“ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS”
- William Shakespeare
One could almost sense the nail-biting suspense at the Bishop’s College Auditorium on the 28th of September, as the finalists of the 45th Girls Interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition, took to the stage. The competition was jointly organised by the Colombo YMCA and Rotary Club of Colombo North for schools to showcase their talent in acting, using famous plays written by the late William Shakespeare. Following the girls semi-finals held on the 18th of September, Gateway College (Dehiwala); ‘Comedy of Errors’, Museaus College; ‘Measure for Measure’, Bishop’s College; ‘King Lear’ and St. Bridget’s Convent; ‘Taming of the Shrew’, qualified for a fighting chance at the finals. After yet another round of performances with heightened stakes, Bishop’s College emerged champions with Museaus College and St. Bridget’s Convent
in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The title of Best Actress was awarded to: King Lear (Bishop’s College), Best
Supporting Actress (joint award): Lucio (Visakha Vidyalaya) and The Fool (Bishop’s College) and Best Stagecraft: Macbeth (St. Lawrence Convent).
As one can imagine, the path to this landslide victory was not easy for the cast of Bishop’s College. However, the cast directed by Javin Thomas and his team, worked tirelessly for months to produce the tragedy ‘King Lear,’ keeping in mind the objective of showcasing the raw talent the cast possessed.
‘King Lear’ unfolds with an aging King who seeks to divide his kingdom among his 3 daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia (the youngest daughter, whom he loves most). He does so by putting his daughters through a test to flatter and profess their love to him in order to obtain their share. Lear’s cunning older daughters Goneril and Regan blatantly flatter and fool the King to believe they love him endlessly, in order to obtain their share of the kingdom. However,
honest and sincere Cordelia does not attempt to flatter the King and instead states she loves him according to their bond, “nor more, nor less”. This disappointed and angered the old King, causing him to banish Cordelia and divide her share of the kingdom among his 2 older daughters, leaving nothing for himself. This is followed by a chain of poor decisions by the King, causing him to slowly descend into madness.
The underlying theme chosen for the play has been, to “keep it real and relevant”. The play, from its inception demanded the attention of the audience and kept them interested with furrowed brows while occasionally cracking up to The Fool’s witty humour. The cast at no point fell short in their job of packing as much
meaning and emotion to every
line delivered. The flow of the play eased the audience into relating and understanding the worsening mental state of the King. The once almighty King’s slow drawn descent into madness was portrayed magnificently, making the hearts of the audience ache for the helpless King, while admiring the unending support the King receives from his trusted advisor, The Earl of Kent, and his dear friend, The Fool. The girls of Bishop’s College not only won the hearts of the audience but that of the judges, as their stellar performance certainly proved that their talent is of a higher caliber than what was expected from an inter-school competition.