Maname, a drama by the celebrated dramatist, Prof Ediriweera Sarachchandra completed 66 years on November 3. The University of Kelaniya organised a celebratory event to mark the occasion where the play was staged on the day while senior artistes who contributed to the play over the years were also recognised for their efforts at the event.
Maname was first staged on November 3, 1956 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo. Since then the play has had a major impact on Sri Lanka’s visual arts scene. Maname was staged at a time when there was no formal drama tradition in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the play can be considered as the birth of drama in the annals of theatrical art in the country.
Expressing her views on the 66th Anniversary of the Maname drama held at the University of Kelaniya, Lalitha Sarachchandra said the University had requested her permission to stage the play on November 3. “I informed them that the play would complete 66 years on the day. They said it was their great fortune and requested they be allowed to stage the play along with anniversary celebrations.
They also requested a list of names of those suitable to be awarded for their contribution to the play. If everyone who ever participated in the play in some shape or form were to be recognised the list would go over 200.
Therefore, I considered seniority and gave them a list of 11 persons. By the time I arrived the auditorium was already full. I saw how the lecturers and students had organised the event to be held with great pride. The day’s events commenced after lighting the traditional oil lamp and remembering Prof Sarachchandra. I was very happy with the effort,” she said.
Prof Patrick Ratnayake, Chairman of the Arts Council of Kelaniya University and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities said, “As we all know Maname was staged on November 3, 1956 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo by Prof Sarachchandra who was serving in the Sinhala Department of the University of Peradeniya at the time.
It is accepted as the first milestone of modern Sri Lankan drama. It can be considered as a special milestone in the free socio-political cultural space that commenced after the independence in 1948.
During this time, there was a great awakening in the economic, social, political and cultural fields. Considering the arts, Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s Maname and Dr. Lester James Peiris’s Rekhawa created a unique awakening in art.
The awakening of the arts and literature centred around the University of Peradeniya with the contribution of Prof. Sarachchandran later expanded to the Department of Fine Arts Studies in the University of Kelaniya.
Prof. Ashley Halpe, Gamini Hattettuwegama, Prof. M.H Gunathilaka contributed to this revival. Later, in 1997, a unit to study drama was started at the Kelaniya University. As a result, Ariyawansa Ranaweera and Dr. Mangalika Jayaratne took the initiative to establish a degree course for theatre at the University. I have been able to develop and continue its activities,” he said.
“To this day we consider Prof Ediriweera Sarachchandra as our guru of not only drama but literature as well. Even today our universities continue to shine in his light. Maname was a unique gift from him. He himself said that the inspiration for Manamewas the film Rashomon directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in 1950 and the Chulla Dhanuddhara Jataka from the 550 Jataka Tales. The traditional arts such as Nadagam, Sokari and Kolam, as well as the features of Japanese Noh, Kabuki, and Kiyoki theatre traditions were used in the formation of the play’s form.
In Japan, these traditions gradually evolved with time. But in Sri Lanka Sokari and Nadagam did see a natural systematic evolution,” he said.
According to Prof Patrick Ratnayake it was Sarachchandra who took the lead in creating an evolution in Sri Lankan drama.
“Therefore, to express our gratitude to him, we marked the 66th anniversary of the Maname play by staging it at the University of Kelaniya on November 3, in the same manner it was staged on November 3, 1956 at 6.30 p.m. at the Lionel Wendt in Colombo.
We arranged to have Lalitha Sarachchandra who has been working tirelessly to bequeath this work to the future generations join us on the day. We were also able to honour those who contributed to the play at the event according to her choosing.” he said.
The play was staged twice on the day for over 5000 spectators that attended the event. This only goes to prove the love and admiration the people continue to have for this play. Senior Prof. Nilanthi De Silva, Vice-Chancellor of Kelaniya University, was the Chief Guest of the event. She was recently recognised as one of the best scientists among the world’s scientists.
This was a presentation of the Arts Council of the University of Kelaniya and organised by the Department of Sinhala Studies, the Drama and Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies Unit and the Academic Players Forum.