Well they say, it's all water under the bridge, but then would Blogs exist, if people just let it go, and not stop to bitch about it, and then maybe let it go?
So it's this thing that comes around every year around this time, that get all those who have a liking for the stage excited, 4 weeks (sometimes more.. sometimes less) of tiring practices, and getting the set, costumes organized for the Big Day. Actually 2 Big Days, if your lucky enough to get passed the 1st one.
The goal is to put up a good show, and in the meantime knock the socks off 3 individuals seated some where in the middle of the audience, in whose lap sits the scrap of paper that your fate is decided on.
In all this my experience is slightly different being the old geezer I am, still find my self roped into this whole experience. So obviously I'm not the schoolboy who's on stage, but come the time of announcing the verdict my heart beats equally to the tempo of the school boy. I share the same sorrow, but I know the feeling of winning is worth all the sorrows, and in time they will too. But 3 years in a row is enough waiting and I hope the light shines upon them next year.
As I hit the "Publish Post" button I cant help but think whether it would have been different if we had gone ahead with the original plan, specially with the judges routing for the comedy against the tragedy.
The Bard would say.. (from the Play itself) "What's done cannot be undone!"....
By Vidushi Seneviratne
Literally walking into a rehearsal of the latest thespian innovation to hit Colombo, it was interesting to note the mix of intensity and informality in the atmosphere. To top it all off, the cast member accompanying me, went from having a perfectly normal conversation, to delving unannounced into his character, and joining the scene being rehearsed! Just a taste of the extremely original action promised when The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, is performed at the Lionel Wendt from January 26 to 28 at 7.30pm. (More)
Courtesy : Sunday Times
If you think thats bad, the streets are filthy, and the soldiers haven't been given their rations. There's also about forty cartloads of garbage stashed behind the old fence near the cobbler's. What a nasty little town this is. Nasty, nasty, nasty.
And who'll be blamed. The Mayor of course... along with his cronies (oops Distinguished Officials I mean).
Will they Survive.. a visit from The Government Inspector on the 26th, 27th and 28th of January, at the Lionel Wendt , from 7.30 pm onwards.???
Be there to find out!
Dates for auditions have been set (which are bound to be postponed, courtesy of the Director who has a thing for not showing up, the shy bugger he is) and then practices of course (no more late Saturday nights they say.. have to be on time Sunday morning.. but that would mean nobody bring up the idea of "Alcohol" after practices on Saturday evening in the first place.. like to see how many sessions we get through.. considering the fact that the very first meet up, ended up with a 12,000 bill in our hands.. now who's bright idea was it to go there?).
Discussions of the 'portraying of the fairer sex' are never short, since everybody seems to come up with this chick or that chick (who they tried and tried.. and still want another shot at them) but she turns out to be either Married (happily I hope) or 10,000 miles away. Upon hearing this some other chappie would say, "Ado sirawata..." and then a gossip session would start.. till everybody.. including the security guard in the hut.. (turns out noise carries much longer than you expect) is properly briefed on the life and times of the said person... no no, we're not women just like to catch up on things.. women would analyze, theorize, categorize and another million "ize' things :)
So if you still haven't figured it out, we're getting ready for a Public Production of....... (maybe I'll keep you guessing for a while longer)!
Upon arriving there was a sense of this is being a "Children's Play" dished out and murmur in the audience waiting outside for the door to be opened suggested it too. The no of kiddo's even in the balcony gave me un-easy feeling coz I was already getting a bad feeling of :
- Either it's going to be a children’s play that is of low caliber or
- Good adult play and the kids in the audience are going to ruin it with their constant nagging their mommies.
So lets get on with the play, shall we? It was a musical as most would guess, and done very well I must say. The singing was beautiful to the ear, atleast most of it. They used clip on mic's, to their advantage in this case. It was obvious that they have rehearsed with them and got the sound levels balanced way before. Except for one occasion their wasn't any annoying feedback or mishandling of the mic's.
Actors(es) were pretty good in their portrayals. Nancy I would say stole the show. Fagin was great too, although his beard was a wee bit of a hindrance to his expressions (Or may be I'm just blind and my -2.25 glasses dont server their purpose anymore). Oliver was good but lacked clarity in his speech. Sikes was good too. However his appearance wasn’t as menacing as it could have been. I'd picture him with longer hair thick side-burns and maybe even some stubble on the face. The artful dodger's performance also needs some mentioning.
As always the production had some points they could improve, so let the critic in me do my business of pointing out in my opinion what could have been improved on.
The stage setting was nice, the props seemed to have been used well. There was a circular part of the platform that was on rollers and basically did a 360. The movement was fluid except for the noise it made. Maybe they could grease the wheels better. The problem was that the turning thingy was used a little too often. It worked well in some scenes like when Oliver runs away from the Funeral parlor and they use it to show both inside and out. But it was often turned with no purpose and felt more like "hey check out our new fancy gadget.."
Also it would have been nice if the curtain(I think it has finally given away, the runners weren't that cooperative the last time we used it) or the white screen they used was closed at the start as a sense of the magic was lost when you could see the stage before the production started in general house lights.
Playing the stage on two levels was nice, however it cut off the Balcony audience. I know we contribute only 200 bucks to the cause, but that doesn’t mean you should cut us off like that, as a fair proportion was played on the upper level. In such cases they should have brought the 2nd level a bit lower, so that it wouldn’t look like "headless" people singing.
On a side note : Those who are familiar with the Wendt staff, our beloved “Rupe” has had another fall, and most of the weight has gone on to the leg he broke the last time he had a nasty fall.
With regard to singing, some actors like Mr. Bumble had a tough time, I think he should have been relived of this heavy burden with all due respect to the actor. I hope this would be addressed. And that rather vulgar scene between the two, well with all the kids present hmm..
Finally correct me if I’m wrong but there was a part left out according to the book. But it’s understandable that you can fit in only soo much. Just haven’t seen the play before so wondering whether it was cut off by the Workshop players or is it the case originally.
Anyways that’s just me going at it. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the production. 200 Bucks well spent!
Just like a parent would "sweeten" bitter medicine given to a child, Feroze Kamardeen and SLM have mixed Pop Culture with Shakespeare to make it more sellable to the masses of The production of
So.. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Feroze, not to praise him". Although it may seem like I'm praising the dude during the rest of this post, I'm actually trying to strike a balance (Star Wars style). So I know I'm going to put my reputation (yes I to have some sort of a ding bat one at that) on line for the rest of the post and there'll be a mob gathering to hang me in public (at the crossroads of Kottu), but I do ask you to bare with me, till you come to the end.
No, this wasn't a Modernization of Shakespeare. That would be same theatre companies adaptation of Julius Caesar done in Military Fashion with a Live Newscaster and Projectetion Screens. I kinda liked it. ‘
It's a debate about portraying/communicating 10% of the play to 90% of the audience or 90% of the play to 10% of the audience. One would argue that a single production of the Bard could be done at all these level's making it appealing for all categories of audience's, infact I like to think the production by us (Royal Production of M.O.V. in 96 or 97) managed to achieve some of this. However we must acknowledge the fact that times have changed and it's not an easy task, with the "teen's" of today being influenced by "Jay-Z", "Eminem" and what not, spending most of their time on Xbox's and PS-2's (is the PS-3 out?) , the last thing they're (atleast most of them.. there will always be exceptions) going to find cool is Shakespeare.
Productions in Colombo have become a "Social Event" where people want to be seen, specially the youngsters, and once they don’t understand what's going on onstage (not that they really pay attention to it, they expect it to get up and hit you in the face), they become restless and bring the house down. Inter School Drama Comp (by the I.C.R.C.) and the Shakespeare Drama Comp (by the Y.M.C.A) are perfect examples. The talent (onstage I mean) at these plays are over shadowed by the loud/restless balcony (comprising ofcourse of the very people I was talking about). A show at the "Wendt" is more of a chance to show off your modified car, your new hair do or the new top (revealing being an understatement) you bought, than enjoy a production and be dragged into the world that the Director portrayed. Let's face it!
Yes I know, you are dying to bring out "Checkpoint" and how it's the perfect exception to the above argument. Hmm.. I don’t know but atleast the audience seemed more mature than what I saw at
So in the end, there would have been more people (who don't dig Shakespeare) in the audience that understood what M.O.V was about, all though it lacked the depth the bard would have liked to be portrayed through his lines and replaced them with songs that people (above mentioned) connect with. In the end it's a compromise between people walking off not understanding the play and what was being said, and people walking out (shaking their heads in disgust) saying "this is not Shakespeare". Again you may point that both these segments of the audience may be captured in one production, and the Director in this instance took the more lucrative and easy way out. To that I bow my head humble silence.
Clip on Mic's.
Takes away from a Theatrical experience. The need to project and connect with the audience is gone. One would argue that the actors’ voices needed to be preserved because of the long drawn out performance schedule and the singing. The cast was doubled/alternated this shouldn't have been a problem. The singing should be done by, a chorus (to be discussed later). The use of pick up mic's are understandable but still, the Wendt is a perfectly audible stage. One of the first things we get our chaps to do is Projection Training at the Navarangahala.
Live Singing
I first saw this incorparated in "Noices Off" by the same theatre company (I'm talking about live band, and the whole works, not an unaccompanied soloist). This requires people who can sing. Mind you it's a load of pressure on a lead portraying a role but to add a live performance is a little too much even to a brilliant actor or a brilliant singer, unless your both. If you really want to have live performances use a chorus (that can sing of course) so that the burden is on them. The lead can do a Milli-Vanilli if they really want.
Basics in Theatre
Some of the basics in Theatre were ignored, mostly due to the clip on mic's, where the actors made very little effort to make proper eye contact with the audience and deliver to them. Often were found delivering their lines with their back to the audience. Also the lead actors were upstaged a few times during crowd scenes, where there was too much of movement.
Lighting
It's fancy to use Moving Heads and all that, but they failed to focus on the faces of the actors or the actors didn’t walk up to the light. Hence most of the facial expressions were lost (if they had any). Only during a solo (not soliloquy, but a solo or duet) was a Follow spot used.
Character Build Up
Other things on my head :
Stage - Backdrops and Platforms
I must say the backdrops were beautiful. The stage consisted of platforms forming different levels. The highlight being two platforms on rails, with the ability to move forward and backward. Brings me memories of our production of the M.O.V. where we used Steps and Platforms on wheels. I remember the audience being amazed. (Well actually most of them didn't know they were on wheels, there were amazed that after a quick ‘black out’ those bulky steps weren't where they used to be.) Enough of that, my point was that a good 10 years from that production couldn't the Production Managers come up with something better than a stagnent set of platofrms that moved forward and back?
Costumes
Looked amazing, and in period (according to my knowledge). You'd expect nothing better than that from Sonali White - Haddai.
There you are. I hope this managed to bring some balance to the force, rather than seem like I'm praising the dude for his efforts. Maybe we'll call it a "Pop-corn play" (I'd give 4 pop-corns out of 5) so that there's a clearer distinction from the others (other plays performed in Colombo) that the critics will be satisfied with.
On a side note : I came to the realization (at the end of this post, during spell check, I had to, soo many Theartre buff's will be reading this, who are already pissed with me :) ) that I keep messing up the spelling of Mr. Shakespeare. The fact that, there being numerous ways to go about it, being beside the point. : )
Pics have been taken from their photoshoot available on the SLM site.Last bus story was a Good one man show! Actor handled the Transitions very fluidly. Although there wasn’t enough gum to pass around.
Loved how the Orphanage/Training_Center was depicted and the symbolism of the Colpetty scene. Auction was an interesting idea, but dragged a wee bit at the end. My friend Boycy suggested a Counter on the back drop for the no of Tamil/Sinhalese or GoSL/LTTE.
The forum was brilliant. The sheer nature of starting something that you wont know how it will end is mind boggling. Although the Characters know their limits well before us, it upto the Audience to set up confrontations in a way that will lead to a Resolution. I felt that the audience was stuck to the traditional school of thought and failed to accomplish the goal, not that it was a must. Although I'm curious to know what means led to the Resolution on that "fateful" day. I'm happy that although we didn't reach a resolution a Conflict within a conflict was pointed out, that being the plight of People like Rajive(an) the Tamil Married to a Sinhalese sandwiched between two Hard Liners. I thought he played his part brilliantly and didn't stray for his Characterization, although the audience was begging for him to slip towards a one side. Hat's off to you mate!
Shanaka (also being called Rambo by Prakash the possible LTTer) was found out of sorts at one solitary point when he said he doesn’t like "JVP and JHU" but continued on his war path, it's difficult to find such war mongers who don’t support the above organizations. Although an interesting point was that he never actually said he likes war, and wants to finish this off through war. Maybe I'm contradicting my self then, but leaves us something to think about. Maybe we should have provoked him more, on how he wants this to end.
All in all GOOD SHOW!! Worth every Penny!! (the best way my little vocabulary can describe the play, rather than getting into all posh posh words)
I decided to write this post, because there are few mistakes that most people keep on doing each year, and the wisdom doesn't seem to get passed on to the next generation. There fore I thought I'd pass on my 2 sense.
When it comes to Sound and Theater you always have to keep in mind that we use this only to "Add" to the performance, and shouldn't be a major part of it, unless your doing a musical. It's always nice to have an actor/actress give out an emotional speech and a piece of music on undertone to hit the exact spot. However in your enthusiasm you can drown out the actor's voice and leave the audience guessing what the hell he just said, effectively killing the effect!
This happened to a few school's at the Boy's Semi's @ Shakespeare, in-fact a judge pointed out that a school completely drowned out their actor. Doing sound at the Wendt is no easy task, as many of you may think, because of the equipment they use. According to my knowledge they use a top of the range Bose with Direct/Reflecting® Speaker Technology. As you can see the inside of the Speaker unit is fitted with many more speakers inside them.
This has the unique feature of reflecting the sound off the walls and give you a truly surround effect.
More info 1.
More info 2.
The negative point of this is, if you take a cross-section of the Wendt(pls bare with my handy work) it creates a hollow downstairs and more sound ends up down stairs than in the balcony.Since the controls are in the balcony, most people blindly increase the volume not knowing that it's not the same volume down-stairs.
Since the actors don't have the ability to reflect sound off walls, their goal is to project to the last row, which most of the time hits the last row of the balcony and is heard. Ironically since the sound volume is much higher downstairs he's often drowned out.
Specially if your participating in a competition which involves judges, they'd be sitting downstairs (around the 10th row from front). So if the judges don’t here your actors, your basically screwed.
This is also the case for Opening and Closing music. There is nothing more that I like than opening with a BANG! and closing with a BANG! However since you cant judge the actual volume level heard down-stairs you might be actually deafening most of the members in the audience (down-stairs).
How to over come this :
1. Play it by ear. Actually speaking play it way lesser than you can hear.
2. Use monitors. We normally put a sensible guy in the audience to judge the level of sound and let us know.
Well that's about it for now. Hope you learnt something from my experiences(actually mistakes.. I had Tracy say I drowned out some of the speeches @ Shakes 2002). If you guys have anything to add, point out a few things I've missed go ahead.
Hoping this brings out a another side of me that you guys see.. before a certain blogger labels me as an extremist.. lol (not that I see anything wrong with what I'm doing)
Sunday saw another year of Shakespeare come to an end. The result is not the issue of this post.. it has been already debated on different blogs, and for several years.. and the judges decision is final yar?
I've been involved in the Annual Competition since 1997, and have seen it all. However there are some-things that I keep seeing each year that disheartens me. I'm referring to the organizing of this event.
Being involved in many societies/clubs during my school days, and it's always been the case where you improve with experience. However this is sadly not the case with the Organisers of the Annual Shakespeare Comp. They've been doing this for such a long time that you'd think that they'd get there act together.. but is it the case??
They made a huge blunder by shifting the finals to BMICH.. which many critics argued is not a Stage for Theater. After many years of convincing they have settled for the B. C. Auditorium. Is this better or worse? I'd say it's better.. but it could be much better..
There are a few limitations in B. C. Auditorium when compared to the Wendt. No flyers, is one thing that we've have to deal with on many occasions. I'm sure that you guys have more things to add to this. For me there is no place like the Wendt..
My point is it's the same committee that organisers this event.. it's the same name I hear each time heading it, but how come they cant get it right for once? Even this year the Rehearsal the Finalists got was lacking two things.. "Sound" and "Lights"! Sadly there was no Sound & Light rehearsal for the finalists, and only during the performance that we got access to the "Lights Board" and sound board. For eg: we went into the performance not knowing the the "wash" of light of the C/S. Mind you this has been happening ever since they shifted to B. C . from BMICH.
Another fact that puzzles me is why bother hosting the Semi’s at Wendt at all, after all if the finals are going to be at B. C. let actors/actresses get use to the stage.
During the morning of the finals I didn't see a rep from the committee, to clarify issues. The event never starts on time. The tickets for this most sought after event of gobbled up by the schools with the aid of "pre allocation". I came to know that only 32 nos. Rs. 500/= were available for the public for the Girls finals. I'm sure it would have been the same for the Boy's Finals too.
All in all if you've been participating in the Comp. you know that these guys can do MUCH better.. I wonder why they dont ??
->| Await a post on “My Experiences with Sound in Drama’s” |<-
