You have gone, but your legacy lives

Shayamon Jayasinghe, the first Pothegurunnanse in Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra's Maname pays tribute to the late Trilicia Gunawardhana, the first queen

It is sad to know that Trilicia Gunawardhana is gone!

To contemporary audiences Trilicia was an exceptional Sinhala movie and teledrama actress. The teledrama medium, in particular gave her household recognition. Her roles in " Giraya" and "Baddegedara" would take very long to leave the memories of ordinary Sri Lankans. I thought the Beddegedara performance was astonishingly good. This is not to invest the TV production itself with the same rating!

Like many other gifted persons of her genre, Trilicia was a migrant from the theatre to the more popular and lucrative media. She used to tell me however, that she derived more personal fulfilment from her original base. I have heard this comment being made by many such artistic migrants of high calibre. As Thornton Wilder said: "theatre is the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.The supremacy of the theatre derives from the fact that it is always 'now' on stage."

Trilicia, Ben Sirimanne, Edmund Wijesinghe and my humble self were in the frontline in that modern icon of the artistic history of the Sinhala people - Maname. She was the first Maname queen. For some performances another, Hemamali Gunasinghe, shared that historical honour; this mention is , however, only for the sake of accuracy. It was Trilicia all the way.

Trilicia was the nightingale of the Sinhala stage. I remember her voice resounding through the hall and flowing to its extremities. It was the authentic melody of the queen in sadness and in joy: "Lapa nomavan sanda se somi gunena..." I remember her singing that with the subtle erotic movement of her body as befitting the dramatic occasion.

Those were, perhaps, the best of our times- the days when Maname was created and the immediate aftermath: rehearsals in the arts bloc at Peradeniya campus;the great Sarachchandra by our sides and guiding us along;the venerable Charles Silva Gunasinghe Gurunnanse, Nadagam expert from Ambalangoda, teaching the dance steps and the Nadagam melodies and Vasantha Kumara, the dancing guru with the flowing white dress !

We hardly realized then we were in the process of creating history. Our focus was on the enjoyment we derived when we got on to the "Maname bus" and toured the island. There was Trilicia, Edmund, Ben, Lionel, Nanda , Trixie, Indrani, Ramya, Pastor, Adikaram, Edirie " the bee" Arthur, KDP, Wimal and the host of other jolly persons doing the trek.

Crowds flocked to see the play. There was committment all round. This is why the quality of the show was supreme. We were often played out by the organizers who told us that it was a loss after all! And yet it was full house! It did not matter.

Unfortunately Trilicia's last days prior to her untimely death were filled with grief. Her husband, A.J. died suddenly a few months ago. They were well matched and complemented each other- A.J. playing the role not merely of a fan of his spouse but also that of a constructive critic. Trilicia herself succumbed to a long illness which could not be cured. But she showed little of these tribulations when I met her last, while visiting the country.

I am sorry to miss a good friend and a great colleague in the arts. I can only utter a forlorn farewell: 'Good bye oh queen! Your life has ended as all lives must; but your legacy will remain.

On a voyage of discovery

Titanic II will be presented by the seminarians of the National Seminary Ampitiya, at the Sacket Auditorium Ampitiya today at 5 p.m.

Titanic II is the culmination of a series of productions which evolved over the last eight years during

the course of workshop productions co-directed by Haig Karunaratne and Fr. Claver Perera for Chesterton Day at the Ampitiya Seminary. They were Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Murder in the Cathedral, a Night at the Inn, excerpts from Shakespeare, Realities - an original dramatization of ballads and songs and last year "Bread and Wine" another original play.

Titanic II is an experimental play which has for its theme, man's (Sri Lanka's) search for security - personal, social, political and economic - and his realisation that a crisis underlines his spiritual poverty. Nevertheless it also puts him on the road to spiritual security.

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