RC Colombo brings Shakespearean times to life

Sajith AMENDRA

The Royal College Drama Society (RCDS) traditionally enters the longest running Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competition organised by the YMCA Colombo along with the Interact Club of Colombo North. Over the past dozen years, the RCDS while winning the championship for two years, was runner up on six occasions.

Royal College English Drama Society 2012

This year, for the 40th edition of the competition, the RC Shakespeare 2012 cast led by Rashmin de Silva chose to perform an extract from ‘Romeo and Juliet.’A mixed bunch of Royalists with a passion for drama met in late August for auditions with director Thushara Hettihamu. A month of intensive rehearsals followed,to pull off a performance that satisfied a critical Royal Drama alumnus cum director who said, “It is easy to come out with a piece that is technically perfect, but it is very hard to tap into the soul of the play. Our production is very personal. We have built upon relationships and interaction plus the strength of the bond between the characters (to create this soul).

The semi finals for the 17 boys schools were held on September 18 and 19, and RC crew booked a berth in the finals with very strong reviews about their outstanding performance.

The finals of All Island Inter Schools Shakespeare Drama Competition 2012 were held on the October 6 to a packed audience at the Bishop’s College Auditorium.

Royal College emerged First Runner Up, with the Shakespeare Challenge Trophy being awarded to D S Senanayake for an innovative interpretation of an extract from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’Deshith Gamage of RC was Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mercutio.RC had also entered the inaugural Annual Inter-School Drama Competition organised by the Council for Business with Britain (CBB) in collaboration with the British Council.The evening of the Finals on October 21, saw Royal College putting up a stunning performance of an extract from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as they brought to stage some lively and realistic scenes from Shakespeare times.

The excellent characterisation and liveliness together with the brilliant directing managed to relive 19th century Verona on stage in its true form.The performance of the extract was highly commended by all three judges at the event.

Deshith Gamage as Mercutio wins Best Supporting Actor award

Mario Wijayawardhana as the Nurse wins Best Characterisation Award

RC won the Championship Trophy at this inaugural CBB Inter-School Drama Competition 2012. The excellence in the direction was alsorecognised with director ThusharaHettihamu being awarded the prize for Best Director.

The Runner Up schools were British School of Colombo, St. Bridget’s Convent and Holy Family Convent. On October 26,the RC Shakespeare Drama Cast 2012 gave another performance of an extract from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Theatre Fest 2012, an inter-school Shakespeare Drama Competitionorganised in association with the Trinity College London.

The Trinity College London uses the competition performances to conduct the examinations of the Grade 8 Drama & Speech Syllabus and therefore the competition benefits from experienced examiners to judge the best interpretations made by each school on the greatest plays written by William Shakespeare.

The standard of RC drama was clearly recognised by the examining Trinity College London judge who went onto say, “I think we nearly got perfection”, as their performance emerged victorious over Colombo International School, Gateway College Kandy and Alethea International School, the other schools in the final round.

The remarkable direction of the play by Thushara Hettihamu saw him being awarded Best Director at this competition as well. The vast talent of the actors was also evident as Mario Wijayawardhana as the Nurse was given the award for the Best Characterisation and Deshith Gamage as Mercutio was awarded Best Supporting Male Portrayal. With two championship shields and a first runner up trophy, a memorable theatre season for Royal College truly brought to life Shakespeare’s notion that “All the world’s a stage!”