2016 Sep 22
Sri Lanka’s Rotary has a spotlight on them and the activities they host almost all the time. They organize events like Run For Their Lives and talent competitions and so and so forth. One such contest is the Inter School Shakespeare Drama Competition, organized by the Rotary Club of Colombo North.
Being a part of a play is easy; said no one ever. It requires strenuous hours of rehearsing for days and months on end. Practice sessions go on till late in the night and weekends are always booked for rehearsing the play. Memorizing the lines and getting into character calls for extreme concentration, empathy and time. This is but a mere glimpse of the effort students invest in, so that they can fight for a chance for their school to take her place in the final round of this competition and to go even go all the way to win the trophy.
Yesterday, September 21, witnessed the winding up of the semifinal that lasted nearly three days at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. A total of 30 schools engaged in heated competition at this year’s Inter School Shakespeare Drama Competition.
The Girls’ Schools that emerged as finalists were Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Vishaka Vidyalaya, St. Lawrence Convent and Newstead Girls College. The Boys’ Schools that made it into the finale, which will be held at the Bishop’s College Auditorium, were Royal College, Wesley College, St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College. The eight finalists will battle their way to their triumph and to the trophy on September 30 and October 01.
The air was filled with drama and competitiveness at the semifinal, as the actors and actresses from these schools acted their hearts out on that stage. The award for Best Stagecraft- Girls’ Category went to Vishaka Vidyalaya, while the prize for the Boys’ Category was received by Wesley College. Making the aforementioned Boys’ School prouder, Tariq Jurangpathy won the award for Best Actor. The Best Actress award was shared by Devindi Galappaththi (Devi Balika Vidyalaya) and Sashini Mudalige (Vishaka Vidyalaya).
Overall, the semifinal was quite an event to witness and the finale of the competition will take the stage with greater and much spectacular grandeur.
