‘The Irish Curse’ : An out-of-the-ordinary production 

In 2014, local theatre followers were audience to a very different genre of play courtesy of an equally unique production company.  Titled Glengarry Glen Ross; David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize winning dark comedy was brought to life for the first time in Sri Lanka as the maiden production of new theatre group, Identities Inc.  The Broadway play and successful hit movie which included a heavyweight cast of Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon was given a local touch by Identities Inc to positive audience feedback which included sold out performances.

The production team was formed last year and took flight with Glengarry. Identities Inc. is all about harnessing the group’s in house talent which furnishes their own productions.  A mixed bag of individuals, the group was spearheaded by Gehan Blok and Dominic Keller. As such this mixed bag of individuals includes actors, voice artists, sound engineers, graphic designers, and TV and radio personalities. Equipped with such an in house crew every production revolves around their own artistic beliefs. From direction to actors, set design and marketing the group keeps pushing the boundaries of the local theatre scene with their arresting and unusual choice of drama, sophisticated trailers and overall appeal.

Identities Inc is back with another gut wrenching, out of the ordinary production. This August they will take on Martin Casella’s “The Irish Curse”. Set in New York the play revolves around a group of Irish American men who meet in a church basement every Wednesday night at a self help group for men. They all are of different ages from different walks of life, but are brought together by a common problem. The Irish Curse will be brought to life by the performances of Dominic Keller, Pasan Ranaweera, Andre Perera, Dino Corera and Gehan Blok as they explore the problems around identity, body image and male sexuality while the play is being directed by Gehan Blok himself.

This time around the people involved in the production consists of Javin Thomas, Shamin De Silva, Anjelo Jones, Anush De Costa, Ruvin De Silva, Miranga Ariyaratne, Yash Suriyapperuma, MalakaMp, Kirsten Riezebeek, Dinesh Maheswaran, Niren Neydorff, Shaziya Kaleel, Chrys Fernando, ,Sugiban Sathianmoorthy, Aaron Wickramasekara, Megan Shatrughan, Ruwan Walpola, Wasanthe Purnawansa and Priyantha Dissanayaka.

Tickets are available from July 20th at the Lionel Wendt. The play is for mature adults (18 and above).