UNDER THE SEA

The use of dance choreography to create the effect of a world under water was commendable. While lighting and stagecraft did play a huge part in it, it was the movement of the characters themselves that really made the difference

It has been over a decade since I went to a children’s play, and I walked in to the Ladies College hall last Saturday night with very little expectations of what I would see on stage. Under The Sea tells the classic Disney tale of Ariel, the Little Mermaid, and her adventures and misfortunes over trying to fulfill her dreams of visiting the surface world. We all, maybe even vaguely, know the tale. Well, if you have grown up around Disney cartoons, you most definitely know her story. It’s a colourful tale with tons of song and (mostly underwater) dance.

The Broadway musical, which started in 2008, has been known to be a hauntingly difficult production to pull off. Mostly because re-creating an animated cartoon such as this into a fully-fledged musical in a somewhat two dimensional space was always difficult, but it seems the directress, Kshama Kapukotuwa, definitely knew what she was doing. A show is never just about direction, and clearly it was all hands on deck as the sets and costumes only complimented the wonderfully crafted play. Jojo De Silva provided the morethan –colorful costumes which created the ocean life that surrounded our main characters; from the jelly fish to the different fish and the mer-people. These costumes were accentuated in each scene with the gorgeous lighting sequences carried out by Javin Thomas and Taariq Mohideen. Overall, it showed that a lot of hard work had gone into

putting the production together.

The use of dance choreography to create the effect of a world under water was commendable. It’s definitely a difficult task to not only create the underwater world, but to actually switch between the two, and while lighting and stagecraft did play a huge part in it, it was the movement of the characters themselves that really made the difference. One highlight, in this sense, was seeing the mer-folk treading the water, as they would in the cartoons. These complexities separate this musical from that of any other primary school production.

Rayeka Sellamuttu took on the lead role of Ariel. What stood out the most about her was her amazing singing voice. The sheer volume of it took over the hall and really made you pity her for “trading it in for her human legs”.

Keeping the image of the animated Ursula in mind, it was difficult to imagine a recreation of the character for a live audience. Joanna Jayalakshman Mohan was the perfect fit for the villainous Ursula. Her look, it turns out was quite accurate to that of the broadway version of the character. The wiry hair and the dark dress gave an almost maleficent-esque look to her, which in my opinion, only made her more villainous. The flailing tentacles were the proverbial cherry on top.

Another notable performance would be that of Raeha Varea playing Scuttle. While Flounder would be the voice of heart and Sebastian, the voice of reason, Scuttle would be the comedic realist, and Varea nailed it when it came to ensuring that the audience was squawking with laughter.

Trinella Rodrigo and Oneli Rajapakshe took on the mischievous roles of Jepsom and Flopsom, Ursula’s minions. Their performances do deserve an honourable mention for their outstanding delivery of dialogue; always a brilliant trait to have.

Overall, it was a brilliant production, especially considering that it was a primary school show, which was in fact the goal of the production team; to create a show of this calibre for an age group so young. Besides this, it really did look like the children had quite a lot of fun on stage.