Bandula Vithanage, a pioneer in stage dramas and teledramas in Sri Lanka passed away at the National Hospital earlier today. He was 74.

Born in the Southern part of the country he studied at Dharmashoka College, Ambalangoda, Vithanage first joined the stage in 1963 at the University of Colombo playing in P. Welikala’s ‘Rathnawalee’, produced with guidance of the legendary playwright late Ediriweera Sarathchandra.

Vithanage is perhaps best remembered for introducing Shakespearean Theater to the Sinhalese masses through ‘Vanisiye Velenda’ (The Merchant of Venice) in 1980. He later produced ‘Twelfth Night’ in 1988 and ‘Macbeth’ in 2006.

His first stage production was ‘Mega Garjana’ and that was followed by ‘Gangawa, Sapaththu Kabalak saha Maranayak’ which won rave reviews at the State Drama Festival. Scripted by late playwright Simon Nawagaththegama it won the Best Actress and Best Stage Designing at the festival.

In the 80s and 90s Vithanage presented some of the unforgettable Sinhala stage productions like ‘Senehebara Dolly’, ‘Romaya Gini Gani’ and ‘Sikuru Sanekeli’.

He also played in several films including ‘Paankiriththa’, ‘Ahas Gawwa’ and ‘Pembara Madhu’,  Vasantha Obeysekera’s ‘Wesgaththo’ and Pathiraja L. S. Dayananda’s ‘Jodu Walalu’.

When television was introduced to Sri Lanka, Bandula Vithanage was one of the few pioneers to direct teledramas. He directed ‘Bumuthurunu’ and ‘Asalwesiyo’, two of the earlier tele dramas.