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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Shakespeare Drama Competition : Could it be better organised? by Farah Macan Markar
The annual inter-school Shakespeare Drama Competition (ISSDC) is over 25 years-old. First held in 1973, it was the result of an idea originating from Rotarian Harold Peiris and Alangan Kadiragama of the Y.M.C.A. to have an Inter-School English Drama Competition based on the works of the great bard, William Shakespeare. Organised by the Rotary Club of Colombo North and the Central Y.M.C.A in association with the Ceylon Thespians, the ISSDC, if not always, has, most of the time, marked its place annually in the school year. "It was a highly enjoyable evening. Particulary impressive was the time and effort that went into the plays. The sets, lighting and music were fantastic, and I was astounded that none of the actors forgot their lines. There were two girls' performances and two boys' performances which I found particulary impressive, but I felt the boys were better. From what I have seen here on these two days the standards of school drama in Sri Lanka are high, and there are some actors and actresses who have promising careers in the field of drama ahead of them. On the whole I was delighted to be a part of it and hope I can be so next year as well". - Adam Wattam, Judge of Girls' and Boy's Finals. "R-O-Y-A-L", "N-A-L-A-N-D-A", "P-E-T-E-R-S", "J-O-S-E-P-H-S" screamed the slightly over enthusiastic crowd as each of their schools took on the mighty stage of the B.M.I.C.H. The date was June 22. The event - The Boy's Finals of the Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competition (ISSDC), organised by the Rotary Club of Colombo North and the Central Y.M.C.A Colombo, in association with the Ceylon Thespians, for the 28th time. The semi-finals being held where else but the traditional L.W. on the 10th and 11th of June, this time around the school drama competition of the great bard, saw the participation of 20 schools of which 11 were boys and nine girls. While Trinity College, Kandy won best outstation boy's school, the girls beat them overall, with Girls High School, Kandy not only winning best girl's school outstation, but also getting into the Colombo girl's finals and finally securing fourth place in it. Coming in first was "Romeo and Juliet" of Methodist College directed by Ruwanthi de Chikera. The "Merry Wives" of Bishop's came second and "The Merchant of Venice" of St. Bridget's came third. Juliet-Chathurika Gammampila of Methodist College became best actress and Mrs. Page-Anjulee Guneratne of Bishop's College won best supporting actress. A few interesting remarks of the judges of the Boy's Finals were "An interesting Mark Anthony from school number one" (Nalanda), "Extraordinary moving furniture from school number two" (Othello) and "Excellent carriage driving by school number three" (Joseph's). In the end it was the "excellent carriage drivers" directed by Jehan Aloysious who won best boy's school, with "moving furniture" coming second, school "number one" coming third and Peter's coming fourth. Rajive Ponweerah of St. Joseph's (Brutus) won best actor, while co-partner Leon Arron who played the part of Cassius won best supporting actor. The judges of the girls' finals were Adam Wattam, Wendy Holsinger and Lucky Wickramanayake and the judges of the boys' finals were Richard Lunt, Niloufer De Mel and once again Adam Wattam. A positive change made in this year's competition was that the schools were able to for the first time, choose their own excerpts from the given plays. This new found freedom has given rise to various expressions of creativity and enabled students to put bits of themselves into the productions. Adam Wattam who judged on both days says "Mastering Shakespeare's language is a difficult task even for us native English speakers. On several occasions it was difficult to understand what the actors were saying. I feel they substituted shouting for things like dramatising and clarity. Verse speaking is something that needs more brushing up". The two-day final system introduced last year meanwhile has become a bit of an issue for some enthusiastic ISSDC fans. On a positive note it enables more schools to enter the finals and gives them another chance of doing their best. Having two finals, however, is in many ways impractical, especially, for the viewer who more often than not finds it difficult to come on both days, which means the viewer has to choose one. Natasha, a regular audience- member of ISSDC says "I feel this two day thing is basically a money making racket. Instead of paying for one day to see the finals you have to pay for two which is double the cost. It is also practically not possible to make it on both days, especially if you live far off". "The whole point of a final is to have a final, not two finals" says a Hafsa, a teacher. "Those days it was a big thing for schools to just get into the final. By making way for eight schools to enter it, as is happening today, the competition too slightly decreases, as more schools can get in". Ruwani, a student however has a different view. "I think two-day finals are okay. The Shakespeare Drama Competition is also an event for socialising. In this new way you get two days to have fun and see some exciting drama as well".
The crowd meanwhile who staunchly turned up to support their schools packed the hall to capacity. Sad to say however a few created quite a disturbance during the boy's finals last performance. This sort of behaviour was totally uncalled for, and just showed those particular persons involved as having complete disregard for what was going on, with no respect for the actors on stage, who courageously bore it out. The judges had some strong words about this, saying "This sort of crowd behaviour during the show was disgraceful. The audience should not in any way disturb the actors or the other people. We feel the schools and prefects should speak and take some disciplinary action to those involved, to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again". Ruwanthi de Chikera however says the fault lies partly in having the finals in such a huge hall, in which it is obviously difficult to control the crowds. So what's the solution? Perhaps a simple one day final of two girls schools and two boys schools at a hall more suited to theatre. The ISSDC is something in which everyone involved - the directors - actors - backstage - teachers - parents - all work hard to do their best. Being a competition, it is best carried out without disturbance. Something needs to be done about this, and steps taken to aid the actors. It is the actors after all who once on stage have to bare the brunt of it all. |
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