Scribd
Upload
274 views7 pages

MAKARAKSHYA

Yevgeny Shvarts was a Soviet playwright born in 1896 who is best known for his modern retellings of fairy tales, including "The Dragon" from 1944. "The Dragon" is a political satire about a land suffering under the rule of a brutal dragon. When the hero Lancelot tries to liberate the people, he discovers they have become accustomed to the dragon's rule. The play highlights how totalitarianism can cripple people's willingness to resist oppression. It has been performed over 800 times in Sinhala productions in Sri Lanka

Uploaded by

Chamille Zue
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
274 views7 pages

MAKARAKSHYA

Yevgeny Shvarts was a Soviet playwright born in 1896 who is best known for his modern retellings of fairy tales, including "The Dragon" from 1944. "The Dragon" is a political satire about a land suffering under the rule of a brutal dragon. When the hero Lancelot tries to liberate the people, he discovers they have become accustomed to the dragon's rule. The play highlights how totalitarianism can cripple people's willingness to resist oppression. It has been performed over 800 times in Sinhala productions in Sri Lanka

Uploaded by

Chamille Zue
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

ulrdlaIhd

Sinhala Translation of ‘The Dragon’


Written by

Soviet playwright Yevgeny Shvarts


Translated by

Cyril C Perera
Directed by

Dharmasiri Bandaranayake

19th & 20th June 2010,


6.45 p.m.
at

Lionel Wendt, Colombo 07.


Life of yevgeny Shvarts
Yevgeny Shvarts was born in Kazan in 1896 into a physician's family. His father was
Jewish, his mother Russian. At the end of the 1910s he studied law at Moscow State
University, but was drafted into the army in the spring of 1917. He served in the White
regiment of general Kornilov, and suffered shell-shock during the storming of
Yekaterinodar in 1918. As a result of this he lost several teeth and acquired a tremor of
the hands that plagued him for the rest of his life.

In 1919 decided to devote his life to dramatic art and literature. From 1924 on he lived in
Leningrad and worked in Gosizdat under the guidance of Samuil Marshak; during that
time he also became close with members of the avant-garde literary group OBERIU.

In 1929 Shvarts began writing plays, the best known of which are the modern retellings
of fairy tales: «Golyi korol'» ("The Emperor's New Clothes") (1934), «Krasnaya
Shapochka» ("Little Red Riding Hood") (1936), «Zolushka» ("Cinderella") (1938),
«Snezhnaya Koroleva» ("The Snow Queen", after Hans Christian Andersen) (1938),
«Tyen'» ("The Shadow", after Hans Christian Andersen) (1940), «Drakon» ("The
Dragon", an original) (1944), and «Obyknovennoye Chudo» ("An Ordinary Miracle")
(1956). Most of these plays were subsequently turned into films, sometimes more than
once.

“The Dragon”
This play, the most "adult" of Shvarts' plays, is a political satire aimed at totalitarianism
in all forms. The plot is based on the attempt of the hero, Lancelot, to liberate people in a
land suffering under Dragon's brutal rule. But his efforts meet with resistance, since most
of the people have gotten used to the Dragon and considered his methods, though harsh,
the only possible way; their souls become, in a way, crippled with this inability and
unwillingness to resist. Says the Dragon in the play: "You see, the human soul is very
resilient. Cut the body in half — and the man croaks. But tear the soul apart — and it
only becomes more pliable, that's all. No, really, you couldn't pick a finer assortment of
souls anywhere. Only in my town. Souls with no hands. Souls with no legs. Mute souls,
deaf souls, chained souls, snitch souls, damned souls."

Lancelot killing the Dragon in a fight did not free the people; all that changed was the
Burgomaster acceding to the position formerly occupied by the Dragon and demanding
that Elsa, the same girl who was destined to be sacrificed to the Dragon, become his wife.
When Lancelot returns to the town a year later, he realizes that his task is much more
complex: "This is going to be a very meticulous job... We have to kill the dragon in each
one of them."

Famous Quotations
From "The Dragon":

Heinrich: "It's not my fault, I was taught that way."


Lancelot: "Everyone was, but why did you have to be first in class?"

Sinhala production of „Makarakshaya‟


(The Dragon)
Directed by Dharmasiri Bandaranayake -1985

Won 12 State Awards from State Drama Festival 1985


including Best play in 1985,
Best Director, Best Translation,
Best Music, Best Costume Designing,
Best Stage Set designing,
Best Lighting, Best Choreography,

The play 'Makarakshaya' has been staged 884 times


all around the country from from 1985 to 1999
New Production of „Makarakshya‟
(The Dragon) – 2010

Cast
Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Yashoda Wimaladharma,
Dharmapriya Dias, Luxman Mendis,
Priyantha Sirikumara, Chulla Jayawardhana,
Gamini Wijesinghe, Leonard Cooray,
Warnathunga Senanayake, Jagath Muthukumarana,
Oshadee Gunasekera, Vathsala Ranasinghe,
Dulanjalee Shankalya, Niluka Rajamanthree,
Arunod Wijesinghe, Amila Gal Anga, and others…

Choreography
Jehan Aloysius

Assistant Director
Ranga Bandaranayake

Make up
Wasantha Vittachchi

Stage Managers
Indika Wickramarathna,
Susanga Kahandawaarachchi, Oshadee Gunasekera

Translated by
Cyril C Perera

Directed by
Dharmasiri Bandaranayake

You might also like