St. Benedict’s College
St. Benedict’s College, Colombo besides Royal College is performing the age old tale of “Romeo and Juliet” which is reckoned to be perhaps Shakespeare’s best spell of heart wrenching romance. After a recital of the prologue the play moves directly into the climactic end of the death of the lovers.
“Although it is a well-known piece, the audiences rarely get to see its end acted out on stage,” explains Sharuk Mohan, Secretary of the Drama Union.
The boys from Colombo have decided to depict the dark side to this amorous epic, the essence which it is otherwise known for.
Sharlan Benedict who plays Romeo thinks it is the most emotional scene of the play. He added with some humour, “The toughest thing than performing is lying dead on stage!!”
A long standing member of the Drama Union, Denver Alexander plays the Friar and described the poignancy of his role : “The responsibility of narrating the entire script of Romeo and Juliet to the audience within the given time frame is precious. I have to give life to the characters and the entire play in order for the audience to grasp the storyline.”
The lads are directed by the acclaimed Jerome De Silva and are all set to take on the challenge.
Gateway College Kandy has also qualified for the Finals in the Girls’ category.
Under the guidance of Marlon Ariyasinghe, the team is geared to give the audience and judges a unique representation of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.”
A story of baseless male jealousy and accusation that later turn into realisation and repentance; the girls from Kandy are attempting to depict this with a feminine outlook. Set in the backdrop of Victorian ideals, the task is elusive and painstaking in nature.
Sashini Iddawela plays Paulina, a character to be highlighted for the said purpose – “to personify the courage of a woman who defies her King when it was highly unusual and unheard of for a woman to be contrary to any man, let alone a leader, isn’t easy. I enjoy playing the outspoken and sometimes scary Paulina, who stands (at least on stage) taller than any man!!”
Minuri Dharmasena plays an equally challenging female role, Hermione. She reasoned the intricacy of the role as involving a lot of extreme emotion and drama. “It took an unbelievable amount of practice to get the crying, wailing and fainting right. Perhaps, the most challenging of all was staying upright in my tsunami of a dress!”
A central male character in this concept dominated by female ones is that of Leontes, played by Samantha Modder. She seems to be absolutely enjoying her place and role, “Love all the angry huffing and slow pace walking. And his tail coat is super fly!” she exclaimed. The girls are looking forward to put up an enthralling performance at the Finals.
Royal College
"Royal College's version of Romeo and Juliet is a true to form naturalistic rendition of Shakespeare that strives to bring the blank verse of the bard across in a manner understood by contemporary audiences," says Director of the play Thushara Hettihamu.
Played out with a strong focus on relationships and the interplay between characters, this play is also built around the journey of several crucial characters within the play and carries us to the point where the planned becomes chaos.
The experience for the cast has been "wonderful, awesome, fascinating and clearly educational" to quote but a few of the terms used by them. Getting used to playing a character in their own right has been a key learning for these young actors.
“Taking on Romeo and Juliet was quite a twist when we found out that essentially there was no such Juliet involved but it wasn't much of an issue when we had the godfather of directors, Mr. Thushara Hettihamu directing us,” says Rashmin de Silva.
"We were going ahead with taking on Shakespeare as he was supposed to. There wasn't going to be any slapstick or any modern interpretations but just good old acting. Our version focuses on the journey of Romeo and Mercutio ending in Mercutio's gripping death scene. The beauty about this play is that it brings out what Royal College drama is all about. Magic on stage."
Maris Stella College
The lads from Negombo are determined not to make the competition light for the boys. Maris Stella College will be staging their own adaptation of the comedy “The Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Humour is to be stirred by letting an interesting sub plot receive prominence. Shakespeare’s wit and sarcasm as displayed through the play-within-a-play in “The Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be the means of evoking humour.
Old boy and former award winner in the said arena, Daminda Wijeratne is co-directing the play along with Delon Weerasinghe.
Shiraz Amath who plays Quince says, “It’s always difficult and exciting to be on stage as the curtain opens. But as the play proceeds we start to pick up energy.”
Dinith Fernando (Puck) believes team spirit and enthusiasm are vital – “It is always fun to be on stage. Most importantly we need to love and enjoy what we do. As a cast we love being on stage!”
Mario Marlon is new to the theatre, but has a weighty role to play – Nick Bottom is a focal role according to the school’s concept for the play. He avows, “We are determined to do our might and thereby bring credit, glory and honour to our Alma Mater.”
Girls’ High School Kandy
Girls’ High School Kandy is to battle it out at the finals with a conceptual interpretation of Shakespeare’s ludicrously amusing and rib tickling comedy, “The Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The love web in the story that is complicated by societal hierarchy and the dim-witted Puck’s mischief is going to be presented with a strong emphasis on the comic as well as emotional detail in the play by the 2011 winners of the Girls’ category, who are being directed by Aslam Marikkar this time around.
Nalanga Hettiarachchi plays Helena and she detailed her team’s challenges: “Since we won the competition last year there was a lot of pressure to be selected to the Finals. And right now, we are giving our utmost to retain the championship. It is a completely new team this year and we are a fresh bunch to drama, more specifically Shakespeare.”
Hasini Rupasinghe (Demetrius) believes the vibe they can incorporate into this eminent tale will be key to success. The girls from Kandy have ‘Lankanized’ the play by weaving it around some traditional supernatural beliefs!!
Rupasinghe added, “It was a huge challenge to imagine such a situation in our minds and to build up the script to satisfy it. Each of us is striving to make every character a memorable one that the audience would appreciate.”
On a closing note, we would like to wish all the competing schools the very best of luck for the Finals scheduled for this weekend, 5 and 6 October, at the Bishop’s College Auditorium from 6pm onwards.
Text by Nivedha Jeyaseelan and Reihan Stephen
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