Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Rag takes centre stage
CentreStage Productions will present a dazzling evening of song and dance, titled The CentreStage Festival, on September 26, at the Punchi Theatre in Borella. The show, featuring the best of the original musical named Rag, is directed and choreographed by Jehan Aloysius, who has been associated with a host of spectacular musicals over the last 12 years.

CentreStage Productions has always endeavoured to produce and promote cutting-edge original theatre in Sri Lanka. In the process, the troupe has brought several issues centre-stage as well. The company regularly conducts theatre workshops with schools, theatre troupes and amateur dramatists both of the English and Sinhala theatre circles, and have had the privilege of being the opening act at the premier StageRite Theatre Festival in Bangalore. This year alone, the theatre troupe performed the sell-out success, Bengal Bungalow, as well as their critically acclaimed play, The Ritual, which has been performed in India, Colombo, Peradeniya and most recently in Jaffna.

The CentreStage Festival is produced in keeping with the theatre troupe’s plans to establish a new theatre tradition of an annual event where original dramatic works and works-in-progress can be presented to an audience. The purpose of this festival is to present quality new productions as well as to encourage feedback on the works-in-progress. Hence, the premier CentreStage Festival will feature dramatised and choreographed selections from the troupe’s major work-in-progress, the original musical Rag, which interrogates the phenomenon of ragging and violence in local universities.

Rag is written and composed by Jehan Aloysius with orchestration by Avanti Perera and choral direction by Deshan Cooray of the Old Joe’s Choir. As the narrative of Rag is mainly in song, the lead roles have been taken on by prominent singers who have made a name for themselves in musical theatre such as Dushyanth Weeraman (Guttila), Anjuli Gunaratne (Mary Anne Singers), Samantha Ferdinand (Mary Anne Singers), Shanaka Cooray (Old Joe’s Choir), Ruveen Dias (Bengal Bungalow) as well as Jehan Aloysius. The ensemble will comprise The Old Joes Choir, who have made a name for themselves under the guidance of Deshan Cooray.

Theatre lovers will have a chance to experience the best of Rag on September 26 at 7.30 p.m. as the Punchi Theatre comes alive with the premier CentreStage Festival. The Main Sponsor of the festival is The British Council. A limited number of tickets will be available at the venue.

Top