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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Sanda Langa Maranaya : The best play - 2004 The five times winner of the prestigious Best Actress award at the
National Drama Festival, Kaushalya Fernando's Sanda Langa Maranaya
The show is organised by the Past Pupils Association of Maliyadeva Model College, Kurunegala. The proceedings of the show will go towards the school's sports development fund. Garcia Lorca is probably the most celebrated dramatist in Spain and according to theatre critiques and academics, one of the most poetic playwrights of the 20th Century. The story of the play is a triangle of passionate love of a bridegroom, a married man, and a young bride. According to critiques, the play is basically a tragedy of missed love, treating certain universal themes such as extremism, intolerance, and inflexibility in society which makes the play very relevant even today. Blood Wedding has conquered many types of performing art forms; stage plays, ballets, musicals, films, etc. throughout the world in different languages, reaching different cultures. For its high drama, freedom of thought and relentless tension, Blood Wedding, no matter when and where it is performed has been dazzling and enthralled many an audience, say many theatre critiques. According to Kaushalya, the basic style of Sanda Langa Maranaya, is a semi-musical-surrealistic-type. She incorporates choreographed movements, music and rhythm, and vivid lighting and colours in addition to very intense acting on stage. Kaushalya is confident that with stylised realism on the stage, as a production strategy would impart the audience an entertaining, yet intense theatre experience . She believes the fact that primarily the theatre should be appealing to the spectators. Somalatha Subasinghe and Lucien Bulathsinghala, the veteran playwrights and actors, join the youthful cast in Sanda Langa Maranaya. Chamila Peries, Wishvajith Gunasekera, and Prasanna Mahagamage, the new generation performing artistes, give life to the three main youthful characters who are entangled in the triangle of love. Other characters are played by Nadee Kammallaweera, Suresh Fernando, Nayomi Gunasiri, Lakmini Seneviratne, Sharmaine Gunaratne, Mayura Kanchana, Sanjaya Hettiarachchi, Champika Kannangara, Ishara Wickramasinghe, Thilokanee Gunasekera, and a number of new- comers to the national theatre, groomed at Play House-Kotte. Nadeeka Guruge, a versatile young musician of a different breed, has composed music for the play. The guitar has extensively been used to beautify the score with Spanish flavour, augmenting the intensity of acting. Choreographed movements created by Chandana Aluthge take the play to the very edge of stylised realism, the production strategy used by the director. Choreographed movements, music and intense acting are wonderfully concerted to enhance the dramatic sensuality on the stage, making way for a momentous theatrical experience to the audience. Namal Jayasinghe creates stage sets and properties, while make-up is by Sumedha Hewawitharana. Lighting is designed by Chandana Aluthge and stage management is by Aruna Jayasena. Sanda Langa Maranaya bagged eight awards, including the most prestigeous award for "The Best Play of the Year" , at the recently concluded National Drama Festival 2005 organised by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage. The play has also won many other awards such as the 'The Best Play of the Year', 'The Best Direction', 'The Best Adapted Script', 'The Best Original Musical Score', 'The Best Choreography', 'The Best Supporting Actress', 'The Best Costume Design' and the 'The Best Debut Direction.' |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Sinhala
version of Blood Wedding of Garcia Lorca will be staged on August 5 at 3.00
p.m and 6.30 p.m. at the Kurunegala Town Hall and at the Elphinstone theatre
at 7.00 p.m.