Wedding creativity

Creative wedding photography, is still somewhat new to our country. It deals with the more artistic aspect of photography and gives the final product a more imaginative touch. Lighting plays a very important role. 

Dominic, who has been taking such photographs for three years now, will present over 100 photographs at this exhibition. Among them are ones that have won him The Best Wedding Photograph and first place for Commercialized Wedding Photography from the Hegoda Photographic School. This exhibition will be open to the public from September 28-30.

Harsha opens doors

By Madhubhashini Ratnayake

Classes commence today, Sunday, September 23 at Lyceum, Nugegoda and will be held every Sunday at 3.00 p.m. They will cater to students of all levels - depending on their requirements. Those who have no idea of the keyboard will be taught the basics - those who can play but need to know about composition will be taught accordingly, and those who are interested in using the computer to compose music will have an opportunity to learn this exciting new method of creation.

Western Music theory classes for the O/Level and the A/Level Examination will also be conducted by Harsha. Those who are interested in light music will have a chance to acquire the ability to play pop songs on the keyboard as well. In short, it will be a music class geared to cater to the various changing requirements of music enthusiasts in Sri Lanka.

"There are so many exciting things happening in music right now. That is what I want to teach here and give people the opportunity to explore the many avenues possible. For example, learning to create music on the computer will be an invaluable tool for those who might like to make music for advertisements, to make backing tracks," says Harsha, whose compositions include orchestral works, film music, songs, jazz and so on. It will be an invaluable opportunity for those interested in furthering their musical interests.

Sage, Bright & Manic

This production was abslt bllsht - and I mean that in the nicest possible way. 

It was a cheerfully irreverent, unpretentious, tongue-in-cheek riot. Romping through 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a History of the Bard as it never was in a tad under three hours, the play evoked the usual responses to the Swan of Avon in the most unexpected ways: laughter at the tragedies, tears for the comedies, hysteria over the historical plays, torrents of mirth with the 'geo-political' (!) works.

The script was a masterpiece that extracted the marrow of English Lit. 101 from the bare bones of Elizabethan Drama and peppered it liberally with wit, wackiness and the zaniest sense of humour. The three players took the outrageous ideas and out-Shakespeare'd Shakespeare with a ghoulash of zest, extemporisation, wicked energy and downright silliness.

Here was humanity's arguably most famous poet and playwright sent up, spoofed, falsely worshipped and irreligiously apotheosised for the pleasure of a paying public. It was a splendid fiasco where it was hard to say if more fun was being had by the audience or the actors. 

In a sense, Feroze Kamardeen had been rehearsing for this all his adult life in the theatre. Those who remember the endless swordplay in his Legend of Macbeth, weird twists to plot and character in Julius Caesar: the Anatomy of an Assassination and deliberate (?) misinterpretation of Accidental Death of an Anarchist would know how little he had to mature to pull this pageant off. And pull it off he did; with élan in his acting, éclat at direction and that esprit de corps which is essential for a tight, small, light number like this.

Anuruddha Fernando turned in a sterling performance as narrator, chef de la pastrie Titus Andronicus, corpulent Hamlet, reluctant accomplice in a Bollywood rendition of all Shakespeare's comedies sandwiched into a round-the-rose-bushes extravaganza, and sundry roles. The big man is a solid actor and was the bulwark on which the madness and mayhem leaned for succour. Fall guy and straight man, he shone in the comic encapsulation of the War of the Roses cycle as a rugby encounter and was a (relatively) sensible pivot for the other two berserkers. But he must learn that prolonged impressions of Stentor can be tedious - let it all hang out, by all means; just don't shout all the while, merely project.

A discovery was made: Ifaz Bin Jameel's virtuosity as a tireless dervish, dancing his way to glorious recognition that would have been the envy of King James I or John Travolta. The comic range of this versatile, flexible, truly funny actor will be remembered long after the last echo of uncontrollable laughter from the fans in a more than uproarious balcony. A memorable Othello, moor (ha-ha) and boatswain of Venice, unforgettable Cleopatra, Juliet and Mrs. Macbeth (all biliously prone to nauseating, hammy stage-deaths), and a cross-dressing King, Queen and Mad Maiden of Denmark, he reminded us that the play's not the thing, the playing is. Applause! Applause! My thing-dom for applause!

Three things stood out. Wisdom and felicity in the choice of a play to put up on the boards, a happy marriage of practised stagecraft and clever improvisation, and a brilliant but shameless publicity campaign that placed willing bums on seats otherwise unoccupied at the mention of first folios, lexical innovation, idiomatic expression, diverse hyphenation, grammatical conversions or other such knavery often associated with Old Bill.

The costumes were gorgeous and lavishly recaptured the era of the King's Men, the Globe Theatre, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica illustrations of that golden age. Scene changes were slick, mood lighting admirably conceived and executed. The effect "beggared all description", as Shakesy himself may have said.

This was time well spent revelling in buffoonery, cheap thrills and salaciousness that no doubt once kept the hoi polloi in medieval London's 'wooden O' theatres similarly riveted. Of course, 'critics' limped home muttering, "It was magnificent, but was it Shakespeare?" They are all honourable men.

One question remains, in two parts: is it conscionable to parody, pillory, lampoon, lambaste, satirize, and bastardise the Bard at the expense of the glory that was Shakespeare in the Sri Lankan milieu - where is he honoured more in the breach than the observance? And, anon, how far can you then go to popularise the Master Spirit, not of an age, but of all ages, for this age?

A solution exists: go and see for yourself. A rerun is planned and strongly recommended. The genius in the play - it gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name that required the production to be no more profound than it was. 'Nuff said; the rest is silence.
Brace yourself for another attack.... 

The members of Stagefright&Panic Inc., despite repeated appeals by the authorities carried out a vicious and completely unprovoked attack on the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This renegade bunch of aspiring thespians was seen strutting out of the Lionel Wendt from the 13th-16th of September looking absolutely unrepentant of the destruction caused by their play "The compleat wrks of Wllm Shkspr".

Authorities and academics were horrified to receive a faxed statement from this group, claiming that they intend to carry out yet ANOTHER attack on the Bard. "Our first attack was so successful, we have decided to keep hammering the works of Shakespeare until audiences will quiver at the very mention of the name - Willy!" said a member of the group. The repeat performance of The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr is at the Lionel Wendt on October 13 and 14. Box Plan and Tickets at the Wendt.

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