Arts

Review

William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night :

An indigenous flavour to Twelfth Night
 

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Twelfth Night, a Shakesperean drama was performed last week at the Punchi Theatre in Borella by the Kandy Players to mark the birth centenary of Professor E.F.C. Ludowyk (1906-2006). The performance was directed by Professor Ashley Halpe.

Staged to a packed audience, which is indeed a rare occurrence by Sri Lankan standards, the performance was marked by the use of Sri Lankan costumes and the indigenization of the dramatis personae to give an indigenous flavour to the performance. The original text has been cut to run for two hours but not otherwise altered, except for a few minor changes in keeping with the Lankanization .

Though the performance commenced with a slow-moving rhythm, it became obvious as the cast came on stage, what an amount of hard rehearsal and professionalism had gone into the production.

Especially, the Sri Lankan costumes and traditional instruments like the Rabana (a hand-held drum) which have been used in the play, really indigenized it so much so that it not only seemed Sri Lankan but also felt Sri Lankan.

The words and dialogue which are, conventionally, the principle device of a stage play, seemed to create an illusion in action, taking the audience to the core of confusion in which almost all the characters are fooled.

The elaborate practical joke played by Maria (Shavera Seneviratne and Tess St Clair-Ford), Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Sir Toby Belch at the expense of Malvolio (brilliantly portrayed by Yasal Ruhunage) adds a riddle to the confusion.

With incredible pomposity, Malvolio believes that Olivia, a rich aristocratic woman (Ayanthi Matarage), whose manager he is, loves him, uttering, perhaps, the most quoted phrases of the play "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them". - Act II, Scene V.Sir Toby a merriment-seeking character and a drunkard is played by Neil Halpe.

Without embellishment, Neil has made his contribution to the play and has done justice to the role.One of the salient characteristics of this production is that each and every role is played in harmony with the whole and there is absolutely no over-playing or over-acting to make one character stand out against another.

However, Feste, Olivia's servant, luminously and quite naturally played by Namali Premawardhana, prominently displays her inborn talents in both acting and rendering her voice to the play. She has, unmistakably, shown a degree of maturity which is on par with gifted actresses like Swarna Mallawarachchi, Kaushalya Fernando and Chandani Seneviratne.

Orsino, Governor of a Province in this production (Barana Waidyatilake), Viola and Sebastian (Nisansala Jayaweera and Ashan Tennakoon), Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a suitor to Olivia (Simon Cotton), Fabian, a servant of Olivia (Patrick Lavender and Gamaka Pallegama), a fishing boat captain and officer (Anoop Kapukotuwa), the Priest (Anjana Ratnayake) all played their allotted roles convincingly contributing in their own way to the overall success of the play.

Though one may argue that the indigenization of Twelfth Night would adversely affect the very spirit of the play, the spirit of the play and its universal applicability is not lost in the least. Each and every production of the play which has now been produced with diverse interpretations in many parts of the globe freshly expresses the spirit of the text.

Instead, various renderings of the play have helped contemporize it in their diverse local contexts. Modern rendering of what was once, perhaps, a folk-drama (to which Shakespeare himself has added a special sophistication), may considerably change its diction and metaphor and sometimes the original form, varying from production to production, but these could still keep the spirit intact.

Traditionally, Twelfth Night marks the end of the twelve days of the feast of Christmas though it is no longer celebrated.

Belonging to the genre of comedy written at the height of the Bard's comic genius, Twelfth Night is a comedy of mistaken identity, cross-dressing, unreciprocated love, madness, witty word play and tomfoolery and is full of drinking, merriment and emotion.

The credit for the production should go to Professor Ashley Halpe who directed the play and to the very apt music composed and directed by Bridget Halpe. The British Council should also be thanked for sponsoring the production. The show certainly adds another feather to the Kandy Players fame for high quality productions in English.

A repeat performance for those who have missed the opportunity, sponsored by the University of Peradeniya, Arts Council will be held on November 15 at 6.30 p.m. at E.O.E. Perera Theatre of the Engineering Faculty.

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Devinda on a course to bring fame to Lanka
 

by Anushka Nanayakkara

The young creative Director Devinda Kongahage came from a family where the creativeness was inherited genetically. His father being a media personality and mother from the cinema, helped Devinda touch the creative world.

Being a busy personality in the industry, he still spared little of his time to share the latest and hottest news with the Sunday Observer . Devinda Kongahage was educated at two leading schools, namely Trinity College, Kandy and Royal College, Colombo.

Devinda said he is in the process of a pre-production episode teledrama, which contains a serious topic about youth. He said this particular tele series will not copy Indian dramas or any others.

He also added that the drama is very transparent and shows the Sri Lankan culture. The drama will be based on romance, thrill, internal relationships. dancing and will lead to an artistic, breathtaking TV production. Suresh Gamage, Damitha Abeyrathna, Kanchana Mendis, Nilanthi Dias and Nirosha will carry the leading roles.

Devinda Kongahage is not only a creative director. He is an artist too. His dream was to see paintings being motioned or brought into reality. Recalling his start, finishing the higher studies up to some point, it urged Devinda to put his hands on in the media industry. Then he started working in a private channel as an Assistant. Producer which led him later on to become the producer.

Devinda said after getting some experience and keeping the loyalty for the company, he took a broader and wider step which led him to be the Creative Director of Music Mega Star (elimination).

Before ending the chat Devinda made sure to pay his gratitude and humble thanks to his parents who have loved him and showed firmly the right path, wife Nayani who understood, teacher and especially Dharmasiri Bandaranayake the director of Bawa Duka Bawa Karma , Herald Wijesinghe etc.

He also said each of their gifts has been precious and lessons learnt have been treasured. The victory and defeat has been Devinda's anchor throughout.

Truly, no doubt it has added essence to the young creative director to reach higher ground in the industry and bring fame to Mother Lanka.

An exhibition to mark 25 years of creativity by Winnie Hettigoda:

Visipas Vasara - an exhibition of creations

by Ranga Chandrarathne

An exhibition of creations by veteran journalist Winnie Hettigoda consisted of works from the artist's sketch-book as a student in the first year at the University of Visual Arts and published and unpublished works.

The exhibition is a graphical expression of the artist's career spanning over 25 years. Winnie is credited with holding the first exhibition of Computer Graphic Arts at the University of Colombo. He has also received training and studied at several foreign countries including in India at the MS University of Baroda and France.

He has contributed to one of the most popular French newspapers Le Monde as a cartoonist. With his experience as a scholar in France where he studied for his PhD, Winnie produced a number of works of art based on France. Winnie is a Senior Lecturer attached to the University of Visual and Performing Art.