From beginning to end, Kevin Cruze’s take on Shakespeare’s ‘Comedy of Errors’ is all about making complete and utter chaos look good, hence its name.
Complete with possessive fiancées, effeminate waiters and amusingly awkward moments, ‘Lankawe Twins Kalabala’- written and directed by Kevin Cruze- will take the stage of the Britih School Auditorium on March 10 and 11.
“There’s a lot of stamina required to sustain the action that happens in this play,” comments Jordan Bryan, disputing the commonly held view that comedy is easy to perform. Taking on two characters for the play, Jordan has for this- his first public production- the challenge of playing an Indian and all that goes with it- the mannerisms, the clothes and yes - the accent.
Several weeks, numerous Youtube videos and hours spent watching Ranjeet in ‘Mind Your Language’, a served Kevin and Jordan- both of whom have Indian roles to play.
“Preparing for the role has been quite entertaining,” says Kevin, recalling the often slightly politically incorrect videos he and Jordan stumbled upon in the process of learning a new accent. “When you talk of the Indian accent in comedy, the first tendency is to think of an exaggerated, overly mimicking form of the Indian accent; ad despite the play being something of a social comedy, we don’t want to end up poking fun at anyone unnecessarily so there was a fair amount of sifting through different videos to capture the perfect accent.”
Kevin and Jordan- being cousins to begin with- are confident in the fact that they have slipped into their roles of two sets of twins, with absolute ease.
“Kevin directed me when I was in school, for the Shakespeare Drama Competition, and we have always been very close,” says Jordan. “Acting with him takes things to another level and being the youngest member of the cast, I really enjoy the motivation I get simply from watching Kevin act.”
Having been a part of the Shakespeare Drama Competition for six years during his school career, Jordan enjoys the freedom of stepping away from an old English script to one which has been recontextualized. “Its invigorating,” he says, “and it opens up several more opportunities for new interpretations and doing things differently without being concerned about the judges and sticking to the rules of the competition.
Charmaine Samson who takes on the role of the anxious fiancée agrees. “Acting in competitions is fun but this is entirely different,” she says. “I have never played a role like this before- Cathy is very… ‘girly girly’ and that takes me out of my comfort zone quite a bit but taking on the challenge has been a lot of fun because I get a lot of interesting feedback and helpful suggestions from the cast. We have really glued together well and at the end of the production I know I am going to miss going for practices.”
Kevin adds, “the chemistry on stage is what makes this play special. Most of us have to keep switching roles which is not easy when in some cases this has to be done while on stage. But the chemistry makes it easy for us to jump from character to character.”
Enrico Silva can attest to this. Taking on three completely different roles, two of which are at complete extremes (an effeminate waiter and a woman) is Enrico’s contribution to the chaos which ensues. “There are a lot of obvious stylistic differences involved,” he comments,” and navigating the changes is that much easier when you have a great cast around you.” |
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