Diving into young minds with ‘Drama Quintet’
If you’ve ever watched a play produced by the Sashi Mendis Studio of Drama and Speech, the performances, over 90% of the time are a curious mix of originality, reality and large doses of imaginations. Over 14 years her plays have opened new worlds, invented new phrases and words and opened the eyes of audiences to the obstacles and darker side of childhood and growing up.
Pix courtesy M.A.Pushpa Kumara
This September, Sashi and her senior students will present “Drama Quintet”. The show is a follow up of “Drama Quartet” which took the stage a few years ago. Suitably titled, Drama Quintet will find her older students performing a series of 5 original plays, ranging from comic, brutal to thought provoking coming of age stories devised by her and her crew of teenage thespians.
While the school has put on productions regularly (last year’s “Plays Parade” was their last production) this year her seniors will take the stage alone without the usual mix of age groups joining them, save one very special performance by the juniors.
The writing process started last year and has been a process of brainstorming of ideas, improvising scenes and writing and re working them along the way. As the ideas flow and change, Sashi admits to many instances where storylines begin in one direction only to move in a complete opposing side once they begin devising.
As always, Sashi’s plays keep close to the issues and real life scenarios of her young scriptwriters and their peers. One such piece is “A Boy in the Picture.” A ‘be careful what you wish for’ type scenario, a 16 year old boy literally escapes into a fantastical world through a picture. Facing quirky characters along the way, including “Jenistronomous” his quest for his family and identity lead him to find more than what he was looking for.
Sashi
As always her plays are those very closely tied to reality, despite the mind boggling characters and equally indescribable worlds they live in. But plays such as “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “Ask Dr. Benjamin” are a tad closer to the growing pains of the Sri Lankan teenager. The title “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is taken from the classic folk song that found its way into literature syllabuses in schools. One of the evening’s darker, more reflective pieces, is based on the psyche and emotions of a Sri Lankan soldier and a rebel fighter fighting in the war. The drama, which will use music too also hopes to touch its audience on a more universal level, with references to the history of war and the reality of the hardships felt by people in war torn regions.
“Ask Dr. Benjamin” in contrast, is one of the show’s goofier plays. Meet Dr. Benjamin, who uses his ‘educameter’ to gage stress and trauma levels in his patients at his clinic. The patients are all students and set against elements of fantasy, the play while funny has a serious undertone- a criticism of the issues of the education system of Sri Lanka. Exploring the effects of tuition and exams, this play, Sashi reveals is based on her real life students’ issues.
While most of their work is a dive in to the mind of a child or teenager, “The Day that Brian Died,” is a play that will resonate with many of the adults in the audience. What starts off as two strangers, both eccentric outsiders meeting at a funeral transforms into a unravelling of events which make them question life, reality and the need to strike a balance in the world they live in. Like all Sashi and her students’ plays- there’s a message, if not something to think about.
“Drama Quintet” presented by the Sashi Mendis Studio of Drama and Speech will take place from September 2 – 3 at the Punchi Theatre. Tickets are priced at Rs. 1000 and Rs. 600 (balcony). Tickets can be purchased at the Punchi Theatre or by calling 0777009258.
