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Brothers
for peace Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace), will be a combination of a choral performance as well as a drama, and so would surely reach out to a wider area of theatregoers, with either preference. The English Academy Choir in Choral Harmonies directed by Father Claver Perera will perform the choral aspect of the performance, while the English Academy Drama Group will perform an adaptation of T. S. Eliot’s Murder In The Cathedral, produced and directed by Haig Karunaratne, assisted by Brother Shammi Perera, who is the student producer. The regular congregation of the Seminary looks forward to the performance, which is an annual event, with much anticipation and gives it all the support needed. “Though the event is generally held at the seminary itself, the organisers have decided to bring it down to Colombo this year, due to the fact that the seminary is celebrating its golden jubilee,” says Father Claver Perera. “It’s important in a way that people outside the usual audience are getting a chance to see the performance, since people don’t really know of its magnitude,” he maintains. The cast members of the performance are made up of Brothers receiving their religious education at the seminary. Neither the Chorale nor the Drama group is permanent, since the Seminary’s community of student Brothers move on from year to year as within the six-year course of philosophical (Philoso-phate) and theological (Theologate) studies, the student brothers are more of a “moving community.” Following the two and four years of studies in philosophy and theology respectively, they are ordained as priests a few months after their final examinations. The Choral group consists of twenty members, selected from a larger choir of about forty members. While ten are from the Philosophate, with their ages ranging from twenty one to twenty four, the others are theology students, between the ages of twenty five and twenty eight, and this group incidentally is performing in public for the first time. Singing in Latin, English, Italian and Spanish, some of the songs to be expected are “Dona Nobis Pacem” (Give Us Peace), “Santo, Santo, Santo” (Holy, Holy, Holy) and “Let There Be Peace On Earth”. The Chorale, reputed to be of a very high standard, is made up of a number of Tenor and Bass singers, and will be a sure treat for the audience. A few guest soprano and alto singers will add variation to the group. The Chorale will be accompanied by Neranjan De Silva on keyboard, Soundarie David on piano, while Chris De Alwis and Rienzie Perera, will be on guitar. The drama Murder In The Cathedral, deals with the rise of Archbishop Beckett, with the support of King Henry II, and the story goes to show how attitudes change, along with the swaying of loyalties. The drama reaches its climax with the murder of Beckett by King Henry’s knights, and is given a controversial touch, as the murder ironically happens at the cathedral’s alter. The cast members being student brothers of the Seminary, add an interesting touch to the performance. According to Father Claver Perera, the drama group consists of eighteen theology students and one ordained priest playing the part of Beckett. Most of the cast members have acted in prior dramas performed at the annual Academy Day celebrations, some of the more recent productions being Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and scenes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Macbeth. Speaking to some of the cast members, it was clear that a lot of hard work had gone into the production, but all in all the spirit around the cast was an extremely pleasant and “brotherly” one, when we met them at the Seminary, complete with its regal corridors and breathtaking views. “I have been at the Seminary for almost seven years and was ordained last year as a priest. But I have continued getting involved in the annual productions at the Seminary,” says Father Terry Fernando, of St. Lucia’s Cathedral, Kotehena. “Playing the part of Beckett is a nice experience for me, though it’s a little hard to balance my church work and the production.” Also, having experience in directing his own plays, namely the Refugee Wedding, Father Terry has been involved with both Sinhala and English plays. The
stage sets, costumes and make-up are all handled by themselves,
says Brother Nilantha Ediriwickrama, who is in charge of this area.
In his pastoral year, he has always been an active member of productions
at the Seminary. He explains that since the production will be staged
at the Wendt, they would have to throw in a few changes to the usual
procedure. “If we were doing the performance here at the Seminary,
it would have been ideal, since we could have used the Chapel steps
for some of the scenes. But since it’ll be at the Wendt, we
had to make backdrops with a stone effect and so on,” he says.
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