Blue Black and Blue theatrical wizardry

Ishara Jayawardane

The Thomians have registered a brilliant victory and mind you the competition was stiff! The 2011 Shakespeare Drama Finals are over and the Thomians have been declared winners. The road to victory has not been easy with much effort and determination from the Mount Lavinia lads. Much credit should also go to the teacher in charge of S. Thomas’ College drama team, Vinod Senadheera.

“Basically we took part for the second consecutive year after a lapse of I guess five or six years. The performance at the end of the day was a very good performance, very well directed, very innovative cast to play each role properly. There was no stand out performances everyone pitched in not over the top not underplaying either. Everyone did their part to perfection, I guess that is why we won,” said Rahantha Abayakoon who played the part of Petruchio.

Anushka Samarasinghe who played the part of Katherina said the semifinals were easier than the finals and that the finals were a lot of pressure as they came second last year doing Comedy of Errors, and they did not want that to happen this year. But in his words everything worked out pretty well. The boys were unable to comment on the other performances as they played last.

“On a normal day we start practices at 6.30 pm, we didn’t have a long practice, maximum two hours. The rule in school is we have to finish extra curricular activities by 6.30 so sir was available only after 6.30 because of his endeavors. So we were given a slot from of 6.30 to 9.30” stated Abayakoon.

Shannon Hannibal who played the role of Baptista said the script was very well edited, and that Vinod Senadheera the teacher in charge made a really good job of it, making sure the script flowed in nicely.

“Whatever said and done we knew that the schools who got into the finals got in for a reason. It was not a fluke as they would have been really good to enter the finals. So we never underestimated anyone, all of us kept all three schools in mind. We got into the finals really focused. At the end of the day it came down to who wanted it more.

I’ve worked with these boys for the past three months with Vinod sir, and you saw it in their eyes every single day at practice, because they wanted so much to succeed. We were very unhappy with what happened last year. But that is life. So there was a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifices were made, a lot of team work. It was absolutely amazing for all of us to act together” elaborated Hannibal.

“Last year unfortunately we didn’t win, last year we had a very good cast and a very good script. This year, it meant a lot to us that we won. The first thing I told these boys when they came to practice was to forget about last year, that was 2010, this is 2011, show everyone that you want to win. It isn’t enough just showing people you want to win you have to want to win. It has to be seen in the performance. You give your 100 percent every single day. They are an amazing bunch of actors” explained Abayakoon.

The boys stated that their parents were supportive with the late hours and all. Sometimes their parents pick them up late into the night, especially on school days, taking the time to stay up waiting till they boys come home.

They are parents at the end of the day so they have to support their boys in whatever they do. There was a lot of encouragement.

All the best for the boys from STC for the 2012 Boys competition!