With a long-standing history of 27 years behind it, Drama Comp organized by the Interact Club of Royal College, Colombo has become a credible platform for aspiring dramatists among school-goers. It remains an event where participants can look forward to exposure and unbiased judgment of performance, and audiences can expect some stunning performances at this event and has therefore never failed to draw impressive amounts of audiences and participants. This year’s Drama Comp took place on 30th May at the Lionel Wendt from 7 p.m. onwards.

Methodist College, Colombo (standing runners-up) wound up victorious while Ladies’ College was awarded Runners-Up. St. Joseph’s College was the other finalist who staged their play last Wednesday.

The evening’s performances opened with Ladies’ College, Colombo who did a merged adaptation of “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, both by Roald Dahl, titled “Dinner is Served.” I did not find the onset of the play to be engaging, although it built up in to a thrilling climax, which the audience markedly responded to. I’m not too sure if the backdrop/setting was altogether a credible execution, while the occasional ‘glitches’ were not too difficult to miss.

St. Joseph’s College was next in order to perform. The lads from Maradana enacted a piece from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The section chosen was particularly unusual, let alone challenging. This was a performance that turned out to be a treat, with an amazing set put to incredible use, music and choreography, costuming, lights, and not to forget the acting. None of it went to waste of course, there was lots of energy emanating from the stage, and it came off as a very lively and evocative performance. The effort put in was very much palpable, and the snowballing outcome is very much worth a close comparison to being professional. They were, I felt, very deserving of the runner’s up award that night.

Following the break was “Desert Places” by Methodist College, Colombo. The play followed the lives of the people in a mental asylum. The description for the play in the souvenir says “In a nondescript building, on a day like any other, five women navigate their own desert places.” If one read that before watching the play s/he could have expected it to be nothing more than ordinary and boring, but those who may have supposed so were only in for a huge surprise. The standard of acting and the level of thinking that went into the story were exceptional, and indeed a surprise to witness at an interschool drama competition. There were a number of remarkable individual performances, while as a team everyone staged credible performances.  That being said, they earned all awards they bagged that night in every respect.

The audience was a tough bunch, mostly composed of school-goers, who sadly, ended up disrupting, either in the process of cheering or otherwise, almost every performance. Even then, it was palpable that the Methodist College performance, although particularly intense, managed to demand the attention of an otherwise undiscerning and clamorous audience.

It was rather nice that the event included three very different performances, in terms of story and set-up, a refreshing variety. The judges also made note that each drama was judged and awarded points within their respective genres.

The organizing committee steered by Arjun Ratwatte and Suran Weerasekera, deserves due credit for good organization and excellent picks of filler entertainment!

The individual performances that won awards are as follows: Tashyana Handy of Methodist College (Best Male Portrayal), Shalini Corea of Ladies’ College (Best Female Portrayal), Amrith Senaratne of St. Joseph’s College (Best Supporting Male Portrayal), Ayesha Ameen of Methodist College and Rhythmika Karunadara (Best Supporting Female Portrayal) and Surami Nethmini of Methodist College (Most Memorable Performance).

By Nivedha Jeyaseelan