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| Pic by Ravindra Dharmathilake |
Traditional dramatists question the
compatibility of the adaptations of foreign dramas into local theater.
Priyankara Ratnayaka, the director of adoptions of Greek stage plays Wisekariyo
and Ada wage
dawasaka Antigone, claims that there are two types of dramas where one
belongs to a country and one belongs to the humans. “A drama belonging to the humans
could be adapted into any community or culture since all the emotions and
issues could be interpreted accordingly,” he said in an interview with The
Nation.
Priyankara Ratnayake, a Senior Lecturer
in Drama and Theatre at the University
of Kelaniya, is an artiste,
who set foot simultaneously in teledrama, cinema and theater. He gained
experiences under veterans like Somalatha Subasinghe, Dhamma Jagoda, Tissa Abeysekara
and Wasantha Obeysekara and Priayankara Ratnayake and now shares knowledge with
budding dramatists in the country.
Q. How do you see the difference in the
teledrama field, then and now?
Unlike today, teledrama artistes worked
with great responsibility at that time. All were well planned. I remember when I
was acting in Wanasarana, my first teledrama; there were times
when the director took three days to shoot one scene just because there were
few flaws. They wanted it perfect. Today there are some teledramas which shoot
three episodes in a day. Many of it is thibba gahuwa (fast paced) productions.
Another thing we have noticed is that the
actors are celebrities today. They are famous. If you take one actor or an
actress, they simultaneously act in four to five teledramas. If you have noticed,
sometimes the characters are similar to each other and even the costumes they
wear are similar.
Q. What caused this drawback?
Look at the pioneers in teledramas.
Veterans like Tissa Abeysekara, Lester James Peries, Dharmasena Pathiraja,
Asoka Handagama or Parakrama Niriella were responsible in what they did. Most
of them were well experienced in theatre or cinema before they moved on to
teledrama. They had a scholastic knowledge to handle the visual medium. Unfortunately,
none of them do teledramas now. They have gone back to do what they are mostly
interested in.
Today most of the teledrama directors in
the field are not nurtured well. They go straight into directing after
assisting two or three teledramas. They lack the knowledge to see the depth of
art work. There are exceptions like Sudath Rohana who was able to maintain the
standards in his dramas. He gathered experience over many years by working with
Tissa Abeysekara. If he can maintain the standards, why can’t others?
Other thing is the objectivity of
telecasting a drama. Today the teledramas are made to sell products. Those days there were 30 minutes allocated for
a teledrama. At least, we watch a drama for about 25 to 26 minutes. Now its
only 18 minutes. We are watching advertisements for more than 10 minutes. The
actors are selected according to the wishes of the media institution where
sometimes the talent doesn’t get opportunity. On the other hand, the new actors
in the field just want to maintain their fame, not to study what they do.
Therefore many can’t be on the field for a long time.
Q. Why are the veterans of in the field
silent about this?
An originator has two aspects of doing a
work of art. One is to convey a message
through the creation. The other is to satisfy himself. Today’s system
doesn’t seem to satisfy these people who want to do something good. People like
Handagama and Niriella who made a difference in the teledrama field have gone
back to cinema and theatre seeking things which satisfy them. They have
understood that they cannot use teledramas to go in depth of art in the
contemporary system.
Q. Future of the teledrama field doesn’t
seem to be optimistic?
I’m not sure how long a person like
Sudath Rohana will be able to maintain the standards. That is my problem. If
the relevant media institutes don’t pay attention to this, I don’t think the
future will be positive. They should understand that they cannot keep a long
time audience by continuous reality
shows.
Q. Does this cause audience to get
distracted from teledramas?
Teledrama is something shown to the
audience by force. But the television cannot force them to see what they don’t
like forever. This could be a reason why the cinema and theatre audience is
greater now after the war ended. Now that they are free, they seem to seek what
they like. Unlike the teledramas, the cinema or the stage cannot fool the audience.
Since a person has to schedule time to come and see a movie or a stage play,
the creation team should be capable enough to attract them to their
creation.
Q. Would this be a way up to the stage?
This won’t happen if the dramatist starts
to make cheap productions to attract the audience who broke up from the
television. Even though a generation or two may seem to have abandoned the
stage, there was always a good audience for the stage. There was an era in 60s
and 70s, where there was a full audience for stage plays. I have seen people
seated on the floor as the theater became full. It’s true that this number
declined, but there was a stable number always, even outside Colombo. And in the past few years we noticed
a moderate increase in this number, but we have still not come back to a time
where the theatre is full.
Another reason for this increasing number
could be the school and university curriculums. Now drama and theatre studies
are part of the school curriculum from grade five. The number of school
children and university students coming to see stage plays are increasing. There should be good facilities for the
audience. Or else, people would not come even though the drama is good.
Q. What is the situation of theater
facilities in Sri Lanka?
It is not satisfactory at all. Look at
the halls in Colombo.
There are only few, but no one is trying to keep these in a good state. The most suitable place for both dramatists
and the audience is Lionel Wendt. That’s an ideal theatre. But we know that, it
is maintained by a private organization. Government is not involved in
providing facilities for theatre. Look at John de Silva Memorial Hall. If a
person goes there, he’ll have to concentrate more on avoiding mosquito bites
than watching the drama just like the olden days. It’s hard to enjoy a play
there on a rainy day. Lumbini hall is not suitable for stage dramas at all. People
boil inside.
The situation is worse outside Colombo. There are no acceptable
theaters for stage plays. We usually use school auditoriums when we go out of Colombo, but it doesn’t
even fit the minimum needs of the drama group. Quality of the creative
production is lessening when there aren’t adequate facilities. We should at
least built one theater for each district.
Q. There is a connection between the country’s
development and literature. How would you describe this?
It doesn’t matter how much physical resources
a government gives its citizens, the country
will still not be developed if their spirituality is not nurtured. The best way to improve spirituality is through
drama, since it’s easy to teach people through drama. And literature
improves the thinking power. If the literature and drama are going down, the
development of the country is also going down. Same goes with language. If the
language crashes, the country also crashes.
The constitution in 1978 was initiated
asking the question ‘sahithya kannada?’ (Can we eat literature?) But
before that, in 50s and 60s it was different and you know that was a golden era
for the country. The men of letters were in the parliament and they worked
towards the development of literature. Situation changed after 77 and the
decline and the fall of literature started. It affected the whole country. Both
literature and art are included in measuring the country’s development. We are
in a crisis since we are under the margins of both these measurements.
Q. Lets talk about your latest contributions Wisekariyo
and Ada
Vage Davasaka Antigone?
Ada Vage Davasaka Antigone, an adaptation
of Sophocles’ tragedy was created three years ago and my
latest direction Wisekariyo is an adaptation of the Lysistrata, a comedy by
the Greek dramatist Aristophanes. Lysistrata
was previously adapted as Gahanu Wada Arambathi by Darmapriya Dais, which was translated by Aruna
Premaratne. We have used the same translation. Ada Vage Davasaka
Antigone was translated by Ariyawansha Ranaweera. Ada Vage Davasaka
Antigone and Wisekariyo will be staged at November 21 and 22 at the
Lionel Wendt at 7 pm.
You could see how the university
students have changed. It is true that we cannot change the mentality of the
students, who had the minimum understanding of literature and drama,
completely. But they have improved. Majority of the contributors of these two
dramas are university products.
Q. Both the dramas use the power of humor. How essential
is humor in a drama?
Humor is more than what makes you laugh and humor used in
a drama, or even in any other creation should not leave the audience go home
empty handed. It should offer the audience something to think about. For
instance when we watch Chaplin for the first time we laugh, but the third or
the fourth time we watch it, we see the pain and the struggle hidden. Some
dramatists mistake this for light humor which does not offer anything to think.
People will not hang on to these light humored dramas, even if they continue to
produce them. The audience will get fed up with them similarly to the
television.
Q. Both Antigone and Wisekariyo
display the power of female characters. Was there a special reason for choosing
these scripts?
I didn’t take the female aspect of this,
but the humanistic aspect. True that both dramas highlight female characters. A
hero is a hero regardless of the gender. It all depends on the motive of the
character. Both Antigone and Lysistrata are such
characters which give out their powerful way of thinking. That is what’s
important. Antigone speaks about a post
war scenario while Wisekariyo finds a way to
end a struggle. Both storylines had bonds with our situation. There is a
message for all of us hidden in the dramas.
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| Ada wage dawasaka Antigoni |
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| Wisekariyo |
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