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Arts Laugh,
laugh, all the way It was an evening
of great entertainment - the script in itself (although disturbingly
'adult' in content, especially considering these were just schoolboys)
had the features needed; a great storyline, witty one-liners and
lots of dramatic potential. What's more the cast, with what seemed
like an unending store of energy, explored this dramatic potential
to the maximum. It's just an
ordinary letter that causes utter mayhem in the life of Robert Brewster
(the fourth, that is) as it foretells the news of his parents arrival
- his parents, who are under the impression that he's a doctor -
which he is not. He really is a writer trying very hard to 'make
it'. Well, eager parents cannot be disappointed (as is always the
case) and with a little 'assistance' from his actor friend Jimmy
Carmichael, the duo decides to 'play doctor'. Oh and there is that
well meaning secretary who is co-opted into 'volunteering' to play
a part in the charade as the nurse. Thus begins the farce... Asitha Tennekoon,
playing Robert Brewster and Neraj Saluwadana playing Jimmy Carmichael
made a great duo. It's always refreshing to see actors who can bounce
around and pass that invisible 'energy ball' without once dropping
it. The entire cast wasn't always very skilful, but nevertheless
they all managed, rendering the performance what people would call
'slick'. Stunts galore, action packed and lightning speed was the
production (despite it being a little bit over the top sometimes)
and one can only imagine how much of energy it took to keep up such
a performance (I was almost thankful that I saw the play on the
opening night). One simply
cannot talk about a production by the Thomian Drama Society without
talking about the female portrayals. I must admit members of the
audience were not disappointed. Mevan Kirella Bandara, Milinda Kulugammana
and Kris Balthazar put on quite a performance. There was also Andi
Schubert who played the demanding father (Robert Brewster, the third),
Naveen Perera who will be most remembered for his Superman stunt
and Vivek Jayasuriya who played the slightly cuckoo 'Uncle Harold'. A reviewer's
job is an unenviable one. Personally, I find it rather undesirable
because while everyone around can blissfully surrender to the goings-on
onstage, the person doing the review can't forget that once the
last hoot of laughter is over and the last tear of mirth is wiped
away (as is the case with a comedy such as this) there is a job
to do. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself able to
forget my 'official duties' and just sit back and have a good time.
And, ultimately, that's what good entertainment is all about. The
strings of love and music A Sri Lankan
at heart, although having been born and bred in the USA, Orlantha
decided to launch a 'Music Camp' locally, where she could come down
each summer and have regular sessions free of charge for children
interested in playing the violin. Having studied
the violin since she was just three and with her mother too being
a talented violinist, Orlantha over the years, has had many milestones.
She represented the US at the Suzuki International Music Festival,
Germany, was a member of the American Youth Symphony (AYS) and was
even featured in the "Who's Who in Music?" She also holds
a B.A. in Law and Society and an M.A. in Education. Ambrose hopes
to make her 'music camps' here an annual practice, (depending on
the response she gets this time around) during her summer vacation.
"I feel that my camps can bring kids together in their love
for music. I think that right now in Sri Lanka, peace is in everybody's
minds and hearts, and what better medium than music to reach out,"
she explains. Currently working
with about 20 kids, she plans to hold a mini-concert on August 15,
at 7 p.m. at the Russian Cultural Centre. She also hopes to hold
a sneak preview of the concert on August 14 at Majestic City in
the evening. "The kids are practising like crazy and it's so
heartening to see them so enthusiastic," she says. They seem
to be learning that it takes a lot of hard work and discipline to
meet the deadline looming ahead, she adds. Dushyanth (10),
finds Ambrose's methods of teaching new and exciting as they learn
lots of new songs and are each given a solo to perform at the concert.
He will perform 'Long, long ago...' and is looking forward to the
experience. Orlantha practises
a relatively unconventional and informal method of teaching and
advocates healthy competition, where the weaker ones can learn from
the stronger ones and improve, rather than be intimidated by them.
She coaxes each student into giving of his or her best. This is quite
evident when 10-year-old Nilupuli says how she can't wait until
her next class. She impatiently runs through her school routine,
so she can run to her violin class. Orlantha feels
that camps like this are quite effective as her students are in
constant and regular practice and have her individual attention,
at any given time for the whole duration of the programme, as a
change from the usual weekly lesson. As Hasitha
(15) explains Orlantha is quite thorough because she explains anything
that they find difficult very extensively and gives them all the
music. "She leaves only the practising to us," he adds
enthusiastically. Having completed
her studies, Orlantha decided to become a teacher, mainly as the
working hours appealed to her. However, after some time, she realised
that she had quite a bit of free time on her hands and decided to
go back to her music. She started off with just six kids when she
began teaching violin on a volunteer basis at Walgrove Elementary
School in Venice, California. This class eventually grew to around
20 children from the 3rd and 4th grades. Supported by the AYS, she
was able to obtain 20 violins and music stands to launch her programme.
Her little violinists performed many times at school functions,
UCLA's Royce Hall and at local malls during Christmas. Some of her
students were able to obtain music scholarships from the Los Angeles
School District, towards music lessons or the purchase of their
own violin. Yet others have been provided with full-tuition scholarships
to carry out their middle school education. Orlantha and her students
were also recently featured on the CBS Television Network, where
she was recognized as a "Hometown Hero" for her love and
dedication towards her teaching. Her students have also performed
at an after- Oscar Party in Hollywood, California, at the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion with the AYS and several other venues in LA. Orlantha is
grateful to the Principal of Wycherly International School, Mr.
Kingsley Jayasinghe, for allowing her to use the school's music
room, to train her young charges and to the Institute of Western
Music and Speech who have helped make her Camp a success. In the future she'd love to carry the music and concept to other areas, maybe out of Colombo with the aid of other teachers who could join her in her efforts to bring music to children everywhere, she says. Latin
songs through the ages The 80-strong
Joe Choir, trained by Francis Almeida, an old boy will sing 20 Latin
compositions, culled from the 16th century to the present age. The choir will
sing several Gregorian chants interspersed with polyphonic choruses
in perfect SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass) arrangements.
Duets and solos too will help bring variety to the evening of music. The piece de
resistance will be Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere" followed
by "Sancta Sancta" and "Rex Admirabilis (from Sound
of Music), a solo rendition of the Ave Maria and Pie Jesu Domine
sung as a duet. The Old Joes
Choir will present special arrangements of Magnificat, Palestrina's
Adoramus Te Christe and Jesu Redemptor Omnium. Veni creator, Mozart's
Ave Verum, and Andrew Lloyd's Webber's Hosanna, the grand finale
a combined choir effort will be the highlights of the evening. Thereafter
the congregation will join the choir in singing the "Pater
Noster". This event
will be a tribute to the memory of the late Rev. Fr. Ignatius Perera,
the erudite director of St. Joseph's College choir during the 50's
who conducted the Josephian choir and went on to form the famous
Catholic Choral Society. This day will also mark the renaming of the Josephian choral outfit as St. Cecilia's choir as it used to be known during its days of fame. Subtle
shades and serene mind Having got
his BFA at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Keleniya,
Wijesinghe went on to participate in many competitions and exhibitions
both at home and abroad. These included the Asian Art Show, Bangladesh,
The International Artists Camp, held at the National Art Gallery,
Korea-Sri Lanka Contemporary Art etc. He' also won the State Literacy
Award for the best book cover of the year in 1987. Wijesinghe
captures the subtleties of nature in his meticulous drawings of
trees, creepers and plants. He spends at least a week on each drawing,
either on location or back at home, painstakingly adding intricate
detail. With his felt pen he successfully captures the varied tones
of colour, even the shadows cast by the tree on the ground. He explains
how "Trees have a certain aura about them that may not be visible
to the lay person's eye, that's what I try to show through my paintings."If
one particular tree catches his eye, even if it's one in among many,
he isolates it and draws it as though it were the only tree in the
area. Most of his
drawings are done in black and white because using colour distracts
the viewer from the finer details and beauty of the tree, he says.
He also likes to show the various ways light falls on the trees
and how this changes according to the time of day. One cannot fail to see that there is a penetrating mind behind these works of patience. The serene mood of these drawing is proof of the mindset of the man behind their creation. Workshop
Players give theatre lovers a treat of Sinhala drama The three short
plays to be performed 'Sayonara', 'Anthima palaveni kochchiya' and
'Therumak ne' will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt on August
16 and 17 at 7 p.m. 'Sayonara',
the winner of eight awards at last year's Youth Awards, including
Best Direction, Best Production, Best Actress and Best Supporting
Actress, is directed by Hemantha Prasad. A contemporary
tale with strong lesbian undertones, it tells of an older woman
and her young charge. The gradual build-up of their bond and how
the older woman tries to get in the way of young love, leaves the
young girl feeling suppressed and repressed. The second
play also directed by Prasad, 'Therumak ne', is an adaptation of
the original short story written by veteran director/actor Jerome
de Silva. This story
revolves around the hopelessness of war, a relevant issue to local
audiences. It received an overwhelming response when presented at
the 'Peace Festival' held in Jaffna, earlier this year, says Jerome.
It deals with
issues of both the army and the LTTE, he adds. Audiences in the
north had told Jerome how big an impact this play had had on them. The third and
final play 'Anthima palaveni kochchiya', directed by Saman Jayaweera
bagged the awards for Best Actor, Best Script in both last year's
Youth Awards and at a Competition of Short Plays held at the University
of Jayawardenapura. This play deals with the hopelessness parents
face with in war conditions. The play depicts
a father's long wait for his son to come back home and how he meets
another young man going back to the front. The proceeds
of the opening night will go towards the Workshop Players fund established
to carry out their work with students in the North and the North
East. Proceeds of the second night go to the Lionel Wendt, in appreciation
of all they have done for the Workshop Players over the past 11
years. With some of
the cream of the Sinhala performers acting in these three plays,
this Festival is a must see for all theatre lovers. The main objective of this festival is for English theatregoers to experience Sinhala theatre and what it has to offer, says Jerome. Capturing
the blood and thunder The audience
was prepared for this great Spanish tragedy by the Spanish music
that preceded the drama. The opening scene with its soul-stirring
music followed by the mimed lamentations of the chorus of women
all in black with the solemn funeral procession on the upper stage
captured the central themes of the play-conflict between blood relations
and the deaths of the two central characters. The stage set
at two levels provided flexible movements in all the scenes of the
drama, notably in the funeral and the wedding scenes. The actors
and actresses were carefully chosen. Jaimie Honter as the mother
left a lasting impression of the trauma of the death of a husband
and a son knifed in the youth and vigour of life. Nimesh Dissanaike
as son and bridegroom captured the happy personality of a young
man who has grown up devoid of hatred and enmity and full of hope,
which made the tragedy even more poignant. The bride, Piorina Fernando
and Shehan Nelson as Leonardo, had to represent conflicting emotions.
The servant woman, Dimuthu De Silva, the bride's father, Nishan
Daniel, Leonardo’s wife, Dulasha Fernando, the neighbour woman,
Nilakshi Gunatillake, and the woodcutters have to be commended for
their acting. What really
captured the audience was the manner in which Sashi brought out
the dramatic and ironical contrast between the happy and pageant-
like wedding scene and the tragedy that was to follow. The stage
devices were magnificent- the torches held under the chin, the candles
lit on the sides of the pillars, the moon peeping out of the clouds,
the moon man and last but not least the tension of the fight between
the lover and the bridegroom conveyed through the fluttering red
curtain drawn across matched by the crescendo of the music. The main symbols
of the play, the knife, the horse and the ecstatic dancing of the
dance duo together with light, colour and sound effects captured
the crux of the play. |
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