Ediriweera Sarachchandra Archives

Influences in the Characterisation of the Princess in MANAME-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Ernest Macintyre, being an article entitled “The Growth of a Tragic Princess”…. published in The Ceylankan, Journal 104, Vol 26/3, August 2023 MANAME Hemamali Gunasinghe as Princess Maname in 1956 Sometimes desultory, at a passing social phenomenon in early Peradeniya that was the Japanese Noh theatre, a powerful and proximate influence on the creation of Maname and Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s sub- sequent major plays. In essentials, Noh theatre shares a good deal with Sanskrit theatre, but the latter is extinct. The texts of the Sanskrit plays do exist, but these alone were insufficient to instruct and inspire meaningful theatrical innovation. The latter needed an existing, breathing live model, which is what Sarachchandra found in Noh theatre. The influence of Noh is much clearer in his later plays, where the chorus not only narrates but comments on the happenings on the stage poetically and philosophically. ...

Some more reflections on Sinhala pop music-By Uditha Devapriya Source:Island The pioneers of the cultural revival which materialised in countries like Sri Lanka in the early 20th century laid the groundwork for the evolution and modernisation of the arts in the region. Yet many of these pioneers were traders and merchants, commercial capitalists or in other words practical men, who sought profits from the very revival they patronised. How is one to view this? As Tissa Abeysekera has pointed out rightly in the context of the cinema, it’s all fine to deplore the commercialisation of the arts, but if the arts are to be revived in countries like ours, we need to recognise the fact that they include a significant commercial element. It is against this backdrop that we must view not just the theatre of John de Silva, but more importantly the pop music revival of the 1960s. In ...