Smike - bringing old a modern touch

Ishara Jayawardane

It would be fair to say that a great ‘romance’ is already taking place in the school calendar year. The Student body of the Colombo International School has taken upon themselves an ambitious task of launching the play Smike.

These young thespians numbering 109 do not lack bravery nor do they lack determination or self belief.

In fact they lack nothing and have everything in their armory. They are a group of boys and girls who possess the faith to make this play an overwhelming success. What an adventure!

“It’s a big production. The biggest production we’ve done in the school for a couple of years. It is a completely student run initiative. The students are designing the posters, tickets and they are organizing the practices. The cast numbers are around 109 which include the entire orchestra, the actors and the supporting cast,” Deputy Head of School, Tamara Fernando said.

The play directed by Vinod Senadheera will be held in the school auditorium on March 9 and 10. “He is a really good director. He manages the practices and the drama. He is really good at what he does. He is very creative, and passionate about the story. He is everything a director should be,” said Tamara.

The play is called Smike, the musical and it is based on a novel by Charles Dickens titled Nicholas Nickleby. This year commemorates the 200th year since the birth of Charles Dickens.

The musical adaptation is not the same as the original book. It has been changed a little bit wit a modern touch to it. The music has been written completely new, but it still has elements of a typical Victorian/Dickensian novel. So you have a rock and roll song in old Victorian London.

“It is very challenging. I don’t think we really realized how much work would go into it. But it is also really rewarding because you know that whatever comes out of it, it is a result of your efforts. Everybody wants to do something, everybody wants to be involved. There is a lot of team effort,” added Tamara.

The story goes:

There is this modern school. There is also a new school master. He has an unruly class of kids who are not willing to listen to him.

He tries to teach them a story about Dickens and suggests turning it into a musical. And then the whole play is transported back to Victorian London.

The children are each given a role to play. Then there is another school run by a callous old school master, the children are beaten and not given to eat.

Then a new school master comes in and manages to connect with the kids. He teaches to believe and have faith in themselves. Consequently the old head master is thrown out.

The play is called Smike because there is one little orphan in the school and his name is Smike.

The new teacher is Nicholas Nickleby and he takes Smike under his wing and becomes like a father to the orphan.

“It has been fun and a lot of hard work, but it is very rewarding. There is a lot of time management as well. There has been very little involvement of teachers. It is a student coordinated thing making it a unique experience by itself. Although it is a school production it is of a very high caliber,” Head of School Lishan Perera said.

“Balancing all of this with studies is tough. It is particularly hard because our main casts are our seniors who are in their A/L year. So they are juggling public examinations with the play. But we make it work. Our parents are very supportive,” concluded Tamara.