us to perform as we wished and only corrected our mistakes. He did not instruct us. He drew out our abilities and creativeness.

Those were, perhaps, the best of our times. The days when Maname was created and the immediate aftermath, continued Shyamon. Rehearsals in the Arts block at Peradeniya campus, the great Sarachchandra by our side, guiding us along. The venerable Charles Silva Gunasinghe Gurunnanse, Nadagam expert from Ambalangoda, teaching the dance steps.

 I remember Trilicia singing “Lapa nomavan sanda se somi gunena” with  a  subtle erotic movement of her body. We hardly realized then we were in the process of creating history,[7] but there was commitment all round. That was one reason for the high quality of the show, concluded Shyamon.

The play was a success because   the two  leading male roles were played by mature men and not by twenty year old undergrads . If the characters had been played by  young undergrads, the  response would have been very different. Maname would have been a flop.

Certainly, Sinhabahu (1961)  was  performed by undergrads, some actors were weak and the first performance was   like a dress rehearsal  but by then the audience  knew to spot the potential in a Sarachchandra  play and ignore  the  natural limitations  of a University  production.

But Maname was different. Maname was vitally important.   Although he auditioned several persons to take the role of the Veddha King no one was able to sing in the tone Sarachchandra wanted the Veddha king to sing. Sarachchandra was thinking of abandoning the play. Then Edmund Wijesinghe came along.

When  Edmund  sang the very walls of the Junior Common Room seemed to listen in hushed silence to the rich timbre of his voice that resonated with a suppressed violence that was also right for the role of the Vedda King. In fact the very awkwardness of his stance and movements fit the image of the feral character perfectly, said KNO Dharmadasa.

Hemamali Gunasekera recalls how Edmund Wijesinghe’s voice contrasted dramatically with the mellow richness of Ben Sirimanne’s voice. Ben was  Prince Maname, a mature student who had entered Peradeniya as a school-teacher and was reading for the Diploma in Education. He had some experience in singing and playing an instrument.[8] Hemamali found him mature, unflappable and gentlemanly, with his pleasant mellifluous voice and gentle ways” , putting her completely at ease during the rehearsals.

Shyamon who gave a memorable performance as Poteguru  recalled that the  role of  Potegura  was new to the Sinhala theatre  of the  time. Sarachchandra did not know how  to present this character, neither did  Shyamon.

But at the first performance as the curtain was about to rise, when he saw Hemamali and others costumed and ready, and   in my opinion, probably  heard the rustle of the audience, and realized this was it , Shyamon had a moment of epiphany. He saw the  significance of his role. He must  introduce the  play in a dynamic manner. He recalled in a video interview with Boston Lanka in 2013 that his  first speech got a terrific response from the audience. [9]

Sarachchandra was always  at the performance, with sitar or tempura, said Shyamon. Sarachchandra  was always present at a performance, agreed Sarath Amunugama. That was probably because the actors were amateurs and not professionals. They  were students with other things on their minds, tutorials to write and  exams to prepare for.

Sarachchandra seems to have followed this policy for his other plays too. Pushpamala Iriyagolle who was in the chorus  of Sinhabahu told me one day at Sanghamitta, ‘we sang flat  yesterday, Kamalika, and Professor Sarachchandra was furious.  He was glaring at us from the wings. But we could not help it, we went more and more flat.” I did not know till then that  Sarachchandra was present in the wings at every performance.

The Maname  actors concentrated on their performances. The adults saw the potential and the national  impact  the play would  make. At least two senior lecturers were actively helping, Ananda Kulasuriya and Siri Gunasinghe.  The costumes and make up provided by Siri Gunasinghe  differed for each character. The  costumes of Poteguru, Maname, princess, Veddah king, veddhas, all differed in style and colour, said Amunugama .

The  rest of the Department  of Sinhala  also knew about the play. Academics from other Departments were also supportive. Ralph Pieris  I am told was also there, helping.”  He was a friend of Sarachchandra. Ralph  told me that he was one of the persons who  had   advised the reluctant Sarachchandra  that the play must open at the Lionel Wendt.

 Aphotograph of the original cast, crew,  producers and the Association that was responsible for  creating Maname, the Sinhala Drama Circle   has been reproduced by Liyanage Amarakeerthi in his essay Maname Day: A Nostalgic Note On That Distant November Day” published in Colombo Telegraph, November 4, 2020. [10]  The year would probably have  been   1957. It is  a formal photograph,  probably framed and hung at University of Peradeniya .  The photograph is a historical one. When I took my copy of the photograph to a print shop to get it enlarged and sharpened,  the shop refused to accept  payment, saying it took very little time  and cost nothing. I  think they were showing  respect for Maname.( continued)  .

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[1] Sarath Amunugama.  Maname mathak vee. p 9.

[2] https://www.sundaytimes.lk/161113/plus/that-unforgettable-maname-moment-216433.html

[3] Ranjini Obeysekera https://thuppahis.com/2014/06/10/ediriweera-sarachchandra-a-renaisance-man/

[4] KNO Dharmadasa,   Island, 4 and 5 June 2013

https://thuppahis.com/2013/06/28/maname-in-retrospect-homage-to-the-pioneers-of-1956/.

[5] Chandani kirinde https://www.sundaytimes.lk/161023/plus/remembering-sarachchandras-maname-60-years-after-213018.html

[6] Ajith samaranayake https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2003/11/02/fea03.html

[7] https://www.sundaytimes.lk/990509/plus5.html  shyamon jayasinghe

[8] DC Ranatunga https://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/in-sinhala-at-the-wendt/6-365259

[9] https://youtu.be/RTaiqGp4PrU

[10] https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/maname-day-a-nostalgic-note-on-that-distant-november-day/