Laughing with your neighbour at yourself

By Uthpala Gunethilake

It has all the ingredients to make you fall off the seat with laughter. The typical, pompous Mudaliyar, the crafty Notary, a script and a storyline bubbling with wit and sarcasm and a theme which has long been a favourite of Sri Lankan comedians and fans.

Bringing to life those much-loved, much laughed about characters from Sri Lanka's colonial past, "Well Mudaliyar How" will go on stage on July 27, 28, 29 and 30 at 7 p.m. at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.

The play was written 50 years ago by H.C.N. de Lanerolle and E. M. W. Joseph (Sooty Banda). It has been staged by many veteran Thespians including E.C.B. Wijesinghe, and this time it is directed by Jith Peiris who is no stranger to Colombo's theatre-goers. Also, this time the Postal Department is issuing a stamp to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

The play spins around a Mudaliyar from the Walauwwa class who is trying to salvage whatever remains of his reputation after having to borrow money from a wealthy Notary.

The artful Notary takes advantage of this situation to inch his way into the Mudaliyar's high-caste family, by brokering marriage between the two families.

The Notary-cum-marriage broker's character is complete with the typical peculiarities of the middle-class Sinhalese trying to merge with the educated high classes, including broken English mannerisms. Elson Divithoragama plays the Notary, and you need not go very far to imagine how crazy the portrayal will be.The rest of the cast includes Ranjit Seneviratne as Mudaliyar and Angela Seneviratne as the Mudaliyar's wife.

"In all the previous occasions when it was staged, the reaction has been terrific," says Jith. The absurdities of our own prestigious Walauwwa classes have never failed to send us into convulsions of laughter over the years, and as Jith says, "Nothing Sri Lankan has lasted quite like this throughout the decades." He thinks that although depicting life many decades ago, the play has messages relevant for today, specially about racial harmony. "Those days people laughed at each other's faults, without burning each other's houses," he says.

The production is in aid of the Scholarship Fund of the Creative Arts Foundation, which is also the main sponsor. The play promises much laughter, as its predecessors directed by Jith, 'Senator' and He comes from Jaffna, but the biting satire directed towards the hang-ups of the upper middle class of the colonial era underscores serious reflections.

In the words of a former reviewer of the play, " ...you will find yourself laughing with your neighbour at yourself... and at nearly everybody around you. But in your laughter, we hope, there will be a kernel of seriousness."

The discovery of startling young talent

By Alfreda de Silva

On July 9, that splendid evening of music and song at the Ladies' College auditorium, Ajit Abeysekera conducted the Symphony Orchestra's melodic introduction and backing to two young Sri Lankans who cast a spell on the audience.

The joyous event was the result of the discovery of startling new talent on the music scene.

It had surprises, moments of great beauty and lyricism and a display of technical prowess, control, artistry and musicality.

The stars of the evening, 15-year-old Asitha Tennekoon (vocal) and 14-year-old Eshantha Peiris (piano) were winners at the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka Concerto Competition 2000.

A total of 16 contestants had taken part in this event under vocal, wind, string and piano categories. The competition was adjudicated by three judges from abroad.

Dr. James Ross, scholar, conductor and teacher of music at Oxford University, Satoshi Nakagawa from Japan, with wide experience in training young musicians, and Sri Lankan-born Rohan de Silva, who teaches at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York.

The diversity of their nationalities and backgrounds did not deter the judges from a unanimous verdict on the winners, because they shared the universal language of music.

Menaka de Fonseka Sahabandu and Ramya de Livera Perera had steered the learning skills of the students in voice and piano, and had done so meticulously.

But there was more here - an enjoyment of the exercise for both the teacher and the taught, and a strong rapport between them.

And, of course, there had been, in both instances, that mysterious factor known as talent, a spiritual quality that lies dormant in a human being, till it is discovered and helped to take wing.

And who works that alchemy better than parents and teachers?

Asitha Tennekoon, a student of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, will be sitting the O' Level examination next year. He was a member of the Christaina Singers under the direction of Christine Perera.

His present teacher, Menaka finds his voice surprisingly mature for his age. "He was quick to grasp what he was taught," she says, "including Italian for some of the arias."

Asitha sings in the college choir under the direction of Russell Bartholomeusz, and is a member of the College Band in which he plays the trombone and the clarinet.

In a brief conversation I had with him I learned that he comes from a musical family. His mother, Indira, and his sister, Anushka, are musicians. His favourite composers are Bach and Handel. "I feel at home on the stage," he says.

And that was evident at the concert as he went with resonant and relaxed grace from the Handel recitative, Where'er you walk to the Cesar Franck nineteenth century religious aria, Panis Angelicius, soulfully sung. And then from Verdi's rippling Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto to the grand finale of the tender, passionate, fiery lyric Maria from Bernstein's Westside Story.

Does he want to make singing his career? I asked him. The answer was a resounding "Yes".

The quiet, soft-spoken Eshantha Peiris is a serious student of music at 14. He has studied piano with Ramya de Livera since he was seven years old, and learns the violin under the direction of Ananda Dabare. Ramya finds him an exceptionally talented, steady and dedicated student - a disciplined mind, quick to grasp not only what is taught in the classroom but also one that is eager to explore musical compositions beyond those in the syllabus.

He is a Grade 10 student at St. Joseph's College, Colombo and enjoys the encouragement he receives from his parents.

Eshantha's was a virtuoso performance that delighted the audience. His choice was the ambitious Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto on G Minor opus 25 - Molto Allegro, Fuoco Audante, Molto Allegro e Vivace.

He is a member of the Krasne Chamber Ensemble. He also accompanies the St. Joseph's College choir and the All Saints' Church English Youth Choir on the synthesizer. He recently assisted in the production of the operetta The Mikado presented by St. Joseph's College.

He told me that among his favourite composers were Bach, Greig and Bartok. He enjoys jazz and pop music and takes his piano practice in his stride every day, "for about an hour a day".

Any plans for the future? "I've made no decisions about that yet," he says.

The promoting of concerto competitions for the unearthing of new talent on the musical scene is a laudable one on the part of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka.

The search for talent must go on, for that vast fund of it still waiting to be reached, for the ultimate fulfilment of performer, teacher and audience.

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