Shakespeare Drama Competition 2011

Ishara JAYAWARDANE

Another year of Shakespeare has come to an end and it was one of the best Shakespeare Drama competitions we have seen so far. There were some sterling performances from both the boys and girls and the audience gathered on the 20th and 21st of this month were treated to the very best of talent that Sri Lankan schools have to offer. Talent coming from both Colombo and Outstation.

The judges for the finals were Richard Danziger, Dinali Fernando and Ranmali Mirchandani

The boys final featured some strong performances by all four schools :

The Taming Of The Shrew (1st production) - Ananda College

Coriolanus - D.S. Senanayake College

Othello - St. Benedicts College

The Taming of the Shrew (2nd Production) - S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia

To me, even though S. Thomas’ College emerged victorious , Coriolanus by D.S. Senanayake was by far the strongest production with an excellent display of swordsmanship. It was definitely the pick of the evening for those of us who enjoy a warrior’s valor. The production started off with Coriolanus in action. My ! it certainly had me fooled ! for one moment there I thought I was witnessing a battle scene from the Gladiator or Troy. Later on the scene in the forum reminded me of my readings from Greek and Roman civilization. And watching Coriolanus reminded me of Gaius Marius the Roman General and Politician. All in all it was a very strong performance. I was actually quite pleased to see this warrior enter the stage in a striking black outfit and begin wielding a sword single handedly against a group of opponents.

The runner up was D.S. Senanayake, the second runner up was Ananda College and the third runner up was St. Benedicts college.

Best Actor All Island - Abdul Baasith- D.S. Senanayake College

Best Supporting Actor - Rahantha Abayakoon- S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia

Best Actor Outstation- Sanjay Chandrasekaram - St. Anthony’s College Kandy

Following are the comments gien by the judge Richard Danziger

“We were impressed by the quality of all four plays. The first production of Taming of the Shrew, we thought you really pulled off the setting of it in Sri Lanka. Everything from the clothes to the physical setting to the accents. It is not as easy as it might seem to really capture it. The scene itself we thought it really worked well. It got a little bit slow in the middle but there were some very funny characters in there, Petruchio for example.

Coriolanus was a really brave choice. It is a huge challenge and you met that challenge and we were extremely impressed. Good atmosphere, the movement was good. The crowd scene was very good. But all in all, excellent, we enjoyed it. We thought Coriolanus came out as very human and not a blood thirsty monster as he is sometimes portrayed. And good team work all around.

Othello, visually very strong and the impact from the start very strong we were all affected and a little bit frightened. It was very ambitious to be honest I’m not sure it met those ambitions. It was always very easy to understand. But I think it is great to be daring, very good to try something new and again congratulations to you.

The second production of Taming of the Shrew who ever edited the script congratulations to you. We thought the ensemble acting was very good.

It seemed like the actors on stage enjoyed it. From the smallest roles to the principle ones everybody seemed to have something to do, good attention to detail and very sexy young ladies! Some parts of the production were very strong visually. Very powerful and very intense but remaining quite simple. You don’t have to be overly dramatic you can do something simple and be effective. Congratulations to you”

The girls final was a hard fought contest with Kandy Girls High School emerging the winner.

The runner up was Newstead Girls College Negombo, the second runner up was St.Bridgets and the third runner up was Hillwood College Kandy.

Girls schools

* Twelfth Night - Hillwood College Kandy

* Taming of the Shrew- Kandy Girls High School

* Measure for Measure - Newstead Girls College Negombo

* Othello - St. Bridgets Convent Colombo

Best Actress All Island - S. Kumeri Bandara- Kandy Girls High School

Best Supporting Actress - Dakshika Wijesekera - Kandy Girls High School

Best Actress Outstation - S. Kumeri Bandara - Kandy Girls High School