This rib tickling comedy by Indu Dharmasena is scheduled to be staged at the newly furbished Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya Auditorium on Saturday, October 6 at 7.15 p.m. The play is produced by the Past Pupils’ Association of Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya as their fund raiser for the year.

This evening of light entertainment will be in aid of the ongoing development projects of the school, which are the upgrading of the science laboratories, the primary school library and for PPA projects.

Following is a short review of the play.

An astrologer predicts that Ranjith Madapatha will get a promotion before the end of the month and soon after will be made the head of the company. So Jeeva Madapatha is ecstatic when her husband Ranjith is appointed a director of the company. Then when they receive the news that the hale and hearty managing director of the company has died of a sudden heart attack, Jeeva is convinced that the rest of the prediction will also come true.

But Ranjith feels since he is the junior of the two directors, it would be most likely for their chairman Raj Silva to appoint Sunil Wijesena as the new managing director. But Jeeva is willing to go to any lengths to make sure Ranjith gets the post so that the astrologers’ full prediction will come true.

So when an ambitious wife, a husband who is content with his lot, a company chairman who is after anyone in a skirt, a deaf mother-in-law, a friend who means well, a colleague’s ambitious wife and an enthusiastic teenager, is put together, the result can be extremely funny.

The headstrong and ambitious Jeeva Madapatha is played by Sanwada Abeysirigunawardena and her docile husband Ranjith is played by Indu Dharmasena. Jeeva’s mother Soma who claims she is only just hard of hearing in one ear is played by Michelle Herft.

Ranjith’s friend and confidant Mohan is played by Charith de Silva. The Chairman of the Company, Raj Silva who is a real player is brought to life by Jehan Bastians. Tracy Wijesena, a catty and sophisticated society woman is played by Sanjana Selvarajah. Young and bubbly Anusha Bopegedara is played by Sulochana Perera.

This play was first written and staged by Indu in the early ’90s. According to Indu, the play has been rewritten to make it contemporary and promises light entertainment for the whole family. Tickets are priced at Rs. 1000, Rs. 750, Rs. 500 and Rs. 300 and are available at the Primary School office and with Roshi 0777-224170, Ruweni 072-3223496, Shashini 077-3957120 and also at # 38 Sea Avenue, Colombo 3 (0777-352953).

Home made arts and crafts

Her house is small and simply decorated with sea shell ornaments, fabric painted vases and artificial trees and flowers. On a couch nearby are uniquely designed cushion covers, soft toys and dolls.

Fabric painted wall hangings and ribbon embroidery adorn the walls of her simple home. Her house is arranged just like any other simple housewife’s home. The only difference is that whatever artistically created designs she has in her house are her very own.

Shanthi Kaluarachchi is an arts and crafts lady with an inborn talent for creativity. Her beautiful and unusual creations in the form of embroided sarees, bead jewellery, ceramic fruits, wool design bags, artificial flowers, patchwork, lace designs, fabric painting and glass painting have made her one of the few people with a talent to engage in a variety of arts and crafts at the same time.

"My interest in handicrafts started from a very young age. My mother was good at turning out lace designs and I learnt from her. I learnt the art of cross stitch, ribbon embroidery, Brazilian embroidery, shadow work, hand embroidery and Hawaiian embroidery on my own. I only went to Mallika Joseph for cake making classes," Shanthi said.

However when she married and came to Colombo Shanthi started working at the courts. She worked at the courts for 10 years after which she started her handicraft work at home.

She maybe talented in many ways, but Shanthi is yet to find a market to sell her products. "It is not easy to catch the market these days. I conduct a few classes but that is not enough for me to earn a living. All my products are given away as gifts or kept at home as ornaments. All I need is a market to sell my products," Shanthi explained.

Personal statements

The pressure of writing a personal statement together with the stinging pangs of inadequacy prompted by leafing through glossy university prospectuses can really give you a headache. In order to apply to a university in the UK this ‘personal statement’ must be written — a brief summary of all your achievements and goals.

Writing a personal statement is a highly stressful and nerve-wracking experience that fills a student with self-doubt and uncertainty. You will constantly ask yourself, "Did I write enough? Did I miss something out?" The questions are endless, and the answers unascertainable. At a seminar on how to write a personal statement a teacher cheerfully said, "Remember, you’re selling yourself! Market yourself! It’s all about advertising!"

Being told to ‘sell yourself’ in the space of approximately 650 words is no mean feat. Besides, I could never quite get past the irony in the concept of ‘selling’ myself. The infinite paradox lies in the fact that you’re asked to write a personal statement, but are meant to produce something in cohesion with what you know the university admission tutors want to hear. When I think of the word ‘personal,’ I think of rawness. Realism. Yet I know that what is actually expected is a pristine and optimistic overview of my bright academic career. One that conveniently overlooks its grittier and more truthful aspects.

The whole personal statement experience reminds me bizarrely of a computing concept I learned about when I was younger. WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get. This is defined in Wikipedia as "a system in which content during editing appears very similar to the final product." This concept seems inversely true when applied to the personal statement process. What You See Isn’t What You Get (The acronym remains the same!). This is not because our statements are consistent of lengthy fabrications, but because fundamentally, a person cannot be defined within 650 words on a piece of paper. Is it fair that your future (well, the futures of prospective university applicants) depends on how articulate you are and ability to ‘sell’ yourself?

— Shruthi Mathews

Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece for auction

A painting that is believed to be one of the last few paintings that Vincent Van Gogh painted will soon be put up for auction at Sotheby’s. The Fields was painted on July, 10,1890 and the artist died on July 29.

Experts believe that Vincent was talking of The Fields when he wrote to his brother Theo, saying "They are vast fields of wheat under troubled skies, and I did not need to go out of my way to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness... I almost think that these canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, the health and restorative forces that I see in the country."

The Van Gogh painting will go on display at Sotheby’s in London and Hong Kong, before being put up for auction in New York on October 7. It is estimated to sell for about $34 million but it is reported that it could go as high as $100 million for the painting.

A Sotheby’s spokeswoman said "As a unique work of art from the final days of the artist’s life, the price will most likely be driven by passion. This is perhaps the last opportunity for a collector to acquire a landscape of this quality by Vincent Van Gogh."

Sa Prasangha on international tour

Maestro Victor Ratnayake and his orchestra is currently on tour performing at various locations throughout Canada — Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver — as well as in London. "Their Sa Prasanga was very successful, as hundreds upon hundreds came to watch them perform. Maestro Victor Ratnayake and his orchestra touched the hearts of people of all ages. Sri Lankans living abroad were amazed by the talents of the legendary Victor Ratnayake and his orchestra, and they were delighted. The orchestra consisted of Hemapala Gallage, Nihal Perera, Priyantha Dassanayaka, and Vajira Gomes," said Neil Amaraweera, a resident of Seatle in America.

Blood Brothers — a review

Blood Brothers was written by William Martin Russell and is one of the longest running plays to date. Having been first performed in 1983 the musical has gained much recognition and secured Russell, a Broadway’s Tony Award nomination in 1993.

The Work Shop Players brought the musical to the Lankan stage, the Lionel Wendt, on September 14 and continued to delight theatre-goers till the 23rd.

Blood Brothers, as the title suggests, is of fraternal twins who are separated at birth. One grows up in a high class society and eventually graduates from Oxbridge as a councillor, while the other grows up in a completely different life circumstance and even spends a few years in prison.

Living two separate lifestyles somehow does not seem to keep the two apart. They first meet each other at the age of seven, before they are torn apart once again. They then meet at the age of 14 and remain good friends till they reach adulthood. However, they fall in love with the same girl and things take a turn for the worse. Eventually, Mickey the less fortunate of the twins shoots his brother Eddie and owing to an incredible bond shared by the twins, Mickey is killed as well.

The dominant themes of the play are superstition, class and the stages of the life of Marilyn Monroe.

If it did have a shortcoming it would be that the actors lost their cockney accent from time to time. That aside, the actors were able to keep the audience from drifting into boredom during the three hour play with splendid acting and singing. The play was charming and a good effort by The Work Shop Players.

Home made arts and crafts

Personal statements