Traditional fairy tale all twisted up
When was the last time you headed out for an evening at the pantomime? If you haven’t had the chance then the Colombo International School’s newest production will tickle your senses, for Vinodh Senadeera and his cast of young thespians will take on ‘Cinderella: the Pantomime’ at the CIS School Auditorium next week.
“It’s your traditional fairy tale all twisted up and turned into slapstick comedy,” says Eran Fernando, who plays Buttons in the production and heads the cast. In this take of perhaps the best known and loved of all fairy tales, the characters are superfluous, over the top versions of their original selves.
“That’s the essence of a pantomime,” says Vinodh, who is the school’s Head of Performing Arts. The director is best known for his Shakespearean adaptations and most recently for the Narnia classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For Vinodh, this will be his first taken on a pantomime. “It’s an interesting challenge,” he grins. “But I’ve got a fantastic cast on board.”
Head Girl Ramathi Bandaranayake is Cinderella, the headstrong protagonist of the story and incidentally Ramathi’s first production in school was also in Cinderella. Although Ramathi was just part of the ensemble cast back then, it was the start of a long school drama career which she has always treasured. “We’ve been rehearsing for a while now and it’s always great fun,” she smiles. “There are a lot of laughs and innuendos that go around, especially because we’re putting on a pantomime!”
Ramathi’s Prince Charming is the reserved Isuru Perera, who is already on the receiving end of plenty of teasing from his fellow cast mates. Isuru is the calm in an ocean of excitable young actors and says finding his way around the role was a breeze thanks to Vinodh’s guidance. Prince Charming might have to resist the advances of anything-that-moves-is-husband-material sisters Asphyxia and Euthanasia, though, played by Keshya Amerasinghe and Aishwarya Jayasinghe.
Together with their mother, the Baroness Medusa Hardupp (played by Chantel Soza), the two stepsisters are on the warpath to make Cinderella’s life as miserable as possible. “They’re horrible,” say the two actresses cheerfully. “Absolutely horrible.” The two stepsisters are inadvertently the play’s comic relief as well, unable as they are to put one foot in front of the other without causing some untold calamity. The poor Baron of Hardupp, that man of a thousand lives and never-ending patience, is played by Aavin Dambawinne.
Making up the rest of this highly entertaining cast is Senani Gunathilake as Tongs, Rahal Wijewardane as the fabulously camp Dandini and Shanaia Munidasa and Hashila Fernando as the two fairy godmothers. “The great thing about the play is that everything’s an exaggeration,” says Senani. “Our characters are larger than life and we get to fall off things and go mad on stage-watching us should be a lot of fun!”
Cinderella: the Pantomime directed by Vinodh Senadeera will be staged on February 7 and 8 from 7.30 p.m. at the CIS Auditorium. Tickets for the show are available at the school reception.