Aloysians Involved in the Stage Play "Maname"

Aloysians Involved in the Stage Play of 1956, “Maname” & Sinhala Plays Staged at SAC

 

Veditanthirige Eustace Reginold de Silva from Dodanduwa,  was a student of St. Aloysius College , Galle, Richmond College, Galle, St. John' s College , Panadura & St. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia. His father was a Post Master, in a transferable service.
He later changed his name to Veditanthirige Ediriweera Ranjitha Sarachchandra, & was better known as Professor Ediriweera Sarathchandra. In the 1950s he was the Lecturer in Sinhala at the University in  Peradeniya . It was he who produced the play 'Maname' which was first staged at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo on 3 November 1956.

 

 K. H. J. Wijedasa, a former Secretary to the President, writes as follows:

"The saga of Maname would not have been so sweet and bright if not for the fantastic singing, dancing and acting capabilities displayed by the original cast of talented young men and women drawn mainly from the Peradeniya batch of 1955 and a few from the intake of 1956.
Professor Sarachchandra and Gunasinghe Gurunnanse spent long hours auditioning, interviewing and testing the applicants before they got the green light to join in the rehearsals proper. The rehearsals of course were rigorous and exacting and the players had to achieve perfection.
On the opening day as the curtain rose and the rich chant of the potheguru (narrator) Shyamon Jayasinghe filled the auditorium we sat spellbound and speechless at what appeared to be a theatrical miracle.
The key roles of Prince Maname, the Princess and the Veddha King were played by Ben Sirimanna, Trilicia Abeykoon or Hemamali Gunasekara and Edmund Wijesinghe respectively.
Of these great players only Shyamon Jayasinghe (in Australia) and Hemamali Gunasekara are among the living today. The support cast and management team consisted of some eminent public servants of yester year such as Nanda Abeywickrema, Lionel Fernando, Amaradasa Gunawardena and Arthur Silva." (https://www.sundaytimes.lk/161113/plus/that-unforgettable-maname-moment-216433.html).

Ben Sirimanne, referred to above, was none other than Mr. Benedict Sirimanne, an Aloysian & one of our own Sinhala teachers, who was then following a Diploma in Sinhala at the University in Peradeniya. He was selected for the main role in the play, purely on merit. As pointed out by Mr. Wijedasa  most of the actors in the play had been selected from among those who entered the University in 1955/1956, but Mr. Sirimanne was then a mature student at the university.
A tribute to him paid by one of the leading actresses in the play referred to by Professor K. N. O. Dharmadasa , & appearing here :
https://thuppahis.com/2013/06/28/maname-in-retrospect-homage-to-the-pioneers-of-1956/
is as follows :

"Hemamali recalls how Edmund Wijesinghe’s voice contrasted dramatically with the mellow richness of Ben Sirimanne’s voice. Ben was the original Prince Maname, a mature student who had entered Peradeniya as a school-teacher to follow the Sinhala Diploma course. Hemamali found him “mature, unflappable and gentlemanly, with his pleasant mellifluous voice and gentle ways” putting her completely at ease during the rehearsals."
The song in Maname sung by Ben Sirimanne can be heard here :
Premayen man ranjitha we
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhJ4eis8Kw
Another song sung by him in another subsequent play can be heard here:
Anna balan sanda
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=invkLR3bE8U

 Mr. Sirimanne, had not taken part in any of the English plays staged in the college, but he was a member of the College Choir & we could sometimes hear his vibrant voice clearly. He was not a regular Sinhala teacher in the classes I studied, but he often came in as a relief teacher. I met him for the first time in the 3^rd standard. He did not take a lesson, but recited a story, that of two parrots, brothers, one who fell in with a band of thieves, & the other who lived with a group of ascetics. He explained the moral of the story, “keep the company of good friends, shun bad friends”. There was pin drop silence in the class when he recited the story, & I remember it to this day. I later learnt that it was a Jataka Tale.

Sinhala Plays at College

 According to Mr. Eric Ferreira, who wrote the chapter on Music & Drama for the Centenary Souvenir, the first Sinhala play staged in the College Hall was 'Kapuva Kapothi' in November 1947. It was produced by the Rover Crew Leader S. Jayasundera.

 This play had first been produced in Sinhala in 1945 by Messrs. E. F. C. Ludowyke & Ediriweera Sarathchandra,  & was an adaptation of the play 'Marriage' by Nikolai Gogol.

Derrick Shockman’s review (Daily News, 12 May 2004),  of the original Sinhala  play is as follows”

“Sarachchandra et al accordingly retained the skeleton plot, substituting Sinhalese equivalents for the Russian characters. There was the old lady anxious to marry off her daughter. There was a marriage broker (Kapuva) and among the candidates a briefless lawyer, a contractor (Mudalali) an Army Officer, and a middle-aged bachelor who was shy of tying the knot. And, of course, the daughter who had little choice of her own.

In the Sinhala adaptation the Kapuva is made to marry the girl when the proposed candidate ducks out. Hence the very appositive title Kapuva Kapothi.

First presented in 1945 the play was an unprecedented success, running to over 60 performances in Colombo and the outstations.”

The success of the play & the fact that it was produced by an old Aloysian may have persuaded the college authorities to stage a Sinhala play for the very first time in its existence. Unfortunately, the names of the College Actors are not recorded.

The next Sinhala play was Merchant of Venice in 1956. I remember seeing the play but cannot now remember the Actors.

 Thereafter, two other plays named Magul Parasthawa (1959) & Rattaran (1959), were staged. Both plays are again adaptations by Profesor Ediriweera Sarathchandra,  & staged by him in 1949 & 1956 respectively. It is likely that Mr. Bertie Wijesinghe obtained the scripts from the Peradeniya University. Scenes from these two College plays appear below:

 

The period from 1960 to 1970 was one of uncertainty for the College & no Sinhala or English plays appear to have been staged.

K. K. de Silva