God Answered My Cell Phone Call

STAGE: God Answered My Cell Phone Call, was a comedy thriller initially written as a book by distinguished former CIS student and renowned author Anushka Wirasinha. Then showing extraordinary talent she turned it into a stage musical, writing the script, lyrics, songs and music.

Petulia Joseph at CIS believed that this very original musical would make a great play for a CIS senior drama production.

God Answered My Cell Phone Call is the story of writer and journalist Jess (Romany Arrowsmith), a young woman living in the United States. As the play opens, her life is in a mess, with no job and nowhere to live. Jess turns to her friends for support.

But even the carefree, happy-go-lucky encouragement of her best friends Addy and Kelly (Viren Dissanayake and Omari Bodenayake) can't extract Jess from her downward spiral of misfortune.

One day, in search of some much-needed solutions, Jess takes a walk in the park and in a state of deep despair shouts out those immortal words, "Please God, Let me Get My Life Back on Track" before she knows it, a bolt of lightning has struck her cell phone and opened up a hot line of communication.

After a frank discussion about where her life is going, God tells Jess that far from being a hopeless case, she has a mission to uncover the truth behind unsolved mysteries.

Despite some initial scepticism and stubbornness, the play's principal character joins forces with a journalist friend Trave (Migara) and embarks on a new life devoted to fighting for truth and defending the rights of the innocent.

The four-act comedy thriller has no fewer than 15 songs; the music has been ably arranged by Dominic Johnpillai a gifted year 12 student at CIS who was assisted by Asita Aamarasinghe in training the Chorus; mostly sung by the very talented Romany Arrowsmith supported by the Chorus together with an impressive array of dancing choreography by another talented CIS student Tamalee Palansuria.

In short, this home grown musical comedy thriller is a story which explores the nature of good and bad and which shows how irresponsibility and bad choices have an impact on our lives and the lives of others.

Ultimately though, it's a story of how we all need a touch of friendship at some point in our life to enable us to move forward. In the words of one of the main songs in the production, "Life is a Miracle".

As tickets went on sale for this remarkable production, Director Petulia Joseph said: "This production has been an amazing experience for everyone involved. All the students and staff involved feel that it has given us a real opportunity to enhance and show off some of the astonishingly talented young people that study here.

"Every one of them has demonstrated phenomenal commitment to the production and the school is tremendously proud of them all. In a way it is a testimony to the play that they have taken their own little bit of inspiration from it, I certainly have."

The play runs in the school's auditorium for two nights from March 10 to 11 and tickets are on sale now from the school office in Gregory's Road.

Asia's longest running show comes to Colombo

Lakmini RODRIGO

MUSIC: The longest running concert series in Asia, the 'Country Roads' concert will be held on April 2, from 7.00 p.m. at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel Colombo for the 14th time.

The concert will be held to help the 'Million Mosquito Nets for Million Children' initiative with the year's proceedings, Country Music Foundation (CMF) President Feizal Samath said at a media conference held at Cinnamon Grand Hotel Colombo on March 6.

Celebrated artistes from the East and West would perform on the same stage in this year's concert and the night would be a luscious blend of melodies from around the world.

Dirk Maverick from Germany and Tucker Livingston - son of Bob Livingston - will be some of the foreign entertainers to be featured while local stars like Mariazelle and Cosmic Rays will add colour to the night.

According to Samath, the mere intention of the concert was raising funds for children via the medium of the universal language - music.

Renowned musician and coordinator of the 'Million Mosquito Nets for Million Children' programme Arjuna Krishnarathna said this was 'compassion in action' and that the basis of the entire programme was compassion and love towards fellow human beings.

"The journey I began five years ago to seek inner peace has reached its pinnacle. There is no greater joy than helping fellow beings," Krishnarathna said.

The Rainco Foundation, Dialog Telecom and Sri Lanka Police will join hands with the CMF in this honourable course of providing nets for million children by various means.

CMF Vice President Juri Majid, Cinnamon Grand Public Relations Manager Tharika Goonathilake, Dialog Telecom Chief Executive Officer Dr. Hans Wijesuriya and former Sri Lankan Cricketer Romesh Kaluwitharana were present at the media conference.

The Ghost (from Hamlet)

Gwen HEART

DRAMA: Imagine a ghost triggering off a royal tragedy; that is exactly what happened in Hamlet. The ghost of King Hamlet (Hamlet's father) appear and tell his son the truth behind his death.

How he was murdered while sleeping in the orchard, by King Claudius, the present king, his own brother so that he could marry Queen Gertrude and ascend the throne of Denmark.

Hamlet's ghost appear briefly in a few scenes in the opening chapter of the play and kick-start the tragedy with electrifying speed. It sends Hamelt into pathos. It makes him sad and revengeful.

He develops an aversion to women because of his mother's involvement. He feigns madness to spurn the innocent Ophelia. So, Shakespeare sets the stage for the play.

The ghost first appear to Bernardo and Horatio, Hamlet's friend and disappear in a moment but not before Bernardo speaks to him.

'If thou hast any sound or use of any voice, speak to me;'

Act. I Scene I

Bernardo and Horatio rush to inform about this incident to Hamlet who waits patient - for the night to appear and on the platform in Scene IV, the ghost appears again.

This time to Hamlet who along with Horatio awaits its appearance. Hamlet follows the ghost. Their secret meeting takes place on a remote part of before the castle at Elsinor.

The watch is not there at his post and the time well on to midnight as the ghost tells his story to Hamlet. The prince is taken aback. With further dialogue between them, the ghost disappear leaving a shattered son behind. He screams.

'O all you host of heaven, O earth, what else'

Act I Scene VI

And still later he moans; 'The time is out of joint. O cursed spite. That ever I was born to set it right. In the uncut text, Shakespeare has used the longest of all Soliloques.

After feigning madness, he enters a room in the castle where Polonius withdraw after urging Ophelia to read on a book. She hears the prince muttering under aimlessly;

Hamlet 'To be or not to be that is the question

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer....

Act. II Scene I

As Hamlet readies himself to avenge his father's death, many an incident takes place. One with we all know is that Shakespeare in almost all his plays used super natural beings or incidents.

He depended on gnomes, fairies, ghosts, spirits, witches, goblings, and the likes of them with Hamlet under that spell. It is remarkable the way he brings some of these unsavoury characters to build up his plays.

Apart from Hamlet's ghost, the other ones are found in Macbeth and Julius Caesar. Soothsayers too are part of his ploys as well as floating daggers.

The ghost in Hamlet is hazard in today's theatre where many have experimented in sundry echoes, off-stage speaking and vast shadows across the stage. Yet, an imaginative actor can hold sway without seeming and make the ghost's voice a prelude to the forthcoming tragedy.

The ghost has been highlighted in films to create suspense and horror. The Brits were very passionate about the ghost of King Hamlet, who reigned over Denmark before he was poisoned.

The New York sequences too were comparable. The many Hamlets portrayed over the centuries were of myriad English Hamlets. From the old theatres to the Old Vic and the Globe, Hamlet roared out some of the finest dialogue Shakespeare put in the mouths of all the actors.

Beginning from the meet with the ghost, the escalation of some of the finest dialogue from the Bard, is still incomparable to the works of any genius to date. Strong and powerful for drama, stage and films, Hamlet lacks lustre in ballet because of the absence of its electrifying dialogues.

In 1948, Sir Laurence Olivier gave one of the finest portrayals of the Prince of Denmark and in 1964 a Russian version was directed by Grigori Kozinstev with music my Shostakovich with special effects for the ghost's entry.

Over to 1990, Franco Zeffirelli mounted it with Mel Gibson as Hamlet. There were two ballets by Robert Helpman in 1942 with Tchaikovsky and another version especially revived for Rudolf Nureyev in the title role with Leslie Edwards as the ghost.

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in 1601-2.