Let’s hear it for the girls
“The win is all the girls, as directors we just give them the firepower but ultimately it’s up to them to fight the battle,” says Javin Thomas, director behind Bishop’s College’s production of King Lear performed at the Interschool Shakespeare Drama competition organized by the YMCA and Rotary Club of Colombo North.
Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
His directorial stint with Bishop’s commenced in 2015 when the school placed third at the competition. Haiving not competed in 2016 and not entering finals in 2017 Bishop’s made its comeback with first place, best actor and best supporting actor this year – when the winner’s cup entered the gates of James Peiris Mawatha after an absence of 12 years.
This year Javin was backed by a directorial team including Amayaa Wijesinghe, Lehan Thomas, Shazad Synon and Ashini Fernando.
This year the production’s period was set to a modern tone yet not limited to a particular era instead a greater emphasis was put on emotions whilst being supported by a militia background. “I wanted to do a largely untouched segment of Lear” Javin muses “I wanted to show the audience Lear’s journey, what he went through before he went mad and I wanted to base it on the daughters and how Lear himself was built on the dynamics of each individual relationship.”
His recollection of 2008 best actor Yasas Ratnayake’s performance as King Lear and having researched a diverse range of stage and film performances allowed him to envision a ‘hybrid Lear’ of sorts for 17 year old Raaedha Faizel assisting her performance and clinching her the title of Best Actress for her unique portrayal.
Similarly, ageing the Fool played by Luxmi Wijeyanathan (17), Best Supporting Actress award (Joint with Celina Randeniya of Visakha Vidyalaya), allowed Javin to create an apt confidante to the discarded King. “We wanted it to be relatable, current and with real emotion so that the audience could see The Fool and think ‘We all have that one friend…’” Javin shares.
A scene from the production
For the three 18 year old seniors of the drama society; President Kavya De Silva (Goneril), Secretary Shamimah Faizel (Duke of Cornwall) and board member Tashinee Wijeyeratnam (Soldier) this year will mark their last Shakespeare Drama Comp. Kavya who first took part in Shakes in kindergarten in Bishop’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream laughs “I remember my only line in the play was “and I”.
Over the years these young ladies have grown with drama and for Kavya who took on Presidency of the society this year “the pressure gets harder and harder every year cause we like to set a standard and not give the crowds a half done job regardless of the results.”
For Shamimah, drama was an activity forced upon her by an older sister. She recalls “my younger sister (Raaedha) and I were really shy but drama helped us break out of it,” adding “it’s also that drama brings people together,” she shares.
Working with her older and younger sister has also been an eventful ride, Shamimah laughs last year being the only year she’s been on stage alone, her oldest sister having left school whilst Raaedha sat for her O’Levels.
For Kavya she’s always felt type casted in comical, casanova-esque roles, this being her first female role (if you don’t count that one time in her KG play). One of her most memorable performances was being Brutus in last year’s production of Coriolanus. “It was one of my more serious roles where I got to play a 45 year old man of the people,” she shares adding “It was a lot of fun and in a different way so was Goneril cause she was just pure evil.”
What kicked off as an initial audition of 30 was shortlisted to a cast of 24. “This year there was a large focus on the acting and less on the effects,” Kavya shares. “It was layers on layers,” Shamimah chimes in that plays difficulty was bringing out the subtlety of the emotions as Tashinee adds “we were warned that this production needed a lot of maturity.”
Raaedha Feizal
Luxmi Wijeyanathan
Kavya De Silva
On researching her character Kavya recalls watching Cate Blanchett, who plays the wicked step mother in the 2015 live action Cinderella movie, stating “there’s a reason everyone is wicked. What’s yours?” allowing her to really ponder on Goneril’s harshness to the hands that raised her. “In my interpretation I don’t think Goneril hated anyone,” Kavya muses adding “She just doesn’t have time for nonsense and her personality overpowers everyone … even the men.”
Each character had a unique backstory made by the girls themselves allowing them to bring the subtlety of a dramatic plot, humour in an unconventional form and real emotion to the forefront of their performances.
Despite “messy beginnings” the cast laughs, group bonding and open conversations allowed them to have unanimous agreements on character relationships and portrayals. “We’ve been 6 years in the finals and with 17 schools taking part for semis and some strong schools taking part after some time the competition was high and we had a lot to overcome as a school,” teacher in charge Ashini Fernando said. However “the look on the juniors’ faces made it feel like it paid off,” Kavya shares, however, adding “We may have won but we have much more to grow and to do.”
First timers Sanduni De Fonseka (18) who played Regan, Cordelia played by Devmini Bandara (17) and Amani Pamduwawela (18) who portrayed the Duke of Albany shared similar sentiments.
Tashinee Wijeyeratnam
Shemima Feizal
“My character was pretty weird which I liked,” Sanduni shares adding that Regan’s middle child complex allows her to have an almost lost demeanour. Devmini had a long adjustment period to her character. A Sinhala actress Devmini shares she had to tone down her accent and adjust a lot of the fast paced movement from Sinhala theatre to the subtle gestures of Shakespeare.
“I have the worst stage fright!” Anouck Subasinghe (18), this year’s backstage manager shares. Having been nominated for Best Stage Craft at the Semis Anouk shares that being backstage “I gained a lot of respect for our directors,” she shares.
“There was a lot of intensity on stage and getting into the production was a roller coaster ride.” For the ever joyful Amani, keeping a straight face during practices was a challenge. However watching the discipline of her castmates kept her focus. “At practice Kavya wouldn’t respond to anything other than Goneril” she laughs.
However, Javin reveals that it was only at the last minute that the production seemed to gel. Despite the encouraging results he chuckles “It’s always amazing for me when I see these young kids taking on mature roles.”
