‘Applause at the Wendt’ | Sunday Observer

‘Applause at the Wendt’

12 June, 2022

The quietly philosophical and cinematically mesmerising film ‘Winter Sleep’ directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan which won the Plame d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival ends with its central character beginning to write his intended future book – 'A History of Turkish Theatre'.

Watching it years ago, I wondered if ever a comprehensive work chronicling Sri Lankan theatre might be written. To the best of my knowledge there isn’t yet a comprehensive work that can claim to be ‘A History of Sri Lankan Theatre’. Yet, Sri Lanka has a vibrant theatre culture that has over the decades grown to be integral to modern Sri Lankan culture.

The Wendt, the indelible

Among the factors that propelled an urban theatre culture in Sri Lanka is ‘The Lionel Wendt Arts Centre’ aka ‘The Lionel Wendt’ or (simply) ‘The Wendt’, which has over the course of its existence of near seven decades become an iconic institution which heralded the growth of modern Sri Lankan theatre, and at that, especially, Sri Lanka’s now Colombo centric English theatre. And it is thus defensible to state that any future work which seeks to chronicle the history of Sri Lankan theatre cannot omit the history of ‘The Wendt’ as an indispensible pillar that holds up the stage of drama and theatre in Sri Lanka.

Lionel Wendt and ‘The Wendt’

The Wendt, which opened its doors to practitioners and lovers of the arts in 1953, as part of its golden jubilee, saw the book ‘Applause at The Wendt’ published by The Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund in 2003.

Edited by the late Neville Weeraratne, with a foreword by Nihal Fernando, the book is a collection of writings that captures the early decades of The Wendt’s history from perspectives of artistes, critics, academics and commentators, while also presenting a well rounded literary portrait of the late great Lionel Wendt who was instrumental in driving forward the Colombo centric arts scene that began gaining ground in the decades running up to independence.

‘Applause at the Wendt’ is at its heart a tribute to Wendt’s legacy, the institution that was born from his prolific life as a practitioner and patron of the arts.

The accounts of Lionel Wendt, the man who became an icon who is now a legend etched in Sri Lanka’s history of mainstream urban arts and culture, narrated through several perspectives are, a means of accessing facets of history unfolding between the book’s pages through eloquent language, literary imagery and anecdotal entertainment.

The heart of the book

The book presents a host of writings by personalities connected to the arts, such as Iranganie Serasinge, Ernest Macintyre, Lucien de Zoysa, Nihal Ratnaike, and Barbara Sansoni to name some of them.

Every article provides a wealth of information and together weaves a mosaic of the story behind the Wendt as to how it came to be what it is known to be today. It is the story of the journeys of many converging through consensus and competitiveness to build up that great institution into what it stands to be today. The essays in ‘Applause at The Wendt’ give accounts of various social, aesthetic and technical facets which will be of interest to those whose engagement with theatre is that of being genuine celebrants of Colombo’s theatre culture.

Stories of how set designing and stage craft were conceptualised and executed back in the 1950s and ‘60s, the Dutch Burgher community’s indelible contribution towards building English theatre in Colombo, the rise of English theatre troupes in Sri Lanka in the latter half of the last century, such as the Ceylon Amateur Dramatic Club, the Little Theatre Group, the International Theatre Group and Stage and Set, can, apart from catering to the needs of academics and researchers, enrich today’s theatre practitioners and theatre goers alike in their understanding of how theatre culture evolved in Sri Lanka.

From colonial era amateur productions of drawing room British comedies to English translations of Russian realist plays, to classic Greek tragedies, to the arrival of classically moulded operatic Sinhala theatre such as ‘Maname’, and the rise of modern English musicals, theatre on the boards of the Wendt has come a long way with a vibrant variety of genres. ‘Applause at The Wendt’ is thus a testimony that entertainingly educates the reader of that aspect of history of Sri Lankan theatre.

Were the splendours of ‘Neverland’ awoken on the boards of the Wendt for the very first time by Kevin Cruze of Cold Theatre fame, when ‘Peter Pan, The Musical’ ran from December 12-18 2016? Of that magnitude, surely yes. But Kevin, at the time this article was being written, wasn’t aware of the fact that Arthur Van Langenberg directed a production of J. M Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ back in 1961, with the thespian talents of Girton Girls’ School Nugegoda. ‘Applause at The Wendt’ testifies to this bit of Sri Lankan theatre history.

A work to be celebrated

One could say that ‘Applause at The Wendt’ in certain respects is a book on Sri Lankan theatre history with a special emphasis on Colombo centric English theatre and its origins. As the pages turn, one finds, woven alongside the textually etched voices that narrate the history of The Wendt, a diverse set of pictorial material that range from photographs of personalities and performances, to paintings, to caricatures, to images of vintage theatre posters and programme cards, which offer a wealth of archival information.

A hard bound book of approximately 300 pages ‘Applause at The Wendt’ has the bearing of a grand looking work that was made to be a collector’s piece. A limited number of copies are still fortunately available at The Wendt and I for one will vouch that it will prove to be a worthy purchase by all means. It is by any standards a printed work of remarkable quality that will embellish the collection of even the most discerning Sri Lankan bibliophile. A book that should adorn the book shelf of every devoted theatregoer who frequents

The Wendt, and most certainly a book that every English theatre practitioner in Sri Lanka worth his/her salt, including the one hit wonders who from time to time appear on the theatre scene, should possess. A work to be valued in many respects, I for one offer my heartiest applause to ‘Applause at The Wendt’ and all who brought it to fruition.

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