Men and women who made their mark
I have had the privilege of seeing Maname with the original cast. It was, no doubt, a masterpiece. Prof. Sarachchandra was a genius in finding something unique from South India and making it one of our own.
No doubt, to this day we have not found someone to replace Shyamon Jayasinghe, who originally played the narrator’s role. He was definitely a class act and his portrayal, fantastic interpretation and his singing ability were beyond compare. He established a standard that others could not follow.
It was Trilicia Gunewardena who first played the role of Maname Kumari. She was, undoubtedly, the best at the time. However, Yasodara Sarachchandra with her beauty, charm and elegance was my favourite.
Edmund Jayasinghe was so powerful as Vedda that no one, yes, no one ever came close to him. In my view, the legendary Dhamma Jagoda was the best after Edmund.
Ben Sirimanne did his best as Maname Kumaraya and his majestic voice etc. was impressive. However, there were others who followed him and did equally well.
Sinhabahu
More complicated than Maname, the play itself was not everyone’s cup of tea. However, as time passed, more and more people began to understand and appreciate it.
Unfortunately, it was not easy to find someone with the same tenacity and singing ability like Malini Ranasinghe for the role of Suppadevi. She was perhaps the best as far as I know.
I played the role of the Lion and at the start I did not understand some of the inner meanings of the lyrics and I had to seek the assistance of those doing Sinhalese Special (degree) to get them to explain to me the meanings of some of the words and idiomatic expressions.
As far as I knew, the Sinhaya (the Lion) was kindhearted with feelings and emotions and only changed his character when abandoned by his wife and the two children.
However, in the current production the Lion from the very start is a ferocious character, with no feelings, no emotions as such.
Sinhabahu was originally played by Charlie Jayawardena and his interpretation of the character was definitely worth remembering. But when this role was portrayed by Nissanka Diddeniya from 1970 onwards I found he did more justice to Sinhabahu, with his dancing, singing and overall acting ability.
I remember I first met Nissanka at Dr. Sarachchandra’s residence and one day, he suddenly asked me to teach Nissanka some of the songs of Sinhabahu.
I have no knowledge of music except my ability to sing and so I taught him using the table tennis table as a drum. When Dr. Sarachchandra returned after his lectures he quietly asked me what I felt about Nissanka and I said “Doctor I think this chap will go a long way with you, he is a rare gem.” He made no comment.
However, 23 years later when I returned to the stage to play the Lion in 1993 (I had just returned from London) after the show at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, he said, “Mark, I now remember what you said about Diga (he called Nissanka Diga). You were right.”
He also said to me “Mark, hari showk ne.”
“What do you mean Doctor,” I said to him. “How come, you have never ever said anything to me so far? “
“Mark, you must remember I had no one to compare you with at that time. Now that I have come across so many Lions, I now know how good you are.”
I still remember quite vividly A. J. Gunewardena in his review (writing as Rasika) after my first performance at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, referred to me as a humble cat rather than a lion.
But as Producer and Director, Dr. Sarachchandra never interfered with my acting unless he found my interpretation was drastically different from what he expected of the role or I was going beyond stylistic principles of Nadagam theatre.
I remember a specific instance when I was doing Gal Lena Bindala (rehearsals) I felt so deeply while singing, tears were rolling down my cheeks.
He called me to a side after the rehearsals and said, “Mark, you know that we are doing stylised drama and here if you do not cry and your role is to make the audience cry, you have succeeded in your performance. Please remember that always.”
I would never ever forget that.
He was a genius and I have never ever come across anyone like him in my life.