And the play went on ...

by Rikaza Hassan

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the second instalment of C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series went on boards as a musical at the St. Thomas Auditorium from the 25th to the 29th of May. It relates the journey of four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy into the magical land of Narnia where the rule of the White Witch has placed the land in eternal winter.

The first thing I noticed as I stood waiting for the doors to open five minutes before the start of the play was the very low number of people that joined me along for the wait. A musical by the boys of St. Thomas at the college grounds not drawing a crowd? A very stupid question to ponder I realised as I found my seat and the play began.

The doors which were supposed to have closed at 7.30p.m. nevertheless remained open to the rest of the audience who came streaming in even well past eight with their mobile phones switched on, bumping into your knees and your seats as they looked for a place to sit.

It of course did not stop since they continued to talk, details of their rides to the school blocking out the voices of the actors, the incessant ringing of cellular phones getting on your nerves.

Many deep breaths later and having calmed down the friend whom I brought along - he just wanted to scream at the uncivilised and uncaring behavior exhibited - I managed at keeping my irritation in and trying to watch the play from in between the heads of two giants who were seated right in front of me. Did I mention the kids who kept jumping up and down on their parents laps asking a dozen questions?

The beginning of the play was anything but impressive. The actors seemed to be in some reproduction that gets shown in the boring channels on tv that no one ever watches. Tarik Jayasuriya was probably the first to show proper emotion with his portrayal of Mr. Tummus, though the jumpy character with the umbrella probably did not go to well with those strangers to Lewis and his world of Narnia.

Once the 11-year old Anushka Samarasinghe got his footing though, he turned the character of Lucy into one of the most memorable in the play. From the swift changes of emotion to the feminine holding of hands, Anushka looked very much a girl and showed much potential to go further as an actor.

My favourite out of the cast was perhaps the White Witch. Dilesh Dias in his "Halle Berry haircut" and flowing dresses, magic wand and hint of cleavage carried a powerful androgynous voice that carried throughout the hall.

A senior actor in school, he has definitely learnt from experience with hi s imposing portrayal. The savior of the land, Aslan the Lion had good voice inflection that added to his strong presence. However the almost laughable lion-head that adorned his cranium nearly stole it all away.

The most enjoyable for me was the battle scenes; it almost managed to distract me from the crowd and the ad hoc seating arrangements. From the mice from second grade to the leopards, the wolves and such it was pretty good.

The clashing of the swords looked a little out of sync but the battle between the animal soldiers was both exciting and very animal-like.

Overall the acting was of standard except the few actors who looked wiped out with their first consecutive performance. The sound and light engineering deserve a big round of applause. The props were impeccable and impressive.

The choir took out of the performance heavily - it was not needed, and the soundtracks could have simply been played. The manner of the actors entering and leaving the stage was actually quite horrific since they simply walked past by me though that was perhaps the fault of the person who threw chairs around blocking the view of everyone in the rows behind.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a hard book to put into the form of a play but the drama Thomians most certainly would have set a standard if not for the appalling organisation that went along with it. It was not at all what I expected it to be.