Today on the Buzz, we speak to the cast who are making  "Caught in the Net” come alive on stage. The Peterite Arts Foundation is putting up a comedy and it’s going to be amazing. 'Caught in the Net' by Ray Cooney is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. UK, on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. It is produced and directed by renowned old Peterite Kalakeerthi Jerome L de Silva and Surein de S. Wijeyeratne, featuring Past Peterite thespians well known amongst English theatre audiences.

TELL ME ABOUT THE PRODUCTION, AND WHAT’S MADE YOU GUYS PUT A SHOW TOGETHER? The main reason we wanted to do a show is because we wanted to showcase Peterite talent. We have so many Peterites involved in theatre productions in various capacities and we wanted a platform to show that. Unfortunately we couldn't get everyone on stage this time but we are hoping to make this at least a bi annual event and hope that many more Peterites will get involved in the future.

TELL ME ABOUT THE PETER’S DRAMA HISTORY? St. Peter's College has an immensely rich theatre tradition historically, starting with public productions in the late 70's and early 80's. (Fun fact, Keith Wijesuriya , who took part in the Public Production of Oliver , which was directed by Jerome De Silva in the early 80's, is back on stage for this play) St. Peter's was also the original home of the Workshop Players , which began under the guidance of Jerome De Silva and is arguably the foremost theatre group in Sri Lanka.

St Peter's College also has a long and successful relationship with the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competiion which it has won on numerous occasions and has qualified for the finals on many occasions. SPC has produced so many theatre greats , starting from Jerome De Silva, Surein and Sanith De S. Wijeyeratne, Mario De Soyza and more recently Kanishka Herat. SPC has also produced many media personalities who began their career in theatre at SPC. From Gehan Blok, Danu, Asanka Sahabandu, one cannot forget the yoemen service provided by old boys to keep theatre afloat at SPC, such as Jehan Bastiens who directed SPC for many years for the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competion.

HOW DID YOU PICK THIS SCRIPT? Well we wanted to do a comedy and there was another play for which unfortunately, the rights were not available. Surein is the one who found the script actually. And we were aware that Run for Your Wife was performed before as well as this. We felt that this would fit in well with what we wanted to do and moved ahead with it. He has acted / directed WSP productions as well as being an Assistant Director and Choral Director on many occasions.  

The play is produced by Kala Keerthi Jerome L. De Silva who really needs no introduction whatsoever. Aside from being the Grandfather of English Theatre in Sri Lanka, Jerome has a long association with theatre at St. Peter's College.

TELL ME ABOUT THE ACTORS AND THE DIRECTOR? Surein D. S. Wijeyeratne, who is the Director is mostly known for his association with the Workshop Players. Shiyan Jayaweera and Wassam Ismail head the cast. Shiyan once again, not only has represented St.Peter's College in theatre but has acted in numerous Workshop Players productions ad well as in productions of Stage Light and Magic.

Wasaam is a winner of the Best Actor award in the Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition. He has taken part in productions of Cold Theatre 7 and written his own plays and is a fantastically versatile actor. Keith Wijesuriya and Shehan Dias round up the other old Peterites in the play. Since the old Peterites can no longer convincingly look like any type of woman, we have our guest artistes who have graciously decided to accept our invitation and add some glamour,good looks and a lot of talent to our play.

Jovanka Jayaweeka and Piorina Fernando play two pivotal roles as the two wives and Janice De Costa plays the daughter of the protagonist. We don't want to spoil too much of the play by listing out each role but needless to say there are no small parts in this play.

WHY PICK A COMEDY? Everyone needs a good laugh right? Especially right now. We felt that a comedy will showcase the talents of this particular cast rather well. And Sri Lankan audiences generally respond well to comedies. And this script is hilarious.

WHAT’S NEXT? So we want to do this regularly going forward. And get even more Peterites involved. With the amount of talent at our disposal in the community, we definitely want to explore different types of theatre moving forward. We would ideally like to make this a biannual event and hopefully go bigger next time around.

TELL ME ABOUT THE PETERITE ARTS FOUNDATION? The main reason we formed The Peterite Arts Foundation is that we truly believe that the Arts contribute so much to a person's personal growth. We want to give back to St. Peter's College what we have gained as part of being involved in the Arts. Even though we are doing a theatre production this time around we have also been instrumental in starting an orchestra at St. Peter's College. We want to support all the Arts at school and the primary reason for this production is fund raise so that we can fund more Arts based projects at St. Peter's College.

WHEN, WHERE. WHO?  From 29th August to the 1st of September at Lionel Wendt by the old Peterite thespians with our guest artistes promising to make you laugh from Stratham to Wimbledon (You will get it when you watch the show).  

Pix courtesy Peterites Arts Foundation