8th, 9th and 10th February witnessed three sets of absolutely sated people, tickled pink thanks to all the laughing leave the Lionel Wendt. Nobody’s Perfect, directed by Jehan Bastians and a production of Silent Hands took to the boards on the said days and the show was nothing short of absolutely entertaining. Co produced by Javin Thomas and Billam Poulier, the cast comprised of Neidra Williams, Kanishka Herat, Avishka de Alwis and Trinushka Perera.
.JPG)
(1).JPG)
A romantic comedy in time for Valentines Day, the plot was simple, straightforward and humourous in itself. Stuck between two eccentricities, daughter and father, an exceptionally mediocre and unadventurous Steve De Zilva, ambitious writer under the cover of a statistician, now seems to be facing the fiddliest of all the odds piled up against him, when the only company willing to publish his work, “Love is All Around” has feminist views. Steve is left with a tough call to make: make the publisher fall in love with him, stifle his own identity or do both; and most importantly how?!
Well scripted and well rehearsed, one cannot possibly go wrong with a comedy. A lot of puns and wordplay, acute timing and a good cast all made the play nearly perfect. Out-of-context mistaken identities and misunderstood communication seemed to be the rule of the day.
One may have criticisms about the overdose of double meaning dialogues or twisted suggestions running right along the play from the very beginning to its end, but all the same good comedy is genuinely reflective of society and the ever-alive thoughtfulness that went behind the scripting was evident.
At the end of the day, what we had at hand was enough reason to laugh, enjoy ourselves and give ourselves a deserving treat of indulgence and rib tickling wit. The abiding elements of light comedy, ‘the flawed plan’ and misunderstanding laid the cornerstone for the plot and “Nobody’s Perfect” turned out to be a show that has to essentially make the audience light hearted at its conclusion.
The set/stage props came as a great facility to the absolute success of the play’s understanding and all its complex twists and turns. Appropriate, if not undisruptive lighting combined with fitting sounds made the play a further indulgence. Silent Hands has proved itself to be an above par theatre production company and the play will go down as a milestone beyond all doubt.
The entire cast did its very best and hard work at rehearsals was apparent. Trinushka Perera and Avishka de Alwis in the roles of the teenage daughter and old, but so not grown up father, respectively, played fitting and complementary roles that supported the main story line. Kanishka Heart, in the role of Steve De Zilwa gave a stunning performance for a first timer in a lead role. Neidra Williams undoubtedly dominated the stage the night I watched.
Be it simple facial expressions or delivery of dialogue or just poise and posture on stage, true professionalism and the genius within showed in each of her movement on stage. Altogether a fab cast came together to piece a fab production together, not to forget the strong foundation laid by the director.
Guest comments
It’s a good show and was very enjoyable. I actually follow many of Jehan’s shows - Rajieve and Jameela
Fantastic, excellent show. Very well put together. I’m having such a good laugh. – Tari Lawrence
Really good. Just four people and it’s so funny with all the pun and jokes. – Mohini Seneviratne
Well, my friend is playing a role (Kanishka). I always knew he was a funny guy, but never this funny. Really good. Enjoyed thoroughly. – Eshan Thilakasena
Kanishka is an amazing actor and the show is simply amazing. – Channuk Piyarisa
It’s nice. Hilarious and intriguing. All the characters knew what they were doing on stage. Well rehearsed. – Rajeeva Gunasekera
By Nivedha Jeyaseelan
Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi
(1).JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
0 Comments
truthbetold says:
Feb 11, 2013 at 12:00 amWhat a terrible review. I went to watch this play and it was terrible. And this seems to be the type of default review life online seems to come up with all the time for every show in Colombo, even for the ones that suck and completely lie to their readers about whats really on offer or was offered.