Wednesday 1st November, 2006 3 Reminiscences of Maname 50th anniversary of first staging

Scenes from recent productions of Maname by the late Trixie de Silva, a member of the the existing form of Sinhala theatre, our programme excluding the exami- original Maname chorus. but don’t worry. Carry on regardless.” nation periods which was a difficult Those were his words of advice to us. task indeed. ovember 3, 1956 is a red letter These words were very encouraging to Out of all the performances there day in the history of the the young and enthusiastic members of are two shows of Maname which stay NSinhala theatre. That day is the Drama Circle. We really felt as if evergreen in my memory. One was the still so fresh in my memory that I feel we were setting off on an adventurous show at the Peradeniya campus which twenty five years younger when I write journey when we set off from was staged in the open air theatre built this. Peradeniya. specially for Maname. It happened to Maname was first staged at the When the play was about to com- be a full-moon night. The moon was Lionel Wendt Theatre by the Sinhala mence there was a certain degree of shining in all resplendence over the Drama Circle of the University of excitement and anxiety all around us. stage as Prince Maname burst into Ceylon, Peradeniya. As we performed We were thoroughly relieved to find song expressing his love for the Maname on that memorable day in the Lionel Wendt Hall at least half-full princess (teacher’s daughter). It was a that half-empty hall none of us dreamt as it was, at that time, exclusively used rare sight which cannot easily be for- that it would be the finest piece of the- by the Colombo bourgeoisie for the gotten. The other was the show staged, atrical experience it proved to be later. English theatre. The ovation and the once again in the open air, on an My mind goes back to the days when flood of praise and appreciation from improvised stage for the benefit of Professor Sarachchandra embarked on the audience at the ‘finale’ of the play workers in Bogala Mines. It would this venture with the help of a veter- was ample proof of its success. It was have brought nostalgic memories of an, Charles Silva Gunasinghe a cosmopolitan audience consisting the old village Nadagama to this audi- Gurunnanase who had been associated not only of Sinhala theatre-goers, but ence which consisted mainly of vil- with Nadagam plays over a number of also of foreigners, diplomats, English lagers. This was quite evident from the years. I still remember how the old theatre-goers and critics. Some of remarks made by them while the play Gurunnanse sang traditional songs them rushed backstage to congratulate was going on. When the Veddah chief son Norman. After the father’s death, every performance of Maname and the from various Nadagamas to entertain the cast. Even foreigners who did not chased the queen away some of the Norman Silva Gurunnanse was able to Veddahs, Lionel Fernando, M.B. us almost everyday just before the understand the language said that they audience justified the act saying loudly take his place. Hailing from a family of Adikaram, Piyatilaka Weerasinghe, Maname rehearsals began. He sang enjoyed it thoroughly. “It serves her right”. Unlike in the traditional drummers and singers they D.B. Herath and Karunadasa effortlessly, his face full of expression, A review in the Ceylon Daily News urban theatre there was “audience par- excelled in the art of playing the ‘mad- Gunaratna who contributed so much to and it was treat to watch him. said: “Dr. Sarathchandra in his search ticipation” here in the typical dala’, a kind of drum exclusively used make Maname a success. During the rehearsals of Maname for a dramatic form in Sinhalese Nadagam tradition! Needless to say we in Nadagamas. Charles Silva Lastly, I recollect with pleasure we were thoroughly amused by its turned to the Nadagama. Maname is enjoyed every minute of this show at Gurunnanase was a great source of Indrani Peiris, Swarna Mahipala, peculiarities. The conversations were the pioneer attempt to adapt this form Bogala. inspiration and help to Professor Nanda Abeywickrema, Pastor Peiris, in a sing-song style. All the steps of to the modern stage. It has succeeded Twenty five years have passed since Sarachchandra in the production of G.W. Sathischandra and Daya the actors and actresses were rhythmi- in pleasing all classes of theatre-goers, Maname was first staged. It is with Maname. Jayasundera who sang with me in the cal. In short the whole play was styl- the English and the Sinhalese educat- deep sorrow that I remember the late In conclusion, I would like to pay Maname chorus during our University ized. It was a refined form of the old ed, urban and provincial.” Benedict Sirimanne who impressed tribute to our “guru” Professor days. village Nadagama. Gradually we got After the two successful shows in everyone and won the admiration of Sarachchandra for having brought used to the ‘stylized’ drama and Colombo, we received invitations from all in his role as Prince Maname. about an upheaval in the Sinhala the- The late Trixie de Silva wrote this on enjoyed every bit of it. all parts of the country to stage I also remember with gratitude the atre. I also remember Trilicia the occasion of the 25th anniversary Just before leaving for Colombo, Maname. We were not in a position to late Charles Silva Gunasinghe Abeykoon who excelled in the role of of the first staging of Maname which Professor Sarachchandra warned us to comply with all the requests, but I Gurunnanse who taught us to sing in the Maname queen, Hemamali who fell on November 3, 1981, but failed be ready for any kind of response from remember taking part in as many as the Nadagam style. It was a treat to sang with us in the chorus while play- to send it for publication. This has the audience, since it was a different forty performances during my three watch him sing old Nadagam songs. ing that role occasionally, Edmund now been sent to us by members of form of theatrical experience. “You year stay in the University. Our cast Every time Charles Gurunnanse Wijesinghe who shone as the Veddah her family on the occasion of the may hear catcalls, jeers and even get consisted of students in their 1st, 2nd played the drum for Maname, he was king, Shyamon Jayasinghe, the Pote 50th anniversary of this historic hooted because it is so different from and even 3rd year. So we had to adjust accompanied by his equally talented Guru who stole the show at almost event.

Princess Maname and The Mermaid meet in Narrated by K.N.O.Dharmadasa with Sinhala folk melodies. It is this within the Sinhala tradition: that ance was at the Commonwealth of the great playwright himself. Princess from the Oriental tradi- promptings from N. Sivasambu achievement which made was Maname. Institute, South Kensington. It is Namel Weeramuni deserves tion. Amaradeva’s work part of Sri The Ceylon Bloomsbury Group perhaps correct to say that this great credit for this. It was done, This brief record of an impor- n conversations with N. Lanka’s modern cultural history. in its 1988 programme, deciding to was the first time Maname was we must also note, at his expense tant event, which is a landmark Sivasambu, Co-ordinator of The narration of this evolution leave out, as being practically performed outside . which must have been consider- in the activities of the IThe Ceylon Bloomsbury towards Sinhala music was at unfeasible, the Drama component It should be recorded here to able. In his introduction to this Bloomsbury Group in London, Group, in London, I learnt of an each stage in its history illustrat- as initially planned, concentrated the credit of their professional memorable occasion, he paid trib- which commemorated on event of no mean significance ed by Amaradeva. At the request entirely on Sinhala music holding outlook that the members of the ute to and thanked for his pres- December 14 2004 in Bloomsbury which took place London in of Sarachchandra, The late H.H five seminars. The first seminar Tamil Performing Arts Society, ence the man who was not only the Leonard Wolf Centennial, October '88. Professor Bandara, who had written some of held at the Institute of who too enacted plays in Thamil the playwright who created cannot conclude without noting Sarachchandra and Sangeetha the songs for Sarachchandra’s sec- Contemporary Arts, situated in translation of European play- Maname, the founding act of mod- the presence at the matinee per- Visarada Amaradeva (before he ond play, Sinhabahu, was engaged The Mall (which leads to wrights including such names as ern Sri Lankan theatre, for as we formance at the Mermaid of the was recognised as Pandit in the to organize the music accompani- Buckingham Palace), was followed Brecht, Beckett, Lorca, Tchekov, know Maname inspired Professor Head of Drama of the Guildhall Indian tradition and before the ment. by seminars at the University of Pinter, were present at this per- Vithianandan to look for a similar School of Music and Drama, award of Hon. D. Litt by Professor Sarachchandra's Oxford, in association with Prof. formance. theatre of the roots in Thamil, Virginia Schneider who was spe- Peradeniya) were there to hold a most well known , as we know, is Richard Gombrich, School of The other two performances leading to the production of cially invited by The Ceylon seminar on Sinhala Drama and in the area of Sinhala drama. On Oriental and African Studies, the were held in the City at a Theatre Karnanan Por and Ravanesan. Bloomsbury Group. Music organised by The Ceylon returning from North India and Guildhall School of Music and near a site of historic fame: the It may not have been quite At this meeting of Maname Bloomsbury Group. Shantiniketan he set out on his Drama and the University of prestigious Mermaid Theatre. realised at the time that the trib- and the Mermaid, there was Realising however that it would long quest to realise Sinhala Cambridge together with the Sri Part of the dramatic tradition of ute by Namel, who was of course another meeting. The Guildhall not be practicable to hold a semi- drama as a literary form. In dia- Lanka Students Association. which goes even beyond mouthing the sentiments of all School’s Head of Drama was nar on both Sinhala Drama and logues with Professor E.F.C. At the first seminar in the the age of the 'Bard of Avon' to Sri Lankans present. could not introduced to Professor on Sinhala Music, The Ceylon Ludowyk and also his wife Edith Institute of Contemporary Arts, a the medieval mystery plays, this have been paid at a better centre: Sarachchandra. This was the Bloomsbury Group decided to con- Ludowyk-Gyomroi both of whom participant was Rohan de Saram play-house is almost within hear- in the City of London, in The meeting of drama as one of the fine the seminar to Sinhala Music. advised him to begin by enacting who, commissioned by The ing distance of the site of the Mermaid Theatre, by the site of literary forms of the West and a Professor Sarachchandra was plays translated from the Ceylon Bloomsbury Group, wrote great Globe itself. which is no the great Globe itself which heard rural ritual of folk life which, to narrate the history of Sinhala European languages, a composition under his chosen more. A better venue could not Burbage as Richard the Third retaining its content drawn from traditional roots, had been meta- music from the time of the Nurti Sarachchandra's successful adap- name of Kuveni Asnaya. Played have been chosen for the play declaiming, ‘a horse, a horse, my morphosed into a sophisticated music which began during the tation of a Gogol play, the result, on the , it was offered as a which, in our modern cultural kingdom for a horse’. This stag- literary form. last decades of the 19th century Kapuva Kapothi was a great suc- Tribute to the sire of Maname. history, has monumental stand- ing of Maname in London was And we shall see why: speak- which was based on the melodies cess with audiences in Colombo. The opportunity of the pres- ing, It would also interest readers indeed a historic occasion, for if ing to N. Sivasambu after the of North India. Several decades However the emerging playwright ence in London of the founder of that by The Mermaid there still not for the efforts of Namel and play, Virginia Schneider had later Sinhala musicians were to himself was not satisfied that this modern Sinhala drama sparked stands a pub frequented by others, this play and its creator said that if it had been a look for a national music idiom play was entirely Sinhala, that it an excellent idea in the mind of Richard the Third. might never have been seen in Western play, instead of the and look for that in folk melodies had its historical roots in content another Sri Lankan in London, All three performances were this great city at the Mermaid, dance by the Veddha Chieftan of the Sinhala countryside. This and form in the national tradi- Namel Weeramuni, who had acted very well attended. There was and near the site of the home of the tion. Taking himself to the rural in Sarachchandra’s plays when he is a deep sense of satisfaction that great Elizabethan, the representa- which gave an emotional outlet move towards Sinhala music was to his feelings when he realised realised completely in the compo- hinterland he came upon the was an undergraduate in this play was performed in tive figure in England of the Nadagam which was performed as Peradeniya in the 1950’s. He decid- London, a city great in every way. Renaissance. It needs be added the treachery of the Princess, sitions of Amradeva. Retaining there would have been a dialogue the Raga system of North India as part of folk life and ritual in the ed to bring down the entire cast of There is special satisfaction that that the Globe, if it was villages. This led him to finally Maname to London and have a two of the performances were at there,would have been happy to developing the character of the a framework, Amaradeva based betrayed Veddha Chieftan. his compositions entirely on create in 1956 a play with roots performance. The first perform- the Mermaid, and in the presence stage the tragic story of a