Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Memorable performances
By Natasha Fernandopulle
The crowd that had gathered outside the Lionel Wendt Theatre last Sunday for the Finals of the 18th Annual Inter-School Drama Competition 2004, organised by the Interact Club of Royal College was amazing to see.

Excitement was in the air as the young crowd, dressed in ‘funky’ outfits gathered outside, all ‘pumped up’ to cheer their respective schools, while a few others came to see a few good performances. It was clearly an event for the teenagers of Colombo’s social scene. The ‘House Full’ board outside the theatre proved that this in fact was one of the biggest events in the school drama scene.

The semi finals out of the way, the finalists for the evening, Bishop’s College who performed ‘Plaza Suite’, Ladies’ College with ‘Infanta’, S. Thomas’ College performing ‘No Why’ and Visakha Vidyalaya with ‘Husbands Supplied’ were set to take the stage.

The curtains opened that evening on Neil Simon’s ‘Plaza Suite’. The scene was centred in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Mimsey Hudley, played by Savithri Udakandage locks herself up in the bathroom and her mother, Norma (Lakmini Cooray) tries desperately to convince her to come out. She has no idea why Mimsey has locked herself up in the first place because it is her wedding day. She talks and shouts at her to no avail.

Norma then calls her husband, Roy, who tries to make her come out, by telling her that he has spent so much time and money on this wedding, which does not work. Breaking the door by charging into it leaves him with a broken arm. Climbing through the window sees him slip, fall down and hurt his leg. Finally, Roy manages to convince Mimsey to talk to him, which upsets Norma! The problem: Mimsey’s fear is that she and Borden Eisler (Poornima Fonseka), her husband-to-be, will end up like Norma and Roy. All Borden had to say for Mimsey to agree to marry him was… “Cool it”! She comes out of the bathroom and they get married. Roy can’t believe that after all he has done, she ends up wanting to marry a man who asks her to “cool it”!

The judges Tracy Holsinger, Indu Dharm-asena and Nirmali Hetti-arachchi commented that the diction and projection could have been better in the performance. It was also said that this being a school production, Bishop’s College could have used a bigger cast. On the positive side, the comedy obviously worked for the Bishopians as they won the competition.

With regard to Ladies’ College, the cast established character well but they could have infused the characters with more life. However, it was Ladies’ College that walked away with the two performance awards. The Best Actor/Actress award was won by Eshara Silva (17) who played the role of Infanta. Eshara, whose first role in school was in ‘Rapunzel’, said, “It is fun to be somebody else for a while.” Winning this award came as a shock to Eshara, “But it’s finally sinking in!” This is something she will never forget, she says.

The competition introduced a special award, in memory of the late Shazan Rali, for the Most Memorable Performance. This was won by 16-year-old Nushelle de Silva of Ladies’ College. Nushelle, who started acting in school, said that acting was something that allowed her to bring out someone from within, and not so much putting herself into the shoes of another character.

Both Eshara and Nushelle said that their families have been really supportive during this production. They also mentioned their Speech and Drama teacher, Ms. Varuni Jayasekera who has always been supportive. Where the S. Thomas’ College performance was concerned, the story line was not too clear. The judges commented on this but noted that the acting was good, in fact the little boy in the play, a silent actor, was commended for his performance. But, overall, the choice of play let them down.

The Visakhians clearly had a good time on stage with their comedy, ‘Husbands Supplied’. They could have improved on movement, projection and diction. The competition started with a special mention that any unruly behaviour would not be tolerated. A good decision by the organisers, which unfortunately not many took seriously. During the performances there were those who did not seem to value and respect theatre and those performing.

The evening ended on a high note for all concerned. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. As the actors walked out of the theatre, it was obvious that yet another batch of new-found theatre talent would go on to invigorate Colombo’s drama scene. That, after all, was what the event was all about.

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