Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A tale of our times
Here’s some exciting news on the local theatre and music scene! Jehan Aloysius together with CentreStage Productions will present the CentreStage Festival at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from October 28 – 30, at 7.30 p.m. It’s billed to be an exciting evening of original theatre, comedy, dance and song.
The first half of the evening will be a romantic comedy titled Two In A Pit. This rib-tickler examines the lives of actors of the local English theatre.

Two of Sri Lanka’s leading stage personalities, Ravi and Jean, find themselves ‘accidentally’ locked in the orchestra pit of the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Among other things such as sculls, rats, spiders and the infamous theatre ghost that they encounter in their attempt to escape, they also rediscover their lost passion for each other.

The main feature of the evening, Rag – In Concert, will be presented in the second half of the evening. This is a spectacular performance of song and dance, featuring the best numbers from the hit original musical Rag.
Rag has been in the works for over a decade. Its extremely successful preview to an exclusive audience last year was truly spectacular, while it received a standing ovation and rave reviews at the public performance that followed! Now theatre and music lovers finally get to taste the best of the music, songs and dance from the upcoming full-length production at the Centrestage Festival 2005.

Rag deals with the topical issue of ragging in local universities that has even led to several student deaths and conflicts. Though the musical is a blend of fact and fiction, most of the ‘fictional’ elements proved to be uncannily prophetic over the years, as students were killed in ragging-related student clashes. So, Rag is a story of our time, our history, politics, culture and violence – told in the music of our time.

It is a story that demands to be told in a time of silence… and must be heard and seen. It’s a story that demands a change… and a dream that must not die. The music and lyrics are composed by Jehan Aloysius, while Avanti Perera expertly performs the music tracks and Deshan Cooray directs the choral arrangements.

So make a date with the best of this hard-hitting home-grown theatre and music at the CentreStage Festival 2005. The sole sponsor of the festival is Cargills. The box plan opens at the theatre on October 14. Don’t miss it!

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