The play revolves around the rise of talking pictures in Hollywood in the late 1920s and depicts one theatre company’s (Monumental Pictures) evolution from silent films to ‘talkies’.
Giving Sri Lankan audiences a chance to witness some tapdancing tunes and more the students of Elizabeth Moir School will take on ‘
The play revolves around the rise of talking pictures in Hollywood in the late 1920s and depicts one theatre company’s (Monumental Pictures) evolution from producing silent films to ‘talkies’ or movies with sound. The silent stars of the Monumental Pictures, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont convert plans for a new silent film to a ‘talkie’ at director R.F. Simpson’s bidding. They are helped by music director Cosmo Brown and actress Kathy Selden, who all work together in producing the film, navigating the many challenges they face along the way.
The production is directed by Anushka Senanayake, with music director Sureka Amerasinghe and choreographer Melissa Fisher ’s assistance. “Anushka listens to the cast and allows us to improvise wherever possible,” explains Akash Gananam, 18, adding that this has helped the cast make the production unique by adding their own unique twist to the script wherever possible. Akash takes on the lead role of Don and feels that he has learnt the impact of audio recording and the progress of the film industry through working on this production. Nicole Haddun, 17, feels that she has learnt how relatable the 1920’s are for people of modern times. Nicole plays the role of Lina. Felix Deemer explains the character R.F. Simpson as the producer no-one listens to. The rest of the cast have learnt a lot from the production. Dilani Abeyratne, 16 assumes the role of radio show host Dora Bailey. She feels that learning to tap dance has been hard work that was definitely