{"id":205792,"date":"2019-10-25T23:36:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=205792"},"modified":"2019-10-29T14:02:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T08:32:42","slug":"theatre-tragedians-shakespeare-sarachchandra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/theatre-tragedians-shakespeare-sarachchandra\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Tragedians: Shakespeare & Sarachchandra"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Ashan Nanayakkara<\/a> –<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ashan Nanayakkara<\/p><\/div>\n

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him…<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The noble Brutus<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

If it were so, it was a grievous fault\u2026<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Bear with me;<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

And I must pause till it come back to me.\u00a0 <\/span>– <\/i>Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II<\/b><\/p>\n

Above words are projectiled by Mark Anthony in the legendary drama, \u2018Julius Caesar\u2019 created by William Shakespeare<\/span><\/strong><\/a> \u2013 the modern doyen of Western Theatre. The above celebrated speech was given by Mark Anthony at the funeral, aftermath to stabbing unto death of Cesar by his senate member, the Brutus. Followed by the aforesaid assassination, Rome is thrust into a period of civil war, and the existence of the republic went to an utter chaotic stage. The audience has to live with that tragedy almost in the entire drama. It is believed that even in the first page of Julius Caesar, printed in the second Folio of 1632 named this play as, \u201cTHE TRAGEDIE OF IVLIVS CAESAR\u201d. That is an evident to show that the where William Shakespeare has everlasting passion on tragical stories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

William Shakespeare<\/p><\/div>\n

As much as Western theatre lovers are dying to see Shakespearean plays, the local Sinhala theatre is also in debt to the late Prof. <\/i>Ediriweera\u00a0Sarachchandra<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong>, as an icon of Sri Lankan stage plays. Both of them have had the thespian talents to make their names in ingrained history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a Tragedian, no one can beat William Shakespeare<\/i>. It is evident from his most admired tragedies like Hamlet, Othello, <\/i>King Lear<\/i><\/a> and Macbeth<\/i>, together with Antony & Cleopatra, Julius Caesar<\/i>. In contrast, Edriweera Sarachchandra<\/i> was not a tragedian per se:<\/i> but, his major dramas are also tragedies. Maname, Sinhabahu, Bava kadathurawa, Pematho Jayathi Shoko, Loma Hansa<\/i> fall into this category. Even Vessanthara<\/i>, which has a happy ending is engulfed in pathos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ediriweera Sarachchandra<\/p><\/div>\n

The tragedy concept in the western tradition of mythical stories has evolved over centuries since the time of its Greek tragedians. It was Aristotle<\/i> (384-322 BC) who ventured to analyze this art form for the first time in his famous treatise, The Poetics<\/i>, to explain the major characteristics of a tragedy. It is believed that Shakespeare<\/i> had a penchant for tragedies, more often, due to this Greek influence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsequently, though young Sarachchandra<\/i> too was well acquainted with those Western plays when he was doing Drama at the University of Ceylon, this English-educated old-school man strove to discover the Sri Lankan identity on the stage, revolutionizing the quality of stage play existing at that time in the Peradeniya University. In this endevour, he either used our Jataka and Folk stories<\/i> which are close to the hearts of our people or some tales sourced from traditional Eastern culture. Thus, he can be named as the Shakespeare<\/i> of Sinhala Theatre.<\/p>\n

However, at the early stage of his theatrical career, Prof. Sarachchandra<\/i> could also not shun his passion for \u201cevil end\u201d that stagnated around the Western theatre. The tragedy in Sinhabahu<\/i> also ended in mourning rubbing the audiences\u2019 noses with the blood and the guilt, as a result of the inter-play of Trio- Lion, Suppadevi and Son Sinhabahu.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than Sinhabahu<\/i>, Maname<\/i><\/a> mirrors the tragedian spectrum of the play from its very first show up to now. It is true that Maname<\/i> gave modern Sri Lankan theatre a new life and further enriched cultural roots. Besides, it was an outstanding combination of theatrical craft, poetic sophistication, choreography excellence and dramatic concentration in which the essential elements in the folk theatre tradition were adapted to the modern stage. But the tragedian perception was reserved sacrosanct.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes back, the writer was lucky to attend the 92nd<\/sup> Birth Day celebration of Mr. Wasantha Kumara at his residence at Katubedda, the great ballet dancer who is also the original choreographer of Maname<\/i> and Sinhbahu,<\/i> was told by that Maestro, \u201cSarachchndra\u2019s forte was keeping the audience with full of tear-jerking sensations rather than scenes of jests\u201d Further the said all-time-Socialist English-speaking veteran dancer went on to reminisced, how, about 60-years ago, Ben Sirimanne<\/i> \u2013 the Prince Maname<\/i> who challenged Edmund Wijesinghe<\/i> \u2013 the Veddah chief with Trilicia Gunawardena<\/i>, the Princess gave justice to Prof. Sarachchandra\u2019s aspirations all of which are still nostalgic memories beautifully written in the Memory lane of Sri Lankan Theatre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the light of Maname<\/i>, when we re-read Shakespere<\/i>, the Hamlet<\/i> is the best play that compares well with Maname<\/i>. The former dramatizes the revenge of Prince Hamlet<\/i> on his uncle Claudius <\/i>for murdering King Hamlet<\/i>.\u00a0 <\/span>Since the Maname<\/i> underlines the fragile qualities of a woman, in Hamlet<\/i> too, Shakepere<\/i> scripted that point aginst Gertrude<\/i> \u2013 the mother of Hamlet<\/i>, by putting, \u201cfrailty thy name is woman\u201d. The speech generalizes the attribution of weakness of womankind. Was not this the same thing shown in the Maname<\/i> too?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prof. Sarchchandra<\/i> got tremendous effort to take out the blame from \u201cManame Kumari<\/i> (Princess Maname)\u201d who had been branded as an epitome of frailty for years in Sri Lankan theatre. Sarchchandra<\/i> tried to exonerate the woman-kind by saying, \u201csiduwuni a wipatha nodani kage dosa\u201d<\/i> (that tragedy happened, nobody knows how). He questioned the responsibility of the murder committed in Maname <\/i>Drama from a genuine human face not going to make anyone culpable though. As per Jataka Story (past lives of Lord Budhdha), Sakra<\/i> \u2013 the king of Gods and Goddess, had said to Maname Kumari,<\/i> when she lost both Kumaraya and Veddha<\/i>, \u201cAnother\u2019s faults are plainly seen, \u2019Tis hard to see one\u2019s own, I ween, Methinks thou too must count the cost, When spouse and lover both are lost.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Conversely, Shakespeare<\/i> passed the blame to Masculine Gender too, in his Tragedy of Othello<\/i>. When Othello<\/i> smothers lovely Desdemona <\/i>to death in bed by accusing her of adultery and, finally realizing Desdemona’s<\/i> innocence, he went into rage. Attributions of jealousy, ignorance and suspicion of man against woman pinpoint that men are also possessed with the characteristic of imperfection as much as women do, as it performed in Hamlet<\/i> or in Maname.<\/i><\/p>\n

Considering all these instances and the perpetual adoration to tragedy by both dramatists, are we wrong to call them Theatre Tragedians?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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