Musings :

Telescoping into the horror of war via Dhawala Bheeshanaya

‘Second World War Memories of school children,’ titled the last article of mine. Then, circumstances that included a memorable encounter with a stage play director, the famed Dharmasiri Bandaranayake made me take on a review of “the White terror”. Frankly speaking, the change almost personified an ascent along the huge boulders of the Himalayan range from a piece of flat and tender land at the base.

Yet it was war, war replete with its horrors where men expended their valuable lives in the cause of “any cause” ending with utter mayhem and an overdose of killing game that put an end to thousands of precious human lives.

But are all men prone to this phenomenon? According to this giant drama producer, for the luck of humanity, there is yet another segment to whom “this dramatic effort is reproduced” and in his own poetry is re presented here.

For men born for others,

Die for others,

For men who zealously honour the rights of fellow humans,

And for men who trumpet for the same,

In honour of such men with sterling values

This dramatic effort was reproduced.

“Reproduced?” - To be fair by those who produced the play initially and further to give an idea of the mélange of sordid events involved, here are some basic facts.

“This is a play written in 1947 against the background of the regime of Marshal Petain in France which was subservient to Hitlerite Germany after the French defeat in the Second World War. Groups of French patriots carry on a guerrilla struggle against the Petain regime and the Germans with the objective of liberating France. Jean Paul Sartre wrote his play using the events and situations in France during the second WW. His play embodies his existentialist philosophy and is regarded as one of the most powerful and most deeply humanist creations of his dramatic career”.

Above is again an extract from the souvenir put out at the 15th New Delhi international Drama Festival under the direction of Dharmasiri Bandaranayake. Its earlier title was “Men without shadows” and as mentioned dribbled from the pen of Sartre whose life story begs for publicity due to the pathos and challenging aspect involved. Anyway paucity of space does not allow for a generous exposition and we go on to give the bare outlines of how the play finally ended up the way it did, as a polished and professional production of a timeless work of theatre, that drew this comment in 2012 from a critic.

“Sri Lanka is again at political crossroads and the revival of Dhawala Bheeshana is ominously timely.”

We leave behind the issue whether a vibrant and mentally active country as ours ceases to be at political crossroads at any juncture and a sizzling tale such as the one encased here can be rejuvenating at any given time. This story is given in very brief form here.

It is webbed around the Resistance Movement that probably crops up against the political trends that emerge during the regime of Martial Petain in France. The main focus is on a foursome, Henri, Canoris, Sorbier ad Francois who are captured by Petain’s army. There is gruesome torture in plenty peaked by an act of suicide by Sorbier who jumps out of the window when he can bear it no longer. There is high drama too when Francois to whom a weak character is ascribed is murdered by his own accomplices including his sister, Lucie. The army’s main aim is to find the leader of the Resistance movement whose prominent members are all imprisoned.

The mundane nature of these events finally gets supplanted by a higher dilemma, that is as to the oscillation of two courses, whether they should try to live or die. The story takes a tragic turn when the rebels who did not care for their lives once now get frenzied with a desire to live. But things take a different turn.

Is the story the only attraction? No. the symbolic representations are equally impressive.

Of especial quality is the portrait of the military leader of the French regime in the town of Vichy .Hanging on the walls of the prison house and large as life, it imparts the required sinister atmosphere on a massive dimension.

Lighting plays its own clever role darkening the stage eerily when terror and adjunct facets are the required elements that need convey. And of course vice versa though joy spurts itself very rarely in the dismal plot.

Have the actors and actresses, the flesh and bones of the play, been left out? Maybe, but purely for the fact that their brilliance cannot be measured. But just excuse me for a mono admiration, of W. Jayasiri, who gives life to the character of Landrieu of the French Military forces and who caps it all with a bout of performance that could put many a foreign actor to shame.

So vile and sinful is he! It is interesting to note that there was only one female character, and that played by Oshadee Gunasekera and she too gives the role, justice. So do the main actors, Jehan Sri Kantha Appuhami, Susanga Kahandawala arachchi, Ishara Wickremesinghe, Neel Alles, Warnathunga Senanayake and Arunodh Wijesinghe. Music has been composed by maestro Khemadasa and the credit of music arrangement should go to Nadika Waligodapola.

It is unfair to ignore the Monarch of it all, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, whose plaudits are too numerous to mention.

Historical

This text deals with a historical issue, as to the venue where the Tripitaka was committed to writing, whether it was in the rocky outcrop of Matale of Kandy or in Mathula Danawwa in Sathara Korale, off Kegalle. The issue is entirely born out of a new line of thought originated in the mind of the author and is based on the arguments propounded in the main text.

Though the issue has not been debated on a public platform, we can vouch for two parties, some giving in for a mitigation of their theory.