Drama is fun. Not only does it help students get away from those dreaded text books and school exams, it also leads them to discover new talents, explore their creative abilities and make new friends.
This is what's behind Showcase 2008, a production of the Yolande School of Speech and Drama, which celebrates 50 years this year.
"This is not a concert," says Samantha de Soysa, the school's director.
Instead, she explains, Showcase 2008 is all about promoting the talents and abilities of students and providing them a platform to showcase their creative abilities. "This creative outlet is essential for children," she says, adding that life has become such a rat-race and activities such as drama are always welcome by students.
"This is not just about acting. It's also about social interaction. In production, I try not to direct the students too much and I select items that are compatible with their age, so that they can relate to their characters easily. Also, when it comes to senior students, I try to involve them in bringing about a younger and fresher look to the production," she says.
Samantha goes on to explain that the school opted to have a different act for the different age groups instead of doing a full length production. This way, she says, there is more opportunity for all the children to participate.
"There are over 220 students who are participating in this production. And we would also have different casts performing," she says.
The youngest age group - those between four and seven years will perform a poem by A. A. Milne, which would be a choral and group activity. Those between seven and nine years will be performing an act along "school stuff," while students between nine and 11 will perform The Tale of the Trinosaur." The intermediate group – students aged 12 to 15 will do an adaptation of Ali Baba while the culmination of the production would be the seniors' act based on a translation of an Italian Comedy. That's all Samantha says with regard to the acts, because, as she says, it's for the audience to come and see, students perform some rather interesting items.
"This is entertainment for the whole family," she says.
The Yolande School of Speech and Drama was founded by Samantha's mother, Yolande Abeywira in 1958. It trains students in three areas – Speech and Drama, Effective Communication and Spoken English. In addition, the Yolande School does a bi-annual production and some of the recent ones include King and I, Just Showing Off, Magic and Mayhem, Aladdin and Peter Pan. Samantha explains that previous productions have features singing and dancing as well. But, she says, that takes a lot of time and practice and with the school consisting of students from various schools in Colombo, getting them all together for practices can at times be somewhat tedious.
But, as Samantha says, she's glad the students are having fun. "The little ones, especially, are having a ball," she says. And, she adds, this being a group production takes the pressure off them.
Showcase 2008 will be held on August 29, 30 and 31 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre starting at 7 pm. Tickets will be available at the theatre from August 15. |
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