Team work to the fore
This year’s Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition saw St. Bridget’s Convent Colombo thriving on the seamless ability of the cast to take cues from each other, working well as a team. “It’s like family,” they say of working with each other.
Their script of choice was ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ one of the more well-known and celebrated pieces by Shakespeare. First published in 1602, it brings back to life the character of Sir John Falstaff, the memorably fat night from Henry IV. Mistresses Page and Ford are the recipients of his amorous attention fuelled by a desire to get his hands on their husbands’ money. Falstaff pens love letters to both ladies, not anticipating that they would share this with each other and discover his folly. Although repulsed, they decide to lead him along in his merry dance by pretending to be flattered, and Mistress Ford invites him to her residence, cheekily assisted by the highly excitable Mistress Page. What follows is utter mayhem, and both the girls and the audience at the Girls Final of the competition had a ball as events unfolded on stage.
The cast and crew of St. Bridget’s Convent
“We chose the script because it was light and was something we knew the girls would love performing,” says Malinthie Perera, teacher in charge of the school’s Drama Society. A different cast had staged the same play last year for another competition, and considering the girls only had about three weeks to assemble and rehearse prior to the semi-finals, the devil they knew seemed the better alternative, especially when some of the other scripts on offer were quite dark and heavy. Assisted by past pupils Amayaa Wijesinghe and Christina VanCuylenberg, with creative input from Lehan Thomas, Javin Thomas and Kanishka Herat, they set about the task of bringing one of the bard’s most loved comedies onto the stage. It paid off well, with the girls taking home the awards for Best Stagecraft in addition to that night’s championship.
“We were initially cast in each other’s roles,” say Melmari Cruse and Tahiri Perera, who eventually played Mistresses Ford and Page respectively. “Halfway through, they thought we might do better with a switch and then we had to relearn lines, but it worked much better!” Neither are overly familiar with Shakespeare’s work but say that this script immediately had them hooked, not just for its rapid pace and plot developments, but for the humour and easy dialogue its characters share.
Scenes from the school’s production of Merry Wives of Windsor at the drama competition. Pix by M. A. Pushpa Kumara
Rounding up the main cast are Saalihah Mohideen, Laaiqah Mohamed, Anisha Mowzoon and Saranie Wijesinghe, who played Sir Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, Master Page and Master Ford respectively. Saranie juggles many roles-in addition to being the school’s Head Prefect, she is also the President of the Drama Society. “I’ve been acting from a young age,” she says. Her first Shakes role was a non-speaking one as a maid in the school’s 2008 production of Twelfth Night, which clinched the championship for them. “So I’ve come a long way,” she grins. Saalihah, on the other hand, is a first timer to this Shakespeare drama business and found herself immediately playing the lecherous Sir Falstaff, he of the portly belly and roving hands.
The cast were responsible for their props as well, and with a little assistance from their teacher in charge managed to create a flexible set which made use of the space and small windows of time in between scene changes quite ingeniously. It was also “the prayers that got us through,” they say of their win, and the exceedingly short space of time in which they managed to rustle up such a clever production.
A public performance of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ by St. Bridget’s Convent will be staged on Oct 19 and 20 in the school’s auditorium. Tickets may be obtained at the gate during school hours. The Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition was jointly organized by the Colombo YMCA and the Rotary Club of Colombo North.