Henry, the one and only

Saturday, 8 November 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Henry Jayasena was a renowned actor – on stage and screen (both big and small). But he was much more. As a playwright he wrote dramas – original ones and translations – and produced and directed them. Some were award-winning ones and provided excellent

theatre-fare. He wrote books and lyrics. He was an administrator as well. His fifth death anniversary falls on 11 November – a day he should be remembered for his great contribution to the arts. I distinctly remember our first meeting somewhere in the mid-1980s. I walked across from Lake House (I was then with the Observer handling Features) to meet him at the PWD office opposite the CTO. It was lunch time. Being in charge of the Record Room, he was all by himself in a big but crowded office surrounded by racks full of documents and files. A pleasant personality, we had a good chat on his theatre work. Though he was involved with Sinhala drama, he was then rehearsing his role in Ernest MacIntyre’s ‘The Crucible’. (He had earlier played in Mac’s ‘The Full Circle of the Chalk’.) There weren’t many who felt comfortable acting in both Sinhala and English drama. Henry was.

‘Maname’ big break

He had been in theatre since the early fifties. ‘Janaki’ was his first attempt at direction. He acted in it too. This was followed by two plays which were adaptations directed by him while acting. His big break came when Dr. Sarachchandra picked him for the lead role in ‘Maname’ as the prince. He couldn’t believe when the offer came. “One day I got a telegram. It said: ‘Come for Maname rehearsals. I will meet you at the Peradeniya station. Sarachchandra.’ I was shocked. We had seen Maname in Colombo even in the previous week. So why this rehearsal? For whom? – I wondered,” Henry reminisces in ‘Karaliyaka Kathawak’– a book he wrote on his early days in theatre. By then he was a ‘manamaniac’ – a word coined by Dr. Sarachchandra who used to see him and a few others coming to see the play over and over again. ‘Was someone pulling his leg?’ he wondered. Anyway, with mixed thoughts he boarded the train on the scheduled day. He was met by not only Dr. Sarachchandra. With him were Dr. Siri Gunasinghe and Edmund Wijesinghe, the ‘Veddah King’. The latter commented “Ah, ‘manamaniacs’ are coming to Peradeniya”. Henry learnt that Ben Sirimanne had pulled out and he had to take his place. Ben had fallen ill and he faced an untimely death a little later. Henry played prince Maname on a full moon night. It was a special occasion. The open air theatre in the Peradeniya Campus (‘popularly referred to as ‘vala’) was opened that evening. “An unforgettable day in my acting,” Henry recalled.

On his own

He acted in several others before breaking into directing his own creations. He wrote, produced and directed a play virtually every year from 1962 onwards till the end of the decade. After ‘Janelaya’ (1962) based on city boarding life came ‘Kuveni’ (1964) with a new interpretation to the old tale as a stylised drama. The beautiful pastoral story ‘Tavat Udesanak’ was followed by ‘Manaranjana Wedawarjana’, which was an attempt to take a detached view of the strikes that were a common feature at the time, and ‘Ahas Maliga’, a translation of Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Glass Menagerie’. Henry’s peak in his career came with ‘Hunuwataye Kathawa’ in 1967. The superb translation of Bertolt Becht’s classic ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ was an excellent production. It was clear proof of how much he had benefitted from a UNESCO scholarship he had got to study drama in Moscow, Berlin and London. The audiences just loved it – the story and the presentation was so close to their hearts. While Henry himself gave a career-best performance as Azdak, the bribe-taking judge, the players also gave of their best. Manel Jayasena’s rending of the song of the ‘velpaalama’ (suspension bridge) still reverberates in my ears. There was the inimitable narrator Wijeratne Warakagoda. Santin Gunawardena, Elson Diviturugama, Fitzroy de Mel, U. Ariyawimal, Douglas Ransinghe, Chandra Kaluarachchi, Grace de Silva, Yasawathie Ramawickrema, Dharmadasa Kuruppu, Fitzroy de Mel, Haran Breckenridge, Ernst Macinture – they all played roles to remember. Shelton Premaratne produced an unusual music score using pots and pans and pieces of metal to create a score that matched the play using an eight-member orchestra. The play continues to be staged to this day – now in its 47th year. The following year he produced an equally-successful drama ‘Apata Puthe Magak Nethe’ demonstrating the plight of poor youth in universities. Within six months the play had done 50 shows. It was so popular. Henry was active in the field of drama until the early 1980s. Meanwhile, he had trained so many amateurs and made them professionals. ‘Nalu Kela’, his theatre group, was a disciplined outfit. He was a strict disciplinarian. I used to watch his rehearsals and hardly anybody came in late. He taught them to be punctual and did not tolerate latecomers. He insisted that the plays should start sharp on time – a discipline that most producers tend to ignore.

On screen

For Henry, acting, whether in drama or film, came naturally. Again it was a matter of discipline. His role as Piyal in ‘Gamperaliya’ was so disciplined. Just as he was picked for ‘Maname’, his choice for ‘Gameraliya’ also came as a surprise. He was then a bachelor boarded in Dehiwala. In the opposite house was Lester James Peries. One day he got a message from Lester to meet him. He went. “We are making a film based on the novel ‘Gamperaliya’. It’s a difficult job because we are not having any songs, dances, or fights. We have chosen you to play a role. You will play Piyal…” he was told. Lester also told him that it would be a low cost film. “I don’t mind your not paying me anything. This is something I never expected. I am so lucky to be selected to act in a film under you – particularly in a film like ‘Gamperaliya’,” Henry told him. Henry mentions in his book that although he thought he had been selected for his acting skills, Lester had mentioned one day that he was selected because of “the shape of my nose – like a ‘cadjupuhulama’!” Lester was undoubtedly impressed by his performance. “Henry Jayasena had hardly acted before and was thinking in terms of the stage. As he said, he had acted in one commercial film when he came for ‘Gamperaliya’ and was thus relatively unspoilt. This is not making any reflections on his subsequent career, but his performance in ‘Gamperaliya’ is so subtle and so quiet that he himself thought that he was better in other films where I personally think he was over-acting,” says Lester in ‘Lester by Lester’. He continued the role of Piyal in ‘Kaliyugaya’ – the second of the Martin Wickremasinghe trilogy which Lester directed. He did the headman’s role in ‘Baddegama’ based on Leonard Woolf’s ‘Village in the Jungle’ which Lester directed in between. Among his other memorable roles were those in ‘Handaya’, Titus Totawatta’s much-acclaimed children’s film, G.D.L. Perera’s ‘Dahasak Sithuvili’, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake’s ‘Hansa Vilak’ and Dharmasena Pathiraja’s ‘Soldadu Unnehe’. In these he demonstrated his versatility in portraying varied characters with ease. One role I treasure in Henry’s career in tele-dramas is Sudu Seeya’s character he played in ‘Doo Daruwo’. The younger generation is so fortunate that Henry has left behind most of the scripts of his plays in book form. His three books – ‘Karaliyaka Kathavak’ and two volumes of ‘Nim Nethi Kathawak’ – detail his long career. Written in the most readable style, he relates many a story about his trips abroad, what he learnt during the tours, how he enjoyed them and also interesting happenings in between rehearsals and on the sets.

A fine human being

After he recovered from an attack of cancer he wrote ‘Baala Gilano,’ relating how one should face cancer, giving patients hope and confidence. He was so emotional at the launch of the book that he found it difficult to continue his talk when he thanked the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital staff for their care and attention. In addition to his autobiographical volumes he also wrote the novel ‘Lasaraus’. This wife Manel was herself an accomplished actress and son Sudaraka played the child’s role in ‘Hunuwtaya’ when he was quite small and then did the main role in the tele version of ‘Golu Hadawatha’. He is now a bank manager. Henry proved his administrative talent during his stints at the National Youth Services Council as its Arts Director and later at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation as Deputy Director-General in charge of programs. I wish to end this tribute with the very words I used in the tribute I paid him just after his death: Henry was a caring husband, loving father, interesting conversationalist and simple individual. Above all, he was a fine human being.