“Drama Comp 2013” is one that has evolved from a simple drama competition to a platform that brings nascent acting talent of schools to limelight. Organized by the Interact Club of Royal College, “Drama Comp 2013” holds a history of 27 years and all proceeds of the event are toward community service projects initiated by the club.
The Semi-finals of the competition were held on the 20th of April and the Finals of the competition on the 2nd of May at Lionel Wendt with Methodist College, Ladies College and Ananda College as finalists. The stage was set by a range of actors, in age and diversity of roles that were woven around plots that mirrored both social and political issues of our time. The night’s exhilarating performances were adjudged by renowned directors Tracy Holsinger, Ruwanthie De Chikera and Thushara Hettihamu.
The competition kicked off with “That’s not cricket!” by Methodist College, a relatively young cast adding essence to a fast paced comedy developed around one simple stage setting. Each actor contributed to the rhythm of the play through the natural and professional portrayal of character traits unique to each role. The script was intricately penned with room for each character to develop on stage taking spotlight at different points of the play.
The production marked an unconventional beginning, opening with the events that followed the funeral of Anton, however making Anton very much alive on stage owing to the dilemma surrounding his belongings – especially the cricket ball autographed by Donald Bradman. The action on stage prevented an engrossed audience from noticing the ball slipping into the hands of little Tasha (from the many hands that claimed ownership to it), until each character made natural exits from stage. Three generations merged on stage highlighting underlying vanity and greed in society. Tracy Holsinger commended the script and added that there was “strong acting overall” and the production was “very well cast.” Janin played by Miriam Alphonsus and Shemal played by Aisha Anwer claimed respective titles of “Best supporting actress” and “Best supporting actor”.
.jpg)
The house curtains then opened to the well known ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with a twist - “Alas in Wonderland” by Ananda College; labeled an “exceptionally brave political satire” by the panel of judges. The performance was a portrayal of the intrusion of politics into the popular sport – cricket, through the use of one utilitarian stage set. The characters of ‘Alice’, ‘Jabberwocky’ and the ‘Queen of hearts’ were used to symbolize protagonists of the contemporary political scene and a highly entertained audience saw the two factions involved in the issue being enacted: “Wonderland” and the “Land of small miracles”, bridge on stage held by the beams of political discord.
The characters were moulded by the attire, accent and attitudes that defined each political figure and the cast did justice to each role. The rhythm of the play was at times made irregular by the blackouts that marked definite changes in scenes. Nevertheless, the audience found the play highly entertaining and remained a very responsive audience till the end of the performance owing to excellent characterization and “brilliant casting” as also applauded by the judges. The judges commended the boys who played cross gender roles and the talent of very young members of the cast. Thushara Hettihamu also added saying the “pacing [of the play] was just right” and the “natural energy carried through.”
Ladies’ College added cultural essence to the stage and the competition as a whole with “He comes from Jaffna”. The production brought to light a man named ‘Cleveland’ who moves from placing complete trust in the people around him to distrust and doubt due to the influence of his cousin ‘Durei’ from Jaffna. The single stage setting of a living room served to be the hub of action merging two diverse cultures on stage of both the Tamil predominantly through Durei and the Burgher community through the inmates of the Cleveland household. Commenting on the performance as a whole, the judges mentioned it was a “strong performance” and commended the character of Durei. ‘Cleveland’ claimed the coveted title for Best Lead Male of the competition and the production also won the “Backstage Award” of the night.
Ananda College beat Methodist College and Ladies’ College who won 1st and 2nd runners up of the night respectively emerging winners of “Drama Comp 2013”, also claiming ownership to the ‘Audience Choice Award’ with 151 votes. Nadun Dissanayake who played the role of ‘Jabberwocky’ in response to the most memorable moment on stage said, “every single scene was memorable” and Lithmal Gunawardena who won the award for the “Most Memorable Performance” of the evening as ‘Queen Lalitha’, added saying, passion for theatre was the only driving force of the production, steered by three “brilliant” directors – Rajitha Hettiarachchi, Ishtartha Wellaboda and Nishantha De Silva.
The Co-Sponsors of the event were Sri Lanka Telecom, Janashakthi Insurance and the Sunethra Bandaranaike Trust. The Print Media Sponsors of the competition were the Sunday Times, Daily Mirror, Adha and Life Online - the official web media sponsors. MTV/MBC were electronic media sponsors and Nestlé the night’s official beverage partner.
COMMENTS:
“Superb! Enjoyed ‘Alas in Wonderland’ very much!” - Mrs. Shanthi Fernando
“It was pretty good. We wished there were more plays. This year the plays were different. Characterization was superb!” - Sachindri, Sushara
“Excellent! Superb! We didn’t expect it to be this good. As school productions, they were of a very high standard.” - Dreen and Gerry
“Very entertaining. Comedy very well executed. A lot of hard work put in by all the schools.” – Rachel
“It was Superb! All three plays were good.” - B.O.P. Jayawardena
“Awesome! My favourite was Shamal. She was hilarious!!” - Aaidha
By Sapthika Jacob
Pics by Indraratne Balasuriya
0 Comments
Hansard says:
May 12, 2013 at 12:00 amSiri lankan girls have big heads