Launch of three books on Sinhala theatre by Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja

Friday, 25 August 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Veteran filmmaker Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja is hardly known to the present generation as a dramatist but it is ascertained that his early career was committed to the theatre of Sri Lanka. Pathiraja, a university don, earned his Master degree (MA) from the University of Peradeniya with a study titled ‘Sinhala Naatye Aakruthiya haa Anthargathaya athara Aragalaya’ (The struggle between form and content in Sinhala theatre).

Three other plays by Pathiraja (‘Kora Saha Andaya’, which was scripted by him as an original play and directed by veteran dramatist Dhamma Jagoda; ‘Putu’, a Sinhala translation of a play by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Pathiraja himself for the State Drama Festival in 1971, where it was recognised as the Best Translated Script; and another original script titled ‘Vankagiriya’) will be launched on Thursday, 31 August at 4 p.m. at the Auditorium of the Mahaweli Center, Colombo.

At this event, Professor Carlo Fonseka, Kapila Kumara Kalinga and Dr. Saumya Liyanage will make short comments on the contributions made by Pathiraja to the Sri Lankan theatre. The organisers kindly invite the admirers of Pathiraja’s cinema to participate in this launch and forum and pay their tribute to this lesser known playwright hidden beneath a most veteran cinema personality in Sri Lanka today.