Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Hendrik Ibsen and Anton Chekov are some of English literature’s most famous writers. And their work will be brought to life by eight schools when Bishop’s College brings you the Inter School English Drama Festival.
The festival of theatre will be held this May with the participation of Ladies’ College, Methodist College, Good Shepherd Convent, Kotahena as well as Royal College, St. Joseph’s College, St. Peter’s College, Trinity College, Kandy and the hosts of the event, Bishop’s College. The festival is being coordinated by Clare de Silva, Jith Peiris and Nafeesa Amirudeen.
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| Bishop’s College |
It started off with a drama workshop conducted by Mohamed Adamally and Tracy Holsinger on April 24 at Bishop’s College. The schools will be presenting a 25 minute excerpt from among the works of the writers mentioned, while prior to the dramas they will be exhibiting the life and works of their respective dramatists. The aim of the exhibition is for the participants to enhance their knowledge of the dramatists they will be presenting on stage, which will be held at the foyer and assisted by The British Council, Colombo.
Rashmi Dias (14), from the host school said they will be performing George Bernards Shaw’s Arms and the Man said, “The workshop gave us time to get to know the participants from the other schools,” to which Meghal Perera (16) from Ladies College added, “In competitions we are always busy trying to beat the other school but due to it being a festival it is different.” And she went on to state, that the pressure is to put on a good show! Ladies College will be presenting an excerpt from one of Shaw’s well loved tales – Androcles and the Lion.
St. Peter’s College will also be performing Androcles and the Lion. “We have a lot of new actors in our cast,” said Kanishka Herath (17), adding, “Therefore we were able to learn a lot from the workshop.” He went on to say, “When it comes to inter school drama festivals we only have the Inter School Shakespeare Drama Competition and the Royal College Drama Competition so this is a good idea,” he said adding, “Every school will do a play they like and put up a good performance.”
“The workshop has helped us in terms of developing our creativity,” says, Linda Modder (15) of Good Shepherd Convent, Kotahena. They will be performing A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.
Royal College has also chosen the works of Ibsen, that of An Enemy of the People. “It’s an intellectual play and political wise, it can relate to the current context of the country,” says Tishya Wickremesinghe (19). He also said that their cast is very new and were therefore able to gather a lot of tips from the workshop conducted by Adam and Tracy. “The festival promotes drama and not competition,” he said, highlighting the importance of the event.
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| St. Peter’s College |
Methodist’s College have also been inspired by Shaw and will be performing The Dark Lady of the Sonnets and a student of the school, Mihiri Perera (16) said, “The festival gives us a chance to learn about not just one playwright,” adding “It’s interesting to see the different styles of these playwrights.”
“The workshop helped us to develop new ideas and very importantly to value the ideas of others,” says Prathap Kumaraperum (15) of St. Joseph’s College. They have however still not decided on what they will be performing at the festival. “We saw lots of talent in the other actors and actresses from the various schools and were able to learn something from them,” he said.
Trinity College, Kandy will be performing the well loved Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Eranda Bodaragama (16) said, “The festival will help improve the standard of the schools in terms of drama.”
The Inter School English Drama Festival hosted by Bishop’s College, on May 22 and 23 at 7pm at the Bishops College Auditorium. Ticket will be available at the auditorium.
Interocean Energy and Ishu International will be sponsoring the event, while the media sponsor will be The Sunday Times. |
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