The two original actors of Hunuwataye Kathawa - Nimal Jayasinghe and Chula Kariyawasam who are still on the play from its very first performance take time to talk to the Sunday Observer, and reminisce about their past memories..
The story of the ‘chalk circle’ is not alien to Sri Lankans. Those who are familiar with Buddhist ‘Jathaka’ stories, know the story in ‘Ummaggha Jathakaya’, about the two mothers; the biological mother and the mother who raised the child, fighting for the ownership of the child. While on a UNESCO scholarship to Russia, Henry Jayasena saw The Caucasian Chalk Circle, the drama of the two mothers and immediately felt connected with the familiar story, and decided that it was the best play to be reproduced in Sri Lanka. The story was close to Sri Lankan culture and Jayasena wanted to introduce Brecht’s theatre to Sri Lanka.
It was the late 1960s. Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s Maname and Sinhabahu had received much recognition and was being imitated by new playwrights. But, Brecht’s theatre style introduced a new genre for the Lankans and they embraced it, with a narrator who interacted with the audience as well as the characters, together with many new features.
The English play was already being staged in Sri Lanka with Irangani Serasinghe acting as Grusha, but they wore masks which Jayasena didn’t approve of. Instead, he recommended nets, through which actors’ facial expressions could still be visible. The music by Shelton Premaratne was considered revolutionary, using simple gadgets such as, clay pots, to create music, and Henry and Manel Jayasena’s acting mesmerized the audience.
‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ created a significant stir in the society when it was first staged. People who were used to stylized dramas produced by Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra welcomed the change brought by this translated play. ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ is also said to be the first time that a new play was staged for five consecutive days, from March 8 – 12, 1967.Fifty year old records of ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ show that on day one, the earnings were Rs. 268/-, and on day two, it was increased to Rs. 535/-. The 3rd, 4th and 5th days had recorded earnings of Rs. 780, Rs. 928, Rs. 1,561 respectively. The tickets were priced at Rs.3, Rs.2, and Re.1. The increase in earnings show a steady increase in the audience who had heard of the play and read the reviews and wanted to watch it themselves.
From the beginning it was well received, and by the end of 1968, it had already held over 100 performances. Though everyone has lost count, it is fair to say that ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ has been staged for nearly 4,500 times.
There are only two actors, Nimal Jayasinghe and Chula Kariyawasam who are still on the play from its very first performance. Nimal Jayasinghe sat down with the Sunday Observer to recollect his memories of days gone by, when the drama was created and how he joined the crew. Jayasinghe had started working at the Survey Department in 1961, where he found several colleagues already involved in theatre, such as, Dhamma Jagoda and Fitzroy de Mel. His love for drama had drawn him towards these colleagues and in 1963, he watched Henry Jayasena’s, ‘Kuweni’ where his friends acted in. A few years later, in 1966, Santine Gunawardena who was already a permanent member of Jayasena’s drama team, approached Jayasinghe and asked him whether he would like to act, which he thought was a godsend.
The rehearsals were held at the Royal Primary College Theatre where he met Henry Jayasena for the first time, along with Manel Jayasena, Wijerathna Warakagoda, and Shelton Premaratne, the music composer of ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’.
“As fate may have it, I was introduced as a singer and Henry naturally asked me to join in the chorus. But, later he noticed the actor in me and asked me to perform as the sub-narrator in his next play, ‘Apata Puthe Magak Nethe’, a character that required to act and sing”.
Jayasinghe, over time, became the natural choice to fill in for absentees. He has filled in for 20 roles in the drama, including the role of Azdak, when Henry Jayasena fell ill in the early 1980s. They contemplated on stopping the play for a while, till he was better, but the book, ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ had been prescribed for the A/L syllabus and students were very much interested in the play. “Training a new actor for the role became a difficult option, so I was chosen to play the role of Azdak.I already knew all the lines by heart. It is difficult not to know the lines after being in the play for years. After a few rehearsals, I was good to go.”
“There were instances where I performed my role in the chorus at the beginning, then changed costumes to play the role of an absentee, and changed back again to join the chorus. I asked Henry whether it is alright to change costumes and play two roles, and he said, in Brecht’s theatre, it is quite alright.” Alienation effect is a famous feature in Brecht’s theatre and Henry Jayasena used it freely in his drama as well.
March 8 was an emotional day for Jayasinghe, not only because it marked 50 years for ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’, but also for his acting career which started with the play. The felicitation ceremony organized for ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’, for its present cast included the original crew, Wijerathne Warakagoda, Chandra Kaluarachchi and Grace Thennakoon; with Dharmasiri Bandaranayake giving the main speech for the event.
Henry Jayasena as director, never forced his ideas on the actors, Jayasinghe said. It was his style to watch what the actor had to perform and if needed, would give specific directions. “But, he was strict on rehearsals. He came prepared and when the actors didn’t, he was angry and cancelled rehearsals several times.”
“We kept the show running, though the old team slowly left the play one by one; some due to personal reasons, some due to old age or illness, some migrated, and of course some died. But, we kept recruiting new blood, training them, and kept the play alive”.
Jayasinghe, who was appointed to coordinate the play upon Henry’s retirement, said, the play is the same, with new faces. “We maintained the same standard. It was Henry’s request to drop the play if the standards couldn’t be maintained. I think that’s why this play survived the test of time, especially, when new plays struggle to survive.” The universal theme of the play is another reason for its fame, why everybody could relate to it.
But, that doesn’t mean modern day problems haven’t caught up with the play. For example, finding a child actor to play the role of Prince William. “At the beginning, so many children of the first crew played the role of Prince Michael, including Henry’s son, Chula’s son, Warakagoda’s son, my son, and on several instances, daughters were dressed as boys for the role. But, nowadays, with the demanding and time consuming tuition classes, it’s very difficult to find a child actor committed to the play. We also had a boy from Galle driving to Colombo for three years, for the role.”
Reminiscing on old stories he said, there have been many instances when organisers had cheated and run off without paying for the drama crew. But, Henry Jayasena never cancelled shows, he’d inform the audience that the organisers have gone missing with the money but the show will go on as planned.
“There were times when people in the audience got together and prepared dinner for the crew after the play, when the organizers wouldn’t even show their faces,” he recollected. On the other hand, the crew had travelled all around the country with the play, including Jaffna, Mannar, Batticaloa, long before the war, and performed for enthusiastic audiences, at one time, using ‘hurricane lamps’ as there was no electricity.
- Isuri Yasasmin
Pix: Dushmantha Mayadunne