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Sensitive plays with good dose of humour

A stellar cast of the country’s leading thespians – Ranmali Mirchandani, Mohamed Adamaly and Tracy Holsinger take to the stage of the British school auditorium from May 14-17, as the Performing Arts Company presents ‘Encounters’, two short, sensitive plays with a good dose of humour delicately rolled in.

The plays, The Waiting Room and Love Letter, will be performed back-to-back. Ranmali Mirchandani, Mohamed Adamaly, with Tracy Holsinger in a cameo role appear in the first play The Waiting Room, while the second play, Love Letters has just two actors Adamaly and Tracy.

The Waiting Room is about a meeting between two people, Harriet and Paul, in a waiting room, somewhere. They have one thing in common- Harriet’s husband. The play reflects on the relationships that both people have had with Harriet’s husband, and the impact that each relationship had on the other, and in doing so, it explores a myriad of human emotions and conflicts.

The bitterness of losing love is the central theme of this immaculately written short play, which runs for about 35 minutes. Love Letters, runs for an hour and 20 minutes and is a delightful yet sensitive romantic comedy starring the characters of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner.

Andy and Melissa, both born to wealth and position, are childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party ‘thank you’ notes and summer camp postcards. They continue to exchange letters through boarding school and college years, where Andy goes on to excel at Yale and law school, while Melissa flunks out of a series of “good schools”. While Andy is off at war, Melissa marries, but they continue to keep in touch as Andy marries, becomes a successful attorney, gets involved in politics and eventually, is elected to the U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, her marriage in tatters, Melissa dabbles in art and gigolos, drinks more than she should, and becomes estranged from her children.

Their letters discuss their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, victories and defeats- incidents in their separated lives. It is only at the sad ending that they realise these were ‘Love Letters’.
Both plays have some funny moments but are essentially sensitive and deal with relationships, and are hence classified under the genre of ‘Drama’. As they require some intimacy with the audience, the stage is brought up and two rows of seats have been removed.

Tickets for the production are limited and there will be only four performances. The box plan opens at the British School Theatre on April 29 but tickets can be purchased prior to this by emailing nadira@eureka.lk or adam@slt.lk.

 
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Sensitive plays with good dose of humour

 

 
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