Reviews and Comments of Yesteryear

 "ධර්මසිරි බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතා විසින් රචනා කොට අධ්යක්ෂණය කරන ලද 'ඒකා අධිපති' නාටකය මේ වර්ෂයේ කරළියට ආ ඉතා අපූරු සහ විශිෂ්ඨ නිෂ්පාදනයක් ලෙස පළමුවෙන් හැඳින්විය යුතුය.

එක්තරා ප්රමාණයක කාව්යමය රංගෝචිත බසක්ද ධර්මසිරි උපයෝගි කරගෙන තිබිණ. බර්ටෝල්ට් බ්රෙෂ්ට් විසින් හදුන්වන ලද ඒලියනේෂන් සිද්ධාන්තය හෙවත් පරතන්ත්රකරණය වැන්නක් ධර්මසිරි අත්හදා බැලුවේදැයි මම සිතමි. ප්රේක්ෂකයාට එක්තරා විදියක මානසික ව්යායාමයක්ද මේ නිසා ලැබෙයි.

ස්වතන්ත්ර රචනාවන් හිඟ මෙවැනි කලක මෙය අප්රමාණ ලෙස ප්රශංසාවට ලක්කල යුතු කෘතියක් බව නොකියා බැරිය. ධර්මසිරි හා ඹහුගේ නළු නිළි පිරිස මෙය ඉතා ඉහළ මට්ටමේ නිර්මාණයක් බවට පත් කරන්නට එකතු වී හිටියහ. ධර්මසිරි බණ්ඩාරනායකගේ රඟපෑම මෑත කාලයෙහි සිංහල කරළියෙහි කරන ලද වැදගත් රඟපෑමකි. මුලු නාටකයම ඹහුගේ රංග කුසලතා මැද දිව ගියා සේ විය."

මහාචාර්ය තිස්ස කාරියවසම්
'අද' - 1976 දෙසැම්බර් 19

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"The only play worthy of note this year has been Eka Adhipathi which also attempts to blend humour and politics. Like Navagaththegama and Hemasiri Liyanage, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake the producer of Eka-Adhipathi, has sought inspiration from both Karl and Groucho Marx. Special intention must be made of his own chaplinesque portrayal of the great dictator. As an actor he is certainly the find of the year."

Dr. Sarath Amunugama
‘The Arts in 1976’ – The Sunday Times – 2nd January 1977

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"The best attended of the plays was Bandaranayake’s Eka-Adhipathi written, directed and acted by him. It was a dialog-chocked script which swept its paces like grease-lightning. As a production it stood with perfect facility with the players pouncing on their cues with unerring rapidity. Bandaranayake’s portrayal of the dictator was a ‘tour de force’ of timing, delineation and tonal vivacity."

Nalin Wijesekera
Drama Festival 1976 – The Sunday Observer – 5th June 1977

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"The play ‘Eka-Adhipathi’ is certain to be a refreshingly novel experience for the Sinhala theatregoer harried by the oppressive monotony of a string of ideological melodramas. It had a lively pace which gathered momentum with each successive scene and a soul stirring authenticity that exerted an almost hypnotic influence on the spectator. As the play progressed one could sense an exhilarating tension welling up within the walls of the often outraged Lumbini Theatre.

With a series of cleverly arranged vignettes Dharmasiri Bandaranayake who scripted and directed Eka-Adhipathi depicted the physical and emotional confrontation between the desperate masses and the degenerate but cockily confident administrative establishment in a hypothetical land governed by a Machiavellian military despot.

This play should provide inspiration and even education to the aspiring young dramatists. Acting was a very high standard all round with the playwright himself in the role of the President and Sunethra Sarachchandra as Olga outshining the rest of the cast.

Eka-Adhipathi though not a masterpiece came tantalizingly close to being one."

Dayasena Gunasinghe
The Daily News – 4th December 1976

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