Jith’s ‘Dashing through the snow’ hits the boards tomorrow

Friday, 28 November 2014 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

As the spirit of Christmas grew ever stronger, Jith Peiris knew the time was ripe for him to practise his yearly ritual of slipping on his directorial boots and reeling in the holiday cheer. This is something he has done without fail for nearly four decades, and this consistency has lent his annual Christmas productions the reputation of being somewhat of a herald to the oncoming festive season for the theatre-going public. This year he has once again reached deep into his towering dramatic vault to extract ‘Dashing through the snow’, a Christmas comedy set in the town of Tinsel in Texas, where an inn called The Snowflake Manor plays host to a number of comic characters. Central amongst them is Trina Walcott, played by Viranthi Cooray, the Snowflake’s innkeeper who is trying desperately to keep things together in the face of her guests’ shenanigans. The motley group staying at the inn comprises George Bush (Anuk Munasinghe), his sister Mary Jo Austin (Saveeta de Alwis), their aunts Ennis Puckett (Sharini Mathangaweera) and Della Crowder (Christina

Vancuylenburg), actors Ainsley Danforth (Danu Innasithamby) and Lenora Benedict (Nicola de Zoysa), Cuddles (Amayaa Wijesinghe who also assumes the role of Paulette Coogan), Binky (Nadun Dissanayake), Richard Nixon (Roshane Jayampathy) and Lou Ida (Dharini Gnanapraghasam). “The play is quite hilarious with plenty of Yuletide mayhem. It is such a pleasure putting these productions together,” Jith reveals. To get everybody in the mood for the night of mentioned mayhem ahead, popular male vocal group, The Revelations will belt out a few signature Christmas numbers. Jith adds that auditions and rehearsals were a relatively straightforward process because he knew the cast extremely well having worked with them on previous occasions. Jith began staging his annual Christmas dramas from 1980, when the International Theatre Group (ITF), performed their final play, ‘Who killed Santa Claus?’ Upon their exit, he picked up the theatrical

baton they left behind and continued on with aplomb. He asserts that his more recent Christmas productions have taken on the added role of buttressing the sense of reconciliation which is currently growing within the country following the conclusion of the war. “During this period, the Christmas season should be enjoyed by everybody for the ultimate reason of reconciliation,” Jith explained. ‘Dashing through the snow’ will be held at the Bishop’s College auditorium on 29 and 30 November from 7.30 p.m.