Weaving a colourful tapestry of song and hope
Sometimes miracles do happen when you believe. To the thousands of Hebrew slaves in biblical times and a young man, destined to lead them from captivity to the promised land this was just so. ‘The Prince of Egypt’ a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer beautifully captures this journey through eyes of the theater.
Pix by M.A Pushpakumara
For the first time, the production will be staged by the Senior students of Ladies College, Colombo 7, at the school’s auditorium on September 21 and 22 from 7.00pm on wards.
This week we caught up with the directorial team who gave us a little insight into the ongoing process behind the curtains. We find the cast going about their rehearsals in the school’s auditorium. A few feet away from the stage Neidra Williams and Jehan Bastians, the two directors, watch attentively as the girls attempt various formations.
As the rehearsals continue, Neidra and Julian Anderson, who is also a part of the directorial team sit with us for a chat.
The production itself is a film to theater transformation of the cartoon ‘Prince of Egypt’. And because it was a cartoon, portraying it on stage is no easy task and requires a depth of creativity, skill and direction, we find.
Despite the challenge, it helped that the directorial team weren’t on a mission to recreate the cartoon. Rather they used it as inspiration. “There is a lot of thinking and lots of ideas either being used or discarded, “ Neidra tells us, adding that the final output is the best of everything.
Moses’ story begins in ancient Egypt when the Pharaoh calls for the execution of all Hebrew baby boys, and as the killings go on, Moses’ desperate mother decides to hide her child in a basket, along the Nile river.
“In the movie of course if you want a river, you could have a river. But in this context it’s different. So what we’ve done is to create something different and leave it to the imagination of our audience,” Julian Anderson explains. To the team, Moses’ story is a celebration of actors and that’s just what they’re aiming to get out of the girls as well. “We want to get them to sing with soulfulness and understand the role they’re playing.”
The team is also focused on bringing all the characters in Moses’ journey to life. In that sense “we got living, breathing characters. They are not onstage for the sake of being there but they have a back story as well,” Julian tells us. So when these characters actually get onstage they’ve lived their whole life in the eyes of the audience.
And since all of the characters are very emotive, the team also taps into these emotions. “For example Ramses becomes the pharaoh. But he is also Moses’ brother, who he grew up with. So we looked at it from the angle of how two men, who grew up in the same household and thought they were brothers, have to now oppose each other,” Neidra explains. However, the team strives to move between scenes without deviating from the crux of the story, because the characters are “a part of this beautiful tapestry, which is the story that is rich in different personalities.”
On the same note, Neidra adds that everyone will experience the heartache, the hope , the crushing of this hope and above all the trust in God.
In Neida’s words, it takes a village to bring a production of this magnitude together. The directorial team is grateful for all its other members which includes Naresh Anthony, Trinushka Perera and Devinda De Silva. The musical direction is handled by Anushka Abhayaratne and Varuni Sumathiratne, while the choreography is handled Roshni Gunaratne. The case will also be accompanied by Neranjan De Silva.
Tickets for the show will be available from September 10 at the Ladies College office.
The directors at work