Mirror
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Wade
through the darkness Dealing with autism, and violation of a girl’s innocence, the first section of the play depicts a sister-brother relationship, and how, an outsider together with a journalist friend tries to resolve the issue of “loneliness and homelessness.” The autistic brother shows compassion to the outsider. Has he any other motive? Do people misjudge him? As they say… the answer is in the wilderness… The complexity of the family unit is the second part of the play. What does one do when caught in the conflict of leaving one’s family for another alternative? The answer is yet again in the wilderness… The final stage of the play revolves around six men waiting for the death sentence, with one of them having the power to save all of them from the gallows. But at a cost… the final stage of the play sees you through the wilderness. Having done a string of comedies and musicals in the past, the whole concept of the play is something new for the DramSoc. “This is more of a serious play, therefore it is definitely a change for us,” says Vinodh Senadeera, the director of the play. He adds that he is aware that there is not much of an audience for serious plays, “It’s strange how our crowd is more comedy-oriented.” Vinodh explains that one of the reasons they decided to do a serious play was because the actors were relatively new to drama. “I felt that a serious play is easier to handle, and the issues we deal with in the play are more human and close to home,” adds Vinodh. He maintains that they hardly use any props, except the essentials, because they wanted to highlight the acting. “The music we use will give the audience a clue to different moods.” “The issues we look into are very different,” says seventeen-year-old Johnny Christy, who is taking part in a production for the first time. Agreeing with him, Chaminda Samaraweera (18) who in the past has taken part in Christmas Perpetua and Piano and Drums adds, “The play deals with things that happen in reality; one of the things I really like about it.” Seventeen-year-old Nigel Walders admits that it has been very tiresome, “but it’s worthwhile,” he says, adding that the fact that they deal with serious issues that tend to be overlooked make Into The Wilderness one of those plays that really hit people. “We deal with things like how homelessness and rape could affect people,” says Krishanth Jayaraja while Nadim Majid quips, “and how we should not laugh at differently-abled people.” Practicing for the past two months they both agree that this being their first production, the experiences have been good. Seventeen-year-old Biman Wimalaratne says, “Dealing with issues like the rape of a woman and a disabled boy, men cheating on their wives and prisoners awaiting death is quite an experience.” Playing one of the prisoners who dies in the third section, he says, “It is an excellent character to play. I believe in God, I don’t give in, and I have faith.” Janeeth Rodrigo (17) was the first to give into the devil but “I had hope,” he said. Being a Christian it is hard to play this role. Nevertheless, “it was a very good experience.” With the cast being very small in number, almost all of them play multiple roles in the play. With one actor playing different characters, they are bound to come across many hurdles. “It is very tough but the challenge will be good for them as it is their first time,” says Vinodh adding that this will give them the experience to do something more complex later on. Into The Wilderness will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from September 17 – 19. Tickets will be available at the college office and at the Lionel Wendt. The media sponsors for this production are Art TV, Sun FM and Gold FM. |
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