Fresh cast take to the stage with ‘Chaos At The Vicarage’
It’s quite hilarious, when a peaceful vicarage ends up in complete chaos in a short span of time. The poor Bishop of Lux, he’s not used to all this hullaballoo. All he wanted was to visit his niece, Penelope Toop and her husband Rev. Lionel Toop.
He encounters not one, but four characters dressed in a vicar’s outfit. To top things, one of them is an escaped German soldier.
Philip King’s “See How They Run,” renamed “Chaos At The Vicarage” is back, with a fresh cast, directed under veteran director Jith Peiris.
The production will be showcased at the Lionel Wendt, starting Friday (June 30) to Sunday (July 2).
The Mirror Magazine got the chance to get a sneak peek and catch up with the talented ensemble.
Our first insight into the vicarage, introduces us to ‘Ida’ the maid. Portrayed by Saranie Wijesinghe (21), ‘Ida’ is, perhaps one of those characters, who keeps the momentum throughout the play.
“Aside from being their maid, she also cares for the Toops,” Saranie tells us. ‘Ida’ is perhaps the bubblier character, who’s always bustling about the house. So, amidst all the chaos, it’s she who calmly handles most of the situations in the play.
“She is a fun character, especially because of her accent and as an actress, for me it’s a lot to explore,” Saranie explains adding that her accent was a bit tough to adapt to at the start.
Our conversation with Tahiri Perera (20), made us realise that both she and character, ‘Miss Skillon’ were quite alike in certain ways. This trait made her presence on stage seem more realistic.
“What was the question again?” Tahiri asks, with chuckle. She looks at her character as a very “stereotypical republican in a small town,” she tells us, adding that Miss Skillon is like that uncle or aunty in a church, who tries to get involved with everything.
Her scene opens, with her complaining to the vicar about someone else decorating the pulpit, which was her job. “She would’ve also liked to be the Vicar’s wife (But someone got in the way),” Tahiri whispers, whilst looking around the room.
The significant character in the play would have to be ‘Penelope Toop’ portrayed by Melmarie Cruse (21).
A former actress and now the wife of the Vicar, ‘Penelope’ is an open-minded character. She is also quite the hot topic in the fictitious village of Merton-cum-Middlewick.
Melmarie tells us, personality wise her character likes to do her own thing and is a little more energetic than the rest. She finds ‘Penelope’ interesting and its the first time she’s playing a role like this. “At the start, it was a little hard to get into but now it’s a little better,” she recalls.
Fresh from the ensemble of “Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat,” this is not Melmarie’s first time acting. Up on stage, she completely transforms herself, from her soft-spoken personality, to Penelope’s somewhat loud role, which is interesting to watch.
The play takes a twist and things seem a little scandalous, when ‘Penelope’s’ friend, ‘Corporal Clive Winton’ walks in. ‘Clive’ is a former actor, who joined the army because of the war. He spots ‘Penelope’ in the village and seeks her out.
As the pair catch up, they decide to act out a scene from an old play. Cue the shocked gasp from ‘Miss Skillon’ as she finds them wrestling on the floor. They were acting of course. To add to the comedy, ‘Ida’ develops a crush on ‘Clive’, who is quite the looker.
Gaurinanthan Balarupan (19), who portrays ‘Clive’, tells us he could relate to his character’s carefree attitude and that’s his favorite part. “He’s really fun, witty and sarcastic. But unintentionally, he gets caught up in all the madness.”
‘The Vicar’ played by Dias Bandaranayake (19))is more of a fatherly figure, according to Dias. “He is very conventional but he is also a big softie,” he tells us.
Jith
His character adds to the comedy in the production, especially because everyone seems to be borrowing his uniform, even though he has no clue about it.
The other characters to look out for in the production include ‘Bishop’ (Vickram Parathalingam (19), ‘The German’ played by Roshane Jayampathy (22), Rev. Arthur Humphrey played by Josiah Bulathsinghala (20), ‘Alison’ played by Rashmi D.S Wijeyeratne (20) and ‘The sergeant’ played by Visura Silva (20) .
These exceptionally talented actors, managed to bring out the best in their roles whilst on stage, we observe. Visura, a writer himself tells us he loves the comedy, because it relies on the lines and how it’s delivered, as opposed to more slapstick action.
“I really love that, because I feel that this is the original form of comedy, as opposed to falling off or tumbling off on stage,” he says. All in all, ‘Chaos At The Vicarage’ promises an evening of fun and laughter.
Tickets for the show are priced at Rs. 2,000, Rs. 1,500, Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 650 (Balcony).
Pix by Indika Handuwala