Well known thespians to take on Sartre’s Men Without Shadows
View(s):It is 1944 and five members of the French Resistance have been captured after a failed action against the Vichy-occupying forces. Awaiting interrogation by their captors, the young soldiers converse about crumbling-or not-under pressure, about the terrors of warfare that they will and will not reveal.
When Jean Paul Sartre’s Men Without Shadows goes on the boards of the Lionel Wendt over the second weekend of February, some of local theatre’s most promising young thespians will come together for director Sashane Perera’s first full-length production. Sashane, an actor first and foremost before he stepped behind the curtains to direct knows very well the strengths and weaknesses of his cast, having worked with each one of them at some point. It was almost as if the script was written for them, he says. “When I read it I just had the very same people in mind. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I have my ideal cast.”
Gehan Blok (who most recently played Judas in the Workshop Players production of Jesus Christ Superstar) will be joined by the now famed Dominic Kellar (known universally in Colombo for his portrayal of Pusswedilla in Feroze Kamardeen’s production of the same name), stage and film actor Gihan De Chickera who rose to fame with his award winning role in the film Machang, Bimsara Premaratne, an accomplished stage and television personality (she was Blanche in last year’s Workshop Players’ adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire), Chamat Arambewella (who won Best Actor at the 2002 Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition), Rajiv Ponweera (Best Actor at the 2001 Shakespeare competition) and Chalana Wijesuriya (Best Actor, 2012).
Men Without Shadows will be staged at the Lionel Wendt on February 7, 8 and 9. Tickets for the show are available from the 20th at the Wendt.