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| Sunday, 17 July 2005 |
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Punchi Theatre recreates :
Kelanitissa's ordeal with the ocean by Indira P. Dahanayake
Since the boxing day tragedy, many a literary work ranging from poetry, drama to movies have centered round the awe - inspiring, life threatening word, tsunami. In a recent staging of the legend of Viharamaha Devi, Punchi Theatre stepped back into the past to recall a similar event during the time of King Kelanitissa. Indira P. Dahanayake unravels the events created on stage. Kelanitissa's daughter and Last bus eke kathawa were two plays staged recently at the 'Punchi Theatre' in Borella. The former is a stylised drama narrated by Lakmali Gunawardena interspersed with music and song. It was the story of Vihara Devi, the beautiful princess daughter of King Kelanitissa, a wicked king who ordered the killing of a pious monk, on suspicion of having a secret love affair with his queen. The monk was immersed in a hot oil cauldron, but before his body became lifeless his spirit sprung up to the sky through his piety -the Gods watching the King's cruel act decided to punish the King. The sea god created a tidal wave, in turn which leapt high and entered the inland through the Western Coastal belt taking thousands of lives before it reached the palace of King Kelanitissa. The panic-stricken king realising his folly decided to consult the royal soothsayers. He was finally advised to send his beautiful and only daughter princess Kalyani adrift to the sea in a golden canoe, to calm down the wrath of the sea-god. The princess, Kalyani fell asleep while the boat was adrift for days, and finally awoke when the boat reached a place known as 'Kirinda' in the Southern Coastal belt. The fisher folks having spotted this maiden, took her to be a supernatural being. The message was conveyed by a fisherman's daughter to the King who reigned the particular area. He was a young king, unmarried at the time of the incident. His name was Kavantissa. The story was carried by the fisherman's daughter who imagined the young princess to be a super natural king. The King's curiosity aroused by the woman's speech finally summoned her to be brought to his palace. She was kept in a special apartment under the care of an elderly woman addressed as 'Kirimav'. The King consulted Kirimav from time to time on the well-being of the princess, and finally gathered up his courage to have a tete-a-tete with her. He was amazed at her high level of integrity and finally decided to bestow the honour of being his queen. The story is narrated clearly and precisely with correct modulation to draw the attention of a cultured audience continually. The well-trained cast that included veteran actors, Manel Jagoda, Sandun Wijesiri and Dinindu Jagoda. The emphatic role of Kelanitissa's daughter was well portrayed by Anjulie Gunaratna. Her eloquent speech full of expression was appealing and impressive by the conversation she had with the intelligent King Kavantissa, portrayed by Dinidu Jagoda. Last bus eke-kathawa was a monologue narrated with lively action by Gihan Chickera. The play directed by Ruwanthi Chickera was lively and interesting. The narrator of the story Gihan was clever in holding the continuous attention of the audience for one hour. Some of the spectators at the audience included Dr. Lester James Peries and Sumithra Peries. |
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