My drama school was the SLBC

Ratna Lalani, a legend on the Sri Lankan stage, has mastered acting, singing as well as depicted emotions, over a period of three decades, has made the audience fall in love with her. Beginning at the Guwanwiduli Lama Pitiya, Ratna Lalani Jayakody has conquered the stage, television as well as the cinema. Partner in life, as well as on stage, Sampath Tennakoon, is the key person behind the Abhinayana Sampath- Ratna Rangabhumika; the stage drama festival organized by the 80’s group – Sathjana Sahurda Sansadaya. Still as pretty as Ranjini from Yashorawaya, Ratna Lalani Jayakody spoke of the drama festival to The Nation.

“It’s been more than 30 years since Sampath and I first got on stage. In 1991, we held a similar drama festival named Ratna Lalani Drama Festival. We have acted in over 50 dramas now, and in about 20 of them played parts together. We have selected seven of the finest dramas for the festival, from among those 20 dramas,” she explained. Abhinayana Sampath-Ratna Ranga Bhoomika will be staged at the New Town Hall, Colombo 7 from December 17- 23 commencing at 6.45 pm.

Ratna continued to speak about the drama festival. “Though it’s Sampath’s idea, this festival is a joint effort. We want each and every participant from set maker, prompter to the actors to get the same benefits. That’s why Sampath decided to publish a souvenir of academic value - a collection of articles by scholars in our field. This souvenir could be used as a handbook. In fact, the aim of the drama festival is to give the audience a chance to see what they missed,” she explained. “When it is organized as a festival, it’s easy for people to schedule their time and university students were interested in this idea, since many of these dramas were staged even before they were born. I feel this will be a great opportunity for them,” she added.

Ratna Lalani’s voice is unique and unforgettable in Noorthi and stage drama songs. She believes that her success was the result of the strong foundation from Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). “If someone praises me for my talent, I think all that credit should go to the SLBC. I got the chance to get in to the SLBC because my sister, Geetha Kanthi Jayakody was there and that is where I learnt how to control my voice or address the audience. Seniors like Ananda Sirisena, Agnes Sirisena, Mahinda Algama, Ashoka Tillekeratne or Piyadasa Ratnasinghe shared their knowledge with us. We didn’t have any drama schools. My drama school was the SLBC.”

Among the dramas selected for the festival are a few foreign scripts adapted to Sinhala: Subha Sandawak adapted from The Respectable Prostitute by Jean Paul Satre; Puthra Samagama adapted from The Elder Son by Alexender Vampilov and Romaya Gini Ganiy 2 adapted from Caught in the Net by the British dramatist Ray Cooney. According to Ratna Lalani translated or adapted stories are stronger than the local scripts and when adapted most of the scripts are common to every community. “Puthra Samagama, a Russian adaptation speaks about the conflicts within the family. It’s common to us also. Except for people like KD Herath or Jayalath Manoratna and Rajitha Dissanayaka, there aren’t many who take independent scripts. The new generation lacks the ability to make independent work with a fine finish,” she said.

“We adapt foreign scripts to Sinhala, but the local scripts are not getting adapted in to foreign languages.  I feel that we lack scripts unique to our culture. No one from the younger generation picked that uniqueness from Dayananda Gunawardana, Buddhadasa Galappaththi or Henry Jayasena,” she raised a point. “This situation is not limited to our country. Even the new foreign scripts are not very successful. It is the same old stories which are being re-scripted and staged, again and again. Maybe there is nothing new to talk about,” she added.

According to her, despite the number of newly directed stage dramas, the theater has failed to attract a new audience. “It’s not that everyone lacks interest. There is a group who is always faithful to stage dramas. In fact, it’s really hard to book a theater to stage a play as there are new stage dramas being directed each day. One could take it as an awakening in the field. But the theaters are not getting full,” she said. “Each year there are new dramas directed and staged for the State Drama Festivals. Most of these dramas don’t go further than the festivals. Some among them use the television as a messenger and advertise themselves. Some travel a bit further with the help of welfare societies. Another group who uses tele-drama actors in their dramas, believing it is easy to advertise the dramas when those actors are used.  Also there are a number of lame dramas categorized as comedies which are particularly dry. They also use a name which arouses curiosity. It is becoming a trend,” she added.

According to Ratna Lalani, there is an absence of decent new scripts. “Sampath and I had this idea of producing a good stage drama for years. We tried to produce a fresh drama for our drama festival, but could not find a decent enough script. Some scriptwriters direct and produce their dramas by themselves. They don’t give it out. There were few good scripts like that. Some were ready to give but our standards did not match. We’ve to consider our age too, right?” she smiled.

As mentioned earlier, the title of the drama also plays a part in attracting an audience. Ratna pointed out that there are good dramas neglected by the ordinary audience because of the name.  “Jagan Maatha, directed by K B Herath is an example. People question the plot and they judge that it will be hard to understand. A director even suggested to Herath to change the name since it’s hard to understand. But when you take the story, that name Jagan Maatha explains everything- a mother called universe. But some believe it is hard to promote it with a name like that. What to do, some only like what is easy to understand,” she iterated.

Ratna Lalini pic by Chandana Wijesinghe

Another challenge is collecting funds for production. “When we were seeking sponsors for the drama festival, almost everyone lamented that their yearly budget is over. Some challenged us to show the rewards they would receive by sponsoring a drama festival. Some were concerned about the number of people who will get to see the drama as that is the only crowd they’ll be advertising to. This drama festival is the willingness of me and Sampath to jump in to trouble,” she explained the troubles they had to undergo seeking sponsors for the festival.

We occasionally get an opportunity to see some stage dramas on television. Although the complete aesthetic feeling could not be guaranteed Ratna Lalani is of the view that it was a good method for preserving stage dramas. “I do not say that by telecasting a stage drama 100 percent justice is done to the play. But other than in this way, there is no other way of preserving stage dramas for the future, for the new generations to study or even for us to see when we get old.”  She went on to say, “Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, ITN and TNL used to record and telecast stage plays. Those dramas are the only ones which are being preserved. Though it’s not happening now, the SLRC has promised to start again. It is good if that happens, the new stage plays will also be preserved.”

She also said that selecting actors and actresses for the stage is not an easy task. “Stage is not an easy place. Tele-drama is nothing compared to the difficulties faced by staged drama.  You have to travel a lot, sometimes with minimum facilities. Sometimes there aren’t places to change clothes, no clean washrooms. Above all there are times you don’t get the payments after the shows. A person who can tolerate all this, only, can survive in the field,” she explained. “This is the main reason why a dramatist has to stick with another career as well.”  

By profession Ratna Lalani is a teacher at Royal College, Colombo 7.  In her years of experience she had observed that children showed a decreased interest in drama and theater. “With the influence of television, children have got obsessed about singing or dancing, but not the theater. They don’t seem to consider stage as a popular medium.  Children who have selected drama as a subject has a forced interest since their syllabus demands study,” she pointed out. “Teachers also take them to see dramas like Nari Bena, Thalamala Pipila, Antigone or Ratnawali, which are in the syllabus, but there is no attempt to make them interested beyond that. There are only a few who really are passionate about scheduling time to go and see a stage play,” she added.

She also said that the current Advanced Level and Ordinary Level syllabus is satisfactory, but has doubts about it being too heavy for beginners. “I have noticed that some dramas in the syllabus are too serious for children; these are ones which can be handled at university level. For A/L, the student is supposed to study seven text books. Since the syllabus is too wide, they do not get enough time to study in depth. Also, two years is not enough to read and understand all the dramas. There are good Greek dramas, Sanskrit dramas, European dramas, Japanese dramas, Folk dramas and the usage of drama skills in the syllabus. But they do not get a chance to study any of them in depth. They just study to get an A. That’s all,” she stressed. “However, teachers had a discussion recently about this matter and made some changes for the next year,” she added.

When the subject Drama and Theater studies was introduced to the school curriculum few years back, the students who wanted to study the subject had been reluctant. The word was that this subject wouldn’t allow a child to have higher education and then he or she will not be able to find a job. Ratna Lalani has faith in the new graduates of Drama and Theater studies and that they will be able to change this situation. “Now a student can learn up to the degree. There are several courses carried out in the universities. We couldn’t show a particular road for the students who passed out from university a few years back. But now there are many opportunities in the media field and teaching,” she declared. “I hope the interest in the field will be restored with the help of young blood.”