Swept away (mostly!) by the magic of My Fair Lady
Reviewed by Namali Premawardhana
The Workshop Players take the Lionel Wendt stage year after year, with production after production of plays and musicals that – for the most part – keep improving the standard for Colombo’s theatre-goers. But rarely – indeed the last recorded sighting was 17 years ago – does one see that which took place on stage between October 6th and 15th , 2017. Jerome de Silva took the stage. “My Fair Lady,” the Broadway show and film based on Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” is the perfect material for the Workshop Players’ feel-good productions. And Colonel Pickering is the natural role for the founder of the company to play. His diction was immaculate, never overdone, and his characterisation so natural that it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between de Silva and Pickering. The performance was of a standard that Colombo rarely sees, and in stark contrast to the inexperience of many of the players on stage.
And this, more importantly than his performance, is what Jerome de Silva must be applauded for. It is 25 years since he founded the Workshop Players, and now he treads the boards with those that came generations after him, under the direction of Surein de S. Wijeratne, a student and founding member of the Workshop Players. Colombo is a small city, with an even smaller number of thespians, where rotating crews of company members play typecast roles under the jealous eye of their directors. Here, Jerome de Silva built a company that has become the first experience of the new generation of English theatre-goers, and with grace and humility, has allowed himself to be directed.
Taking on a particularly well-known and -loved musical is much easier and much harder than working with a less familiar text. Wijeratne made a wise call to not tamper with our recollections of the work. He simply reproduced the Broadway edition, which is almost exactly the same as the show’s most popular form – the 1964 movie starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.But he also ran the risk of disappointing the audience, if the Ascot scene didn’t work quite like Swiss clockwork, and if Eliza was not just that beautiful tension of elegant high-society and visceral street child.
The work was a massive undertaking, and while the production was exhilarating, slow set changes sometimes let it down. The timeless beauty of Frederick Loewe’s music swept one away, nevertheless, and the singing, for the most part was well handled.
Higgins (played by Kanishka Herat) was very relaxed. So much so that at times it felt not fitting with the Higgins in our ‘ead. Herat executed his lines and the music beautifully though, handling the constant switching between speech and song with grace (and sometimes even using it to cheat his way through to maintaining pitch!). Herat also has an impressive range of speaking tones which allowed him to bring a considerable level of dramatic variety to his delivery. This made for an intense and emotionally engaging exchange between Herat and Daniella Perera who played Eliza Doolittle on October 10.
Amarsha Tissera (Monday, 9th) and Daniella Perera (Tuesday 10th) demonstrated complementary strengths in their indi- vidual portrayal of Eliza. Tissera was more nuanced in her characterisation while Perera seemed more natural. Tissera’s singing was impressive, while Perera’s voice was well modulated.
Harin Amirthanathan managed to find a balanced vocal style in his time on stage on Monday the 9th. And although his performance as Freddy Eynsford-hill was somewhat stiff, the clarity of his voice and the grace with which he struck the higher notes was remarkable. Devin Randeniya who played the same role on the 10th was the exact counterpoint. He seemed to struggle with the high notes but masked the difficulty with a graceful exuberance and confidence that was captivating.
Added to this were moments of beautiful singing from the ensemble, on the street and in Higgins’ quarters.
Mrs. Pearce was the other notable character, played with suitable restraint and just the right amount of exasperation by Dinushka Jayawickreme. Piorina Fernando and Shanuki de Alwis also deserve kudos for their portrayals of Mrs. Higgins.
Alfred Doolittle was played quite differ- ently by Sulakshana Dias Amaratunga (Monday 9th) and Vishan Gunawardena (Tuesday 10th). Amaratunga’s Doolittle was more the garbage man than the hidden middle-classer, and vice versa. And both played with such fun and sincerity that, together with Prathap Kumarapperuma’s Harry and Anoj Wijayaratne’s Jamie, the trio were easily the most popular lot on stage.
The most poignant moment of the performance took place on the night of the 9th. De Silva was joined onstage by two of his bestloved protégés – Shanuki de Alwis as Mrs. Higgins and Andre Perera as her hobbling, bent-over double driver – for three minutes of effortless characterization and perfectly timed humour. What 25 years of the Workshop Players has done for English theatre in Colombo was captured perfectly in that moment. As de Alwis sat perfectly still and de Silva daintily tooted the horn for Perera to earnestly begin jangling the motor car they all sat in, slowly, steadily disappearing offstage, the audience erupted in laughter and applause.
A fitting celebration of the silver – and we look forward to many more!