shakin’ it!
the word ’shakes’ should essentially bring to mind a delicious double thick chocolate milkshake from commons, or in the least that bit in the song by outkast ‘hey ya’ where you feel like he’s instructing you to have an attack of epilepsy (’shake it, shake shake it, shake it like a polaroid picture’)…but for some of us, it only means one thing. the annual all island inter school shakespeare drama competition.
every year, rotinely, religiously and without fail or hesitation, many schools (especially the bigger ones in colombo) begin the tedious task of preparing for putting up the best half hour on stage. from making fake blood, to learning to laugh a high pitched squeal at any given moment, to enduring day after day of the same people and the same crazy antics, to (as we saw this year) twisted ankles and bruised arms, shakes offers it all. the once-in-a-lifetimes experience of participating in the biggest inter school drama competition of the year.
increasingly though, this seems to have turned into something that the initial organizers never foresaw. an innocent compeition that was begun many years ago with the ambition of allowing children from technically anywhere in the country (well, technically, because as outstation as it gets is still kandy) to learn about, portray and understand shakespeare, has now turned into (especially amongst the ‘richer’ colombo schools) a full blown war, the opportunity to spend thousands and thousands to create the most magnificent spectacle they possible can in the period of a maximum of 30 minutes, the chance to win…or else. the trophy has become much sought after. boys have fought (literally, fist fought) for it, girls have cried (no, bawled) for it, directors have…well the directors have something to complain about every year (the judging was unfair, no? the acoustics here are shit, no? that one pulled for that school. that one hates us anyway).
whilst loving having been a part of the ’shakes experience’ (where bonding with each other is a requirement, where junk food, climbing onto the school roof, moving into the hostel the last week before finals, having hunky royalists helping us back-stage and making friends family like never before are all traditions), its sad that people have been so driven by the competition itself, that room for humility and the desire to solely create good theatre has been entirely lost. it has lost its purpose.
it overflows with animosity, animosity between participating schools, between rival directors, between the organzers and the participants, between individuals, sometimes even on the same team. it overflows with egocentricity, where kids cant accept defeat with grace, where they find everyone to blame but themselves if they do not get what they came for. it is no longer an exceptionally fun learning experience which essentially, is all it should be. it is not the vibrant competition my mother and her friends remember, where this was their chance to meet their friends from other schools and applaud them whilst they were onstage, this is a chance for boys to beat up other boys and for girls to think of the best ways in which they can sabotage other girls. i’m not even kidding. it has become a vicious, vile game of win or die. poor old shakespeare would probably be turning in his grave if he could witness this. it has lost its vibe, its aura of friendliness.
it is no longer good enough for a team to get onstage and do their absoloute best. its sad really, because your best is all that matters.
competetion.
Comment by Scourge — August 26, 2005 @ 5:22 am
Directors. I thought professional directors weren’t allowed?
oh well. we participated once, not so long ago. no directors, except two of our seniors (studying for their A/Ls), no fancy budget - homemade costumes and borrowed props.
Half the fun were the rehearsals. Not funny to practice a month for one play. then decide at the last moment to do another. Managed to end up in the middle - 06th out of 16 schools (or something like that)
Watched the finals maybe two years back - it was amazing to see the effort put into those 30 minutes. But still, good acting beat out the fancy effects. Isn’t that what it all boils down to?
Comment by Dulan — August 26, 2005 @ 7:41 am
Competition! That be how you spell the word!
Comment by Nuzzy — August 26, 2005 @ 8:51 am
Surely you cant expect people to be in a competition and not go the entire distance. There are some very competitive people in this world and if the prize is coveted then they will put everything they can into it. And the will to win can bring the ugliest parts of people out into the open.
And exactly what is an ‘innocent competition’? Competition by its very nature means ‘to compete’, meaning that we are in it to win. If winning isnt so important then it is ok, but at least let the people who want to win put in the effort that they are capable of. If people have a problem with a competition getting nasty then they should just make it into a day where all schools get to show what they are capable of but with no specific outcome. No winners, No losers.
Also boys will fight, whether its a misunderstanding or just plain animosity, they will fight, boys will always fight. Boys have started wars for more pointless things.
I dont fault what your saying, but this is how things are, kids can’t accept defeat with grace? well thats too bad, the urge to blame others comes out of knowing that they themselves were partly to blame, its a defense mechanism. This is what happens when people want to win. Perhaps it was better in the days gone by, but winning it probably didnt mean as much as it does now.
The easiest way to prevent a repetition of something like this is to place strict controls on the plays’ themselves. Have some form of budget cap or enforce that items such as fake blood and/or other gimmicks/sets are not allowed. Level the playing field and you just might get what you want.
Comment by SPiKE — August 26, 2005 @ 12:30 pm
‘poor old shakespeare would probably be turning in his grave if he could witness this’
no way! Shakespeare would love a ‘a vicious, vile game of win or die’.
“The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. –From Hamlet (II, ii, 633)
Comment by sittingnut — August 26, 2005 @ 4:32 pm
Is this the one that Ladies’ College keeps winning regularly?
Comment by Me — August 26, 2005 @ 6:00 pm
I have nothing against the school but that is SUCH a LC chauvinist comment?!
Comment by Savi — August 27, 2005 @ 9:31 pm
LC keeps winning? good heavens no. they did win this year, just two nights ago. but they participated for the first time ever only last year. they’re freshers. LC has not been in the school drama scene till very recently at all, actually. after many years, it was only last year that they participated in the inter school drama competition organized by the interact club of royal college (it plays little brother to shakes now) and then shakes later last year. the same two LCites won best actress and best supporting actress at both competitions, but ultimately, BC won both trophies. it was an amusing coincidence.
spike : there’s nothing i would condemn about a little healthy competition, but really, one must always keep things in perspective, non? there are things worth beating each other up for, and things that simply aren’t. the objective of shakes has been totally lost. its not something that boys are MEANT to fight for. its something they’re meant to ACT for. and sure, boys have started wars for sillier reasons, many many years ago. one would expect that due to eveloution and the likes, they would have become a little more civilized over the centuries.
you’re right about that though, i should get someone with some influence to suggest having a shakespeare drama festival from next year, and not a competition.
dulan : yes, essentially shakespeare is primarily about acting, or it should be. which is why it is also disheartening that some schools (the boys especially) seem to think that they can compromise this with good effects and fancy music. although most judges are fair in this manner, and still prefer quality acting above all else, it seems that, more and more, judges too get hoodwinked by the flashy effects that schools with money have to offer. i would like to say that yes it is all about acting and yes, that is all it boils down to…but at the end of the day, it actually boils down to the opinion of three people and what their personal preferences are. and given the results of the girl’s finals on friday night, im afraid the acting didn’t seem to have overruled all else with the judges.
scourge : say what? its competition. and QUIT picking on my grammar and spelling.
Comment by electra — August 28, 2005 @ 6:36 am
It’s not REALLY that bad. Maybe we don’t go around hugging and kissing the other schools all that much anymore but talk of brawls and sabotage is a little harsh. There was that one incident in 2002 I think during the peters’ production. Horrible and unfair as it was it certainly isn’t the norm. I don’t quite know how it works with the girls these days, but except for the occasional post-results outburst (purely verbal and comparatively contained as outbursts go) I think it IS still a somewhat friendly competition. Well..more like a you mind your business and i’ll mind mine sort of competition anyway.I think that’s as healthy as it can be these days without getting ugly.
Comment by A. Tit — August 29, 2005 @ 6:10 am
titty, is this comment by you, or someone else, who picked an alias sounding alarmingly like that which you are known to many of us by?
whoever, yes it is REALLY that bad. i’m not going to mention schools, but a boy got beaten up outside the auditorium office on the day that the finals tickets first went on sale by a some boys from a rival school. another boy also got beaten up, by some guys, apparently because he had about 20-30 balcony tickets for the boys finals day, and his tickets got stolen. he basically got ‘mugged’ for his tickets. the director of another boy’s school wrote a long letter to the YMCA after the semi finals, accusing the judges of having unfairly judged the performances. maybe this had something to do with the fact that this particular school was not even close (2 schools behind, in fact) to getting into the finals at all? last year, the dressing room we used was previously used by a certain boy’s school during the day of the official rehearsal. they carved all kinds of horrible and uncouth things on the door, and then proceeded to call our director a ‘bitch’ to her face. need i go on? i’m only saying, i think people have kind of blown it out of proportion. they have failed to keep things in perspective. simple.
Comment by electra — August 29, 2005 @ 3:06 pm
Yes! Tis I!
I didn’t know of this incident with the door or the ticketing incidents. But are these actually competition related or more related to possibly personal matters between folks from opposing schools or maybe quite possibly to failed matters of the heart (especially if it were a boys school taking pot shots at you guys.) The tickets incidents seem to be just another example of the rising thuggery amongst our school going crowd. MAybe I’ves just been growing more observant over the years but every year the kids seem to growing more and more violent. That though is somewhat another matter.
I still say that the cast members themselves from the various schools do not indulge in sabotage and what not and actually look forward tro seeing what has been put on by the competition. Like I said though it ain’t nothin like a friendly compeition all rosy and charming but it certainly isnt a free for all slugfest either. Leave that description to the wannabe gangsters.
You seem to be growing rather cynical m’ dear. Watchout…
Comment by Titendra — August 30, 2005 @ 11:16 am
Yes! Tis I!
I didn’t know of this incident with the door or the ticketing incidents. But are these actually competition related or more related to possibly personal matters between folks from opposing schools or maybe quite possibly to failed matters of the heart (especially if it were a boys school taking pot shots at you guys.) The tickets incidents seem to be just another example of the rising thuggery amongst our school going crowd. MAybe I’ves just been growing more observant over the years but every year the kids seem to growing more and more violent. That though is somewhat another matter.
I still say that the cast members themselves from the various schools do not indulge in sabotage and what not and actually look forward tro seeing what has been put on by the competition. Like I said though it ain’t nothin like a friendly compeition all rosy and charming but it certainly isnt a free for all slugfest either. Leave that description for the wannabe gangsters.
You seem to be growing rather cynical m’ dear. Watchout…
Comment by Titendra — August 30, 2005 @ 11:17 am
Savi- “I have nothing against the school but that is SUCH a LC chauvinist comment?! ” What made you think I was a Ladies College Student. Please try referring to them as Ladies’ College, Bishops College and NOT LC, BC etc that puts them in the MC books!
Comment by Me — August 30, 2005 @ 4:46 pm
titty : cynical, perhaps. wiser, i would think, but maybe also cynical. its just something that happens, when things start escalating, and you think ‘what is it all for?’ sometimes. and maybe what is worrying is not the competition, or the participants alone, but as you say, others. others who have no sincere love for drama or shakespeare, others who have no respect for different schools doing their bit onstage, others who’re just there for the ride, to see the girls, to pull a fight. scarily, these others are quite influential too, are they not? even if they are just bystanders on the sidelines. these others can cause enough disruption to ruin someone’s performace, can they not? they can offend someone enough to make them cynical about an otherwise healthy competition, can they not? im just saying people have forgotten the purpose. titty, your very words from a few years ago, when i was in uncontrollable distress about coming runners up by one point, still ring true in my ears. you reminded me of a greater tragedy we all had had to face, only one or two weeks back, and said ‘gotta keep things in perspective, no?’.
‘me’ : sorry, my bad. i suppose i meant for about the last decade, or thereabouts. i suppose i also believed that much was clear, and that my readers would understand that i meant in ‘my time’…i also said, in the next sentence ‘after many years,’…but nvm. i meant in ‘my time’ and a little before.
Comment by electra — August 30, 2005 @ 8:36 pm
‘Me’:- I did NOT think that you were a student of LADIES COLLEGE (happy now ?
) I was basically commenting on the comment that you had left,nothing beyond that…
PS: I’m speaking in general terms here:but you need not be a student of that school to be a ‘that school’ chauvinist;so you can easily be a Ladies College chauvinist without being a student of Ladies College…
Comment by Savi — August 31, 2005 @ 6:26 am
bloody hell… so everyone’s stickin by the “full name please” convention ??… what the hell is wrong with LC, BC, RC, STC or even thora, joes and petes ???
Comment by SpectralCentroid — August 31, 2005 @ 7:35 am
So have you been attending the interact drama competitions for the past 10 years then? All of them?
Savi- thanks for the ‘L-A-D-I-E-S C-O-L-L-E-G-E”
Comment by Me — September 1, 2005 @ 5:25 pm
Gimme a L!
Gimme an A!
Gimme a D!
Ginne an I!
Gimme an E!
Gimme a S!
L-A-D
I-E-S
What’s it spell…
LADIEEESSS!!!
… heee hee heeee…..
Comment by ladies Chauvenist — September 1, 2005 @ 7:43 pm
As cheesy as it sounds, that what they actually sing when they cheer!
Comment by Me — September 1, 2005 @ 8:31 pm
sing?!
Comment by sittingnut — September 1, 2005 @ 11:26 pm
Nevermind that. Were they any good that night Electra? Did they deserve it? That doesn’t come across in your writings. Curious to know. And just forthe record, NO I am not for Ladies’ College. I may have been if I were a girl.
Comment by Me — September 2, 2005 @ 9:06 am
Typo! ” And just for the record, NO I am not FROM Ladies’ College”
Comment by Me — September 2, 2005 @ 9:07 am
no, of course i have not been attending the drama competitions for the last decade without fail. probably, only for the last four years. but one need not be there to know the facts, non? this is recorded history, not cock and bull that i sit here making up.
and no, im sorry to say that LC (im sorry…i refuse to adhere!) did not deserve to win shakes this year. for many reasons, and this is my unbiased opinion. all the other contenders, HFC, BC and metho were better suited for the trophy. but not LC at all. and it is rather unfortunate, because i love their directress very much, and they had great ingredients and all the right elements. it just didnt explode onstage, know what i mean? hopefully they will get better with the years. but the effort was admirable, as always, and there were some lovely things about their production that i didnt see in any of the others. just wasnt winning material, however.
you’re not even a girl? sigh.
Comment by electra — September 2, 2005 @ 8:10 pm
Oh really. I wish I was there to watch them that night. Was Tracy directing them by any chance or was it Romani Parakrama (as usual)? I do love their plays and they had very good productions in the late 90’s. The last production I went to was This ‘n’ That and I thought it was very good (especially without a directress). It consisted of two entirely different plays (a comedy and a dark tragedy). I don’t think it was in ‘your time’. 2000.
They’ve had a few good nights at the interact drama competition as well- this was again in the late 90’s. Not too sure but I think they won it in 2001 or perhaps an year before. And one play I shall never forget was ‘The happy Wizard’. Fantastic play. Very good production.
How long are the plays in ’shakes’ by the way? I think I should plan my holiday to coincide with next year’s ’shakes’.
I have a long and strange relationship with Ladies’ College. My great grandmother was there. my grandfather was there (yes! I hate it when people abide by ‘rules-are- meant-to-be-broken’ when it’s my turn to go into school!) along with my grand aunts and finally my mother was there (so was my aunt)! That does NOT mean that my opinions are biased (although it sounds like it is and I am sure you find what I’ve said difficult to believe too) and it also does NOT mean that I am in that school for all of its productions. I go if I think it’s worth a watch and most of the time it has been.
Do you know who played the lead in the play?(I promise, this one’s my last question!)
Comment by Me — September 3, 2005 @ 10:06 pm
Oh btw, Harold Prince( currently directing The Phantom of the Opera in London) ‘unofficially’ reviewed ‘The Happy wizard’ as he happened to be on holiday in Sri Lanka and I must say he reminded me of Vinod (Senathiraja).
Comment by Me — September 3, 2005 @ 10:13 pm
tracy directed them this year, for the first time, she said. vinodh senadeera…? the old thomian?
Comment by electra — September 5, 2005 @ 5:18 pm
Yep . . .Vinod Senadira it is (apologies for the typo).
Comment by Me — September 5, 2005 @ 8:58 pm
Ok. I’ve been taking part in this competition for six years. And the competition has alwalys been fierce. More so in th boys comp than the girls. But then again i wouldn’t know how the girls competition works. Frankly i think its the only thing that keeps this competition from dying. All i really have to say is “If you don’t like competition don’t take part in it.” Trust me the effort put in to these productions are far more than the average audience member knows about. Boys getting beaten up and boys mistreating the girls is not a problem caused by the comp. its something that comes from the schools. And frankly I wouldn’t expect anymore from that off shoot Wellewatte school. But the competition has always been tough. Have you ever scene any of the boys schools beating each other up after the results. You can take part in the competition give it a “good show” and walk off happy with yourself if your goals were low and the effort you put in mediocre but when you practice for two sometimes three months till two in the morning and put everything in to it trust me winning is everything!!!!! After all shakes has only ONE AND I MEAN ONLY ONE WINNER. So being that one winner is everything. And why pray tell does shakes pack the BMICH on the night of the finals because the shows are brilliant and i mean BRILLIANT! And trust me if you try to even the feild trust me shakes will die just like shakespeare did. If you cant take up defeat don’t take part and i relly wish the schools that lose or don’t get into the finals would stop whining. It seriusly is getting on my nerves. Let shakes be the way it is. Everything in this world evolves and shakes has to from an innocent competition it has now grown to be the toughest competition this country. Cause only the participants know how much they put into it. Other think that only wussys take up drama. Some of them have more stamina than the best sportsman in their schools. let it be this way cause ultimately it is good acting that well balanced good acting and team work that wins shakes not props and costumes. Any participant if they look deep in to themselves will have to agree that when they didnt win they either were crappy or didn’t have team work. trust me i know. I’ve been there and done it six times. The years we didn’t win sometimes we didin’t deserve it cause we got cocky or we just didnt have enough team work. So please don’t say this competition needs restriction or is way out of control. Cause its not.
Comment by Josa — September 7, 2005 @ 1:56 pm
testcomment514
Comment by testanchor518 — October 16, 2005 @ 1:35 am
http://msnimiekle.blogspot.com
Comment by msnimiekle — May 3, 2009 @ 4:00 pm