Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A golden ticket to the chocolate factory
By Natasha Fernandopulle
“Mother! Look! I’ve got it! Look, Mother, look! The last Golden Ticket! It’s mine! I found some money in the street, and I bought two bars of chocolate and the second one had the Golden Ticket and there were crowds of people all around me wanting to see it, and the shopkeeper rescued me, and I ran all the way home, and here I am! IT’S THE FIFTH GOLDEN TICKET, MOTHER, AND I’VE FOUND IT!”

So begins the adventure of Charlie Bucket’s visit to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. So, what significance does Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory have to do with Colombo??? Take a guess… hmm… well… an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous Charlie And The Chocolate Factory will be staged in Colombo this April, presented by the Royal College Drama Society, along with the Old Royalists Association of Dramatists.

The Royal College Drama Society has staged many a successful play for public performances, which have included The Merchant Of Venice in 1997, Arsenic And Old Lace in 2000, The Jungle Book in 2001, in 2003 Jekyll And Hyde and in 2004, Noises Off. This production too, should be a treat for theatregoers!

Among the reasons why they have chosen Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is that it is a highly-acclaimed book that appeals mainly to children. The audience they will be focusing on, therefore, will be children, between the ages of five and 18. This will certainly be a challenge. However, anyone older is bound to enjoy the performance as well.

“Looking at the movie, we saw how kids enjoyed it,” said Sajith Amendra, director of the production, “So we thought of bringing in a little magic and colour to the stage.” He also went on to say, “We want little kids to enjoy theatre and drama.”

For the first time in the history of Royal College drama, they will be performing a matinee show. This will be for underprivileged children and orphans. It is hoped that this will be a great experience for the kids. A ‘goodie bag’ awaits the kids on the day of the performance.

The production will have large colourful sets, song and dance. They are hoping to use the musical rendition of the original. The cast will comprise children who are in school, at present. That will include children from grade five up to the A/level grades. “In fact, the little ones will be playing the Oompa Loompas!” said Sajith.

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the story, it is about a very poor boy, by the name of Charlie Bucket. He is so poor that he is close to starvation, but one day he gets lucky. He wins a supply of candy, for a lifetime, along with the chance of visiting Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Five lucky people find a Golden Ticket wrapped in one of Willy Wonka’s candy bars, and they win a visit to Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory.
Since Charlie is so poor, he cannot even afford to buy more than one bar of candy a year. So when he wins this ticket, his whole family celebrates! Charlie is a nice boy, but the others behave badly, and are punished for their behaviour…

Augustus Gloop, the greedy one, falls into the chocolate river, while trying to drink from it, and then gets sucked up a pipe! The chewing-gum addict, Violet Beauregarde, grabs a stick of gum that blows her up into a giant blueberry! Veruca Salt, your average spoilt kid, who is believed to be a ‘bad nut,’ by Wonka’s trained squirrels, is thrown into the garbage! Mike Teavee demands that he be “sent by television,” and in the process, he shrinks! But, for the well-behaved Charlie, there is a pleasant surprise waiting for him at the end of the tour! And this is what you will see this April at the Lionel Wendt.

So… all of you who would like to enjoy “eatable marshmallow pillows,” “lickable wallpaper for nurseries,” “hot ice creams for cold days,” “cows that give chocolate milk,” “fizzy lifting drinks,” or “square sweets that look round”… make it a date as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory will go on board at the Lionel Wendt on April 7, 8 and 9, 2006.

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