Lankan thespians mark World Theatre Day their way
World Theatre Day on March 27 was celebrated in a manner befitting the art as artists from some of the leading theatre companies in the country took to the stage at the Lionel Wendt.
The theatrical soiree produced by veteran thespian Jerome L. de Silva commemorated what was the 61st World Theatre Day, a day first celebrated in 1962 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), an organisation that has created platforms using the performing arts to promote mutual understanding and peace globally.
Jerome himself kicked off the night with a reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 set to lyrical piano music composed by Soundarie David Rodrigo. The sweet sounds were followed by the powerful explosion that was ‘Toccata’ by Aram Khachaturian, also played by Soundarie.
Next came a bevy of young actors performing monologues and scenes from Harry Potter, Merlin, Beauty and the Beast and the like followed by a comedy piece ‘So Minister, How?’ by Indu and San Dharmasena, a hilarious political satire where a newly appointed minister gets lost in translation when interviewed by a journalist.
Power of Play’s sassy Puwak Badilli – Sulochana Dissanayake with her snarky stand-up and sharp dance moves had the audience riveted. With the use of puppets, theatre and storytelling to reach people across different social backgrounds, Power of Play draws on the expertise of professionals from the performing arts, media and creative industries.
Kumudini David brought the house down with her powerful rendition of ‘Never Enough’ from the musical The Greatest Showman, which was followed by Shanuki de Alwis’s tongue-in-cheek commentary titled ‘Fire the Boys’. Kumudini and Sean Amarasekara then performed ‘A Little Priest’ from Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical .
It was time for bilingual theatre as Dulan Weerasinghe and Gautham presented ‘Change! What, Where, When?’ a performance that was both comedic and hard-hitting telling the tale of a historical king.
The next few performances were from that well loved musical Les Miserables. Biman Wimalaratne delivered Marius’s monologue ‘We Can’t Strike!’ with unequivocal passion. Kanishka Herat and Rehan Almeida, reprising their roles from The Workshop Players’ 2015 production performed the duet between the characters Valjean and Javert – ‘The Confrontation’. Kanishka also performed ‘Stars’ followed by Rehan’s soulful rendition of ‘Bring Him Home’.
Ringing the curtain down was Sean Amarasekara with ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ from The Fiddler on the Roof, the well-known standard providing the perfect ending to what was a delightful evening celebrating the world of theatre.