Dramatic maturity

Two weekends ago I managed to catch two plays on consecutive days. On Friday, I was at the Russian Cultural Centre to watch "The Absentee" by Methodist College, and on Saturday I was in the audience of "This and That" held to celebrate the centenary of Ladies College. Two school plays back to back. 

It's sad that the phrase "school play" brings up so many unflattering preconceptions. Maybe that comes from people confusing school plays with school concerts. Perhaps the schools confusing the two have made matters worse. In my reckoning a school play is a public performance and should be held to the same standards as any production that hits the stage and we pay money to go and see. If schools cannot meet these standards maybe they are better off sticking to concerts. But the two plays I saw were certainly able to hold their own. 

The Methodist College play "The Absentee" was unique for many reasons. For starters, the play was an original written by present students of the College. Actually, the play wasn't one play at all but 14 little playlets by eight different writers. The script was edited and directed by Ruwanthie De Chickera, an old girl of the college, and one of the most recognized writers in the local English theatre scene. Even before I get down to talking about the play we must appreciate that a school is trying to promote an idea of English theatre that is indigenous and one which nurtures talent that is quite obviously there.

The "Absentee" started out rather confusingly. Many mysterious declarations at the beginning, although hinting that something significant was going on, gave little indication as to what that "something" was. There was hardly enough time to figure out what was going on before the (somewhat loud) music heralded another playlet. 

But slowly and surely a pattern started to emerge. The plays were loosely linked together by a person, "Anamika". I am still confused as to whether "Anamika" was ever meant to be one person, or whether the name was a theatrical device substituted for one name in each play. However, as the pieces of the puzzles were handed to us in no particular order, the story of "Anamika" became more and more engaging. The plays attempted as much as possible to be complete in themselves. There was a good balance between humour and serious topics. Some dealt with issues such as rape, teenage pregnancy and ragging. Others were lighter pieces like the one portraying chaotic scenes at a florist's shop on Valentine's Day or another about a young group of Hackers. 

Space won't permit me to comment on the individual plays or the 30 or so talented actors who performed them. I was impressed both with the quality of writing and the maturity of the writers. The fact that it was written by so many people gave it a diversity of humour and subject matter that can seldom be found in one play. The acting occasionally struggled to keep up with the strength of the words, but to be fair - the words would have challenged even the most mature actors. The overwhelming feeling I got was that these girls were having the time of their lives. It had a level of heart and enthusiasm that one seldom finds in "mature" theatre. And the audience felt it. 

The next night I was at the Ladies' College hall to witness "This and That" held to celebrate the centenary of the school. The evening's entertainment consisted of two plays directed by longtime drama stalwart Romany Parakrama followed by a musical concert by the Choir. I am not qualified to comment on the music (which I enjoyed very much) so I will stick to the two plays. The first dealt with a mother's alcoholism and its impact on her two grown daughters. It portrayed how a family selfishly plays with each other's lives, and how they even go to the length of sabotaging their own lives to get the upper hand. A mother trying to destroy the self-esteem of her daughters so that they would stay emotionally dependent on her. And two daughters trying to break free, but at what cost? Heavy stuff. But very well handled by the young cast. 

The second play was a comedy set to the backdrop of the cold war. Although good timing of the lines brought the comedy out quite well, I felt this was the weaker of the two plays. 

Overall, these girls demonstrated a level of polish that would put some "professional" shows to shame. Excellent diction, good projection and supreme stage presence were some of the things that made this show memorable. These two "school plays" were also very good theatre productions. Although they didn't use certain stage tools like lighting to the best advantage, they stuck to the things that drama should really be about - good scripts and good acting. It really saddens me to think that I may never see some of these girls on stage again, or hear their names as writers. That really would be a shame.

Delon Weerasinghe 

The Wilde touch still lives

Reviewed by Seneka Abeyratne. 

"A Woman of No Importance", though written more than a hundred years ago, is by no means dated. It has all the ingredients of a "perfect" play, including a brilliant, witty, satirical script, absorbing characters, a neatly constructed plot, an intriguing sub-text, a unique style, and a touch of irony and pathos to round things off. Although it does not tug too deeply at the emotions, it is nevertheless a powerful drama, for it looks unflinchingly at the moral decadence of the1890s and takes a delicious swipe at British upper-middle class hypocrisy, which is no different now than it was a hundred years ago. 

It could also be considered a radical play, as it exposes the kind of moral humbug that English women had to put up with during that era and the personal ignominies inflicted on them by so-called well-bred Englishmen, especially the Janus-faced aristocrats. 

The most compelling aspect of the drama is its gender dimension, which is expertly handled by the author and placed in a social and political context that gives it depth and profundity. Feminism emerged as a global phenomenon only in recent times, but here is Oscar Wilde exploring sensitive gender themes with pungent wit and biting satire in the1890s. Clearly he was ahead of his time. The gender-driven subtext and distinctly feminist ending suggest that Wilde had no truck with male chauvinism. Through a twist of irony, the title "A Woman of No Importance" becomes transmuted into "A Man of No Significance", and Lord Illingworth, the villain of the piece, receives his just desserts. 

Ruana Rajepakse deserves praise for selecting this particular play to mark the author's hundredth death anniversary, for it is still highly relevant to the times. Gender issues have become a central theme not only in the fine arts, but also in the soft sciences, such as economics, sociology, psychology and political science. Ruana's production of WNI was good. 

The two central characters, Lord Illingworth and Rachel Arbuthnot, were portrayed with force and conviction by Mohamed Adamaly and Neluka Silva. Playing a suave, sophisticated, upper-crust English villain calls for consummate thespian skills and there is no better person than Adam to play this kind of role. He was in complete control from beginning to end and held the play together with a stunning performance. Through his immaculate delivery and projection, and deft handling of Illingworth's character, he showed us what a fine actor he is. Rachel Arbuthnot (who is posessive by nature) is a woman struggling to come to terms with herself and redeem her self-esteem, which has been severely damaged by the heartless Illingworth. Neluka played the "Woman of No Importance" with dignity and poise and showed considerable maturity in the way she handled the emotionally charged climax. Krishan Jayaratnam came up with a polished performance as the illegitimate child of Rachel and Lord Illingworth ( a fact not known to either father or son until the climax). Niedra Williams was wickedly funny as Selina Allonby and even stole the show at times. Dayan Candappa, as the stuffy Mr. Kelvil, also stood out. The other members of the cast comprised Ruhanie Perera, Avanti Perera, Catriona Nicholas and Anuradha Fernando, who added zest and sparkle to the play. 

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