Winning streak

It’s a week since the conclusion of the Shakespeare Drama Competition but there’s still an air of celebration amongst the boys at Royal College. While it was the 5th time the school bagged the award in the competition’s 40 year history, the young thespians still admit that not much comes close to the euphoria of months of hard work paying off.

For many, winning the coveted title is an all-time high in their school drama careers. The boys were among the two schools that chose to interpret the turbulent passions of ‘The Tempest’ on stage. The script was chosen from a pool of selected plays made available by the organisers and director Thushara Hettihamu tells us that the final call was between ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The Tempest’. Perhaps it was a happy coincidence that they went with the latter, as another gripping performance of the day came from ‘Hamlet’ staged by the D.S. Senanayake College cast. Royal’s version of ‘The Tempest’ was conjured in a train station, which we are told was inspired by Arjun Wignaraja’s recollection of an adaptation he had seen abroad.

Aneeq Hashim of Royal College was awarded the Best Actor accolade for his portrayal of the sorcerer Prospero who creates ‘The Tempest’and makes the island- or in this case, the train station-his home. Aneeq played Romeo in last year’s Royal production of Romeo and Juliet and says while he enjoyed that role this one definitely suited him better. But it wasn’t till a few days before the finals that he really embraced the sorcerer’s aggressive and controlling nature. “At the semis the judges said that I was too monotonous for such a forceful personality. So we spent the next week stripping down the character back to basics and taking it from there,” he says. This worked for Aneeq-at the finals and winning the Best Actor award was not something he expected.

Suran Weerasekara took on the island’s displaced native Caliban. While traditionally Caliban is a savage in this portrayal in keeping with the theme-he’s a homeless man at Prospero’s beck and call. Suran laughs when he relates the challenge of getting his character’s voice right; he spent the past few weeks in the company of bee’s honey and warm water Winner-Royal College, Colombo (The Tempest) 1st runners up-Maris Stella College, Negombo (The Tempest) 2nd runners up-Ananda College, Colombo (Much Ado About Nothing) 3rd runners up-D.S. Senanayake, College (Hamlet) Best Actor-Aneeq Hashim (Royal College) Best Supporting Actor-Nandun Dissanayake (Ananda College)

The judges lauded the performances as being imaginative and innovative but added that the actors needed to remember that their interpretations of the play had to be applicable to the entirety of the play as a whole- and not just the extracts they performed. Judges also commented on “team play” and felt that schools needed to give equal weight to all the characters. However, they added that the evening saw some ‘exceptional performances’. so he’d be pitch perfect at the final. Nikila Weerakone was the play’s only female character, Miranda, and sums it up best saying that there’s nothing like Shakespeare to bring out the theatre bug! Rashmin De Silva, Vindula Jayalath, Imaadh Dole and Viren Ratwatte all portrayed Ariel. The young actors claim that being so perfectly in sync with each other didn’t come easy. But spending so much time together having rehearsed for over two months helped them read each other’s minds. Thushara says the challenge was in adapting the text so all four had dialogue in the play. For the director the competition was about equal opportunity. “I believe in a strong ensemble,” he tells us. Both the cast and director mention the old boys of the school several times adding that the production wouldn’t have been possible without them behind the scenes. As for the leap of faith they took in venturing away from the play’s traditional mould, Thushara was confident. “For me Shakes is about going out there and giving it your best shot. Even if we hadn’t won, we would have still been happy with what we put up because we had faith in what we did.” The rains have gone, A wisp of green is peeping Out of the moist dark soil; Tomorrow, it will be a leaf Born to nourish mother tree. Now tender, and so pale a green It will grow sturdy and dark The candles held by stands Covered with layers of wax Spreads a faint glow Through the smokes with different aromas Under the cobweb covered ceilings, In the murky hut on top of the rocks.