Legacy of a prodigious thespian
Sachitra MAHENDRA
Dr Henry Jayasena is no stranger to these pages of Artscope. He
penned the ‘Henry Jayasena Column’ when R S Karunaratne was editor of
this supplement. He made his mark in local culture scene with his gifted
flair on stage as a playwright, director as well as a performer. Born on
July 6, Henry would have been 81 if he did not pass away in 2009. Two
posthumous works of Jayasena: ‘Lazarus’ a translation by Vijitha
Fernando (Foreword by Dr Lakshmi de Silva) and ‘Sudu Seeyage Kavi
Sindu’, a collection of children’s poetry, were recently launched by his
son Sudaraka Jayasena. Sudaraka recalled life and times of his father
for ‘Encounter of the Week’.
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* Dr Lakshmi de Silva on ‘Lazarus’
It is lively in its vivid realistic rendering of time and place. The
portrayal of a childhood of isolation and loss is terse, yet moving,
while the delineation of sexual stirrings and relationships is not only
frank and mature but has unusual perceptiveness, touching sometimes on
the sad borderline between ludicrousness and loneliness with compassion
and sensitivity, at others on sensuous vitality. Henry Jayasena has been
unusually fortunate, where, all too often, a translator’s wry
consolation is the reflection that half a loaf is better than nothing,
Vijitha Fernando gives full value. The skill that won her the State
Literary Award for Women Writing. |
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Dr Henry
Jayasena
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Q: You had the privilege to share father’s celebrity status since
early childhood. You were the child in ‘Hunuwataye Kathava’. Any special
reasons for you to be chosen?
I do not think father gave it serious thought. I was only five.
Unlike adult characters, the child characters have to change on stage
over a few years. I was chosen to perform as the small child, I think,
because he could not find anyone else.
I was the fifth actor. That was no big deal, as there were no
dialogues involved. I was too small to understand anything he must have
taught me.
Q: How was his influence on your adult life?
In the 1960s father did a lot of stage plays. They had a warm
response. So he decided to stage his ‘Janelaya’, which was already
staged a few years, once again. I took part in the play. I could learn a
lot of things then. It’s interesting to see how he teaches certain
things. He taught some lessons non-verbally.
There is a particular way of standing on stage. You have to learn how
to say or pronounce certain things too. If you are a director, you must
learn how to manage the cast. I used to observe my father handling all
this with interest. I was in my twenties then.
Q: What’s his source of theatrical knowledge?
Unlike today, there had been no teachers at the time. When he was
quite small, he had seen a play with Rukmani Devi in Negombo. The play
was produced by Minerva group. The little child he was, he didn’t even
know it’s a stage play. Some were singing, some dancing – all that had
enthralled the little artiste in him.
He was 12 years, when this happened.
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Dr Henry Jayasena hands over a copy of
‘Play is the Thing’, a collection of columns which appeared
in Artscope, to his son Sudaraka Jayasena and grandsons. Dr
Lakshmi de Silva looks on. Picture by Palitha Gunasena
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He sent a letter to the Minerva group without the knowledge of his
elders. He knew Minerva was based in Negombo. But he had no cash for a
stamp. That way he came a long way. He had a long tough journey. There
were people to appreciate his skills, luckily.
Q: Your father’s starting point was stage. He gradually entered
cinema and television. Towards later stages, he started writing in
English in addition to Sinhala. Which interested him most?
Stage, of course. Even when he had quit stage, he did not stop going
to watch stage plays. Whenever there is a good play, he would want me to
join him too.
Q: But why did he quit the stage?
That’s because he had more commitments in cinema and television.
Q: He was Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation
in its infant stages. It must have been a challenge for him.
Definitely it must have been a challenge. Luckily he had experience
of visual medium behind him. He had already taken part on stage and in
cinema. He had been on foreign trips too.
He pioneered in introducing Oshin to Rupavahini, because he had
watched the teledrama in Japan. So Rupavahini bought the copyrights to
show it in Sri Lanka. As everyone knows, it became quite popular. The
Japanese representatives were impressed by the ratings, and they sent
the second instalment free of charge.
Teledramas like ‘Paligu Menike’ were also telecast during his period.
Q: Had he ever persuaded you to follow his footsteps?
He had never done that. True, he took me to act. But he never asked
me to follow arts. If you have to follow something, you got to have
intuition for that. I feel my father didn’t see that intuition in me. So
he didn’t persuade me to take up arts.
He never forced me into anything. He always advised me to become a
good citizen. He also emphasized the need of a secure job. That must
have persuaded me to take up a job at the Hatton National Bank. I got
that offer following my ‘Golu Hadawatha’ performance. I performed the
lead role and it won me fame.
Q: Like most artistes, you father too did not depend only on
artiste’s income. He was a government employee. How did he manage to
engage in various art activities amid government employment regulations?
The environment. As he gradually became popular or established in the
field, his senior officials understood his worth. They too admired him.
They made things easier as much as possible for him. At the Highway
Department, he was posted in record room. He had liberty to entertain
his visitors. He had liberty to go on with his work. Later in life he
received positions linked to his field of interest.
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Stage plays
1951: Janaki
1953: Manamalayo
1954: Vedagatkama
1959: Pavukarayo
1962: Janelaya and Kuveni
1964: Tavat Udesanak
1965: Manavarjana Vedavarjana
1966: Ahas Maliga
1967: Hunuvataye Kathava
1968: Apata Puthe Magak Nethe
1972: Diriya Mava saha Ege Daruwo
1973: Makara
1975: Sarana Siyoth se Puthun Hamba Yana
1978: Siri Sangab
1983: Jayathu Lanka
Novels
Minisun Voo Daruvo
Lazarus
Niliyakage Kathavak
Self portrayals
Karaliyaka Kathavak
Nim Nethi katahavak I, II
Balha Gilano
Children’s books
Hithata Hithena Kavi sindu
Kathandare Hengila
Sudu Seeyakge Kavi Sindu
Poetry
Rev Pilirev
Miscellaneous
Play is the Thing
The Story of a Cancer Patient |
Q: He dedicated most of his later stages in life for writing books.
I think he was a writer anyway. He had been already in the industry,
as almost every play was scripted into a book. But true, he was more
interested in writing books following theatre and teledrama. He penned
many original works. They were mostly self-portrayals, as his health was
failing.
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Dr Jayasena
in his heyday
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As Piyal in
‘Gamperaliya’
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Q: Your father was inclined to Buddhism during the period when his
health was failing.
It was not a sudden transformation. He already had some command of
Pali, and had deciphered some obscure Pali stanzas for me and my
children. He was not a fanatic, but occasionally would suggest going to
temple.
He led a religious life, I knew. But the sickness came as a shock,
and he was a little down. His religious life helped him a lot.
Q: Your mother was also into arts. How did you see your parents’
relationship as artistes?
Father did not take any decision without consulting mother first.
They both had the habit of consulting each other before taking any
decision. Not that they did not have any issues.
They had conflicts, but my parents were skilled enough to negotiate
those conflicts.
Q: How was your father’s attitude towards young generation’s plays?
Wherever something deserves appreciation, father didn’t hesitate to
do so. He watched most stage plays of young dramatists and used to go
offstage and congratulate them. He pointed out the plus as well as minus
points. He was happy with most young dramatists’ plays.
Q: Your father used English as his medium of expression mostly during
his last years. He wrote originals in Sinhala and translated them into
English too. Why did he choose ‘Lazarus’ to be an exception?
At first he wanted to translate his Sinhala book. But later he wanted
either Vijitha Fernando or Dr Lakshmi de Silva to translate it. They
were the translators he had faith in among English translators. Vijitha
Fernando completed the project in one month, and father liked it very
much. All this happened when father was on his last lap. Then he passed
away, and the manuscript lay somewhere. I had completely forgotten it,
until Dr de Silva rang me one day and reminded. It’s my fault, as I was
occupied with other commitments. When I asked Sarasavi publishers to
undertake the publication, they also reminded of another book by father
called ‘Sudu Seeyage Kavi Sindu’. It was even printed, but had not come
out of press. So we launched both books.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/07/18/fea20.asp
සම්පත් රංගනයට එන්නේ වේදිකාව හරහාද?
තුෂාරි තම ප්‍රේමය පිදුවේ ප්‍රවීන්ටය. එහෙත් හදිසියේම ප්‍රවීන්ගේ ආදරයට සමුදෙන්නට තුෂාරිට සිදුවෙයි. පසුව තුෂාරිට සිදුවන්නේ ගයාන් සමඟ විවාහ වන්නටය. ඉන්පසුව තුෂාරිට කරදර රැසකට මුහුණ පෑමට සිදුවෙයි. මේ කතා පුවත දිගහැරෙන්නේ සතියේ දිනවල රාත්‍රි 9.00ට ජාතික රූපවාහිනියෙන් විකාශය වන ‘සඳට අහස ආදරෙයි’ ටෙලි නාට්‍යයෙහිය.
මට හැමදාම රාත්‍රියට සියලුම රූපවාහිනි නාලිකාවල මුහුණ දාගන්න වුවමනාවක්
නැහැ. පසුගිය කාලයේ දී මට බොහෝ නිර්මාණයන්ට ආරාධනා ලැබුණා. නමුත් මට කරන්න
දෙයක් තිබුණේ නැහැ. ආර්ථිකය ගොඩ නඟා ගැනීම සඳහා නිර්මාණ පසුපස හඹා යාම පමණක්
ප්‍රමාණවත් නැහැ. රංගන ශිල්පියා ලෝකය හොඳින් වටහා ගන්නා චරිතයක් බවට පත්විය
යුතුයි. හොඳ රංගන ශිල්පියෙක් බිහිවෙන්න වසර ගණනාවක් යන්නේ ඒකයි.
සිනමාව ගැන හදාරා කර්මාන්තයට පිවිසෙන්න හදන විට ආරම්භයේ දීම සියලු දේවල් අහිමි
කර පැත්තකට කර තිබෙනවා. නමුත් කැමරාව තියන්නේ කොතැන කියලාවත් දන්නේ නැති
සමහරු අද ජයට ම චිත්‍රපට කරනවා. මේක තමයි යථාර්ථය. 
