CBB annual inter school drama competition: Raising the bar

Leading schools in Colombo took part in the Inter School Drama Competition organised by the Council for Business with Britain (CBB) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to support their English Language Teacher Training Programme (CBB–ELT program) conducted by the British Council, to improve the quality of teaching methods of English teachers in rural areas.

This programme has now trained nearly 1,000 teachers and reached out to almost 90,000 school children in rural areas of Sri Lanka, helping them acquire the skills they need to communicate well in English.

The drama competition is sponsored by MAS Holdings, Etisalat, Norfolk Foods, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Hettigoda Industries (Siddhalepa), Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Microcells, Coats Thread, Hilton Colombo Residence and the British Council.

The three independent judges, Ranmali Mirchandani, Delon Weerasinghe and Jake Oorloff commented that they were indeed very pleasantly surprised by the extremely high standard achieved by all schools that took part in the competition.

The young actors displayed amazing teamwork and a mature passion for acting. The performances were slick and well executed and all the directors must be congratulated for the tremendous effort that must surely have gone in to producing them.

The audience was held spellbound as Willy Loman fought fiercely against the reality of his crumbling life and as Electra wailed against her tragic fate. We were also reminded of the fragmented isolation of today’s youth and the ease with which tragedy can befall these young teenagers. The brilliant wit of Oscar Wilde was included in this ensemble making it a full day of scintillating theatre.  

The choice of plays ranged from Shakespeare to Electra, a Greek tragedy to The Death of a Salesman and the very modern Chat Room which were interspaced with rollicking comedies like Two for One and Plaza Suite as well as more witty extracts such as the one from The Importance of Being Ernest.

The performances concentrated on showcasing the talents of the young actors rather than on relying on elaborate sets and costumes. Traditional versions of Shakespeare as well as modern, more hip versions were presented.

The finals of the CBB – Inter School Drama Competition will take place on tomorrow at the British School Auditorium, Colombo 8. Tickets are available at Hilton Colombo Residence, the gate at British School Auditorium tomorrow or at Tickets.lk – visit www.tickets.lk to purchase your tickets online or visit Tickets.lk at 113, 5th Lane, Colombo 3 or contact them on 0772363333.  

For further details please contact CBB Secretariat on 112423476