Once Upon a Family 

• An engaging theatre experience from start to finish

When we think of theatre, especially English theatre, we tend to think almost exclusively of the Lionel Wendt and Colombo. However, theatre, and good theatre at that, is not limited to our capital. Last week, Brunch travelled all the way to Kandy to watch Sri Theatre Company’s latest production titled ‘Once Upon a Family’. 

The play, which was originally scheduled to be held on 15 and 16 July, was postponed to 29 and 30 July due to the heightened civil unrest and worsening fuel crisis plaguing the island during the earlier parts of July.  

An original work written, directed, and produced by Sri Theatre Company Founder Aslam Marikar, who, prior to watching the story unfold, shared a glimpse of what to expect, and noted how he was inspired by his love of the movie ‘Godfather’ and also the television show ‘Peaky Blinders’ to create this original piece of theatre. 

We were incredibly intrigued by Marikar’s pitch of what to expect from his play, so much so that we decided to take a train to Kandy to catch the show live at Trinity College Hall on the opening night. 

The play 

Considering that we travelled quite a distance in the midst of an economic crisis and unrelenting fuel shortages that have only just started to abate somewhat, especially to watch this play, we have to say that it was worth every bit of our time, money, and energy. The play was absolutely entertaining, incredibly well-paced and action-packed in just the right way.

We will not be spoiling the plot in this article because the play is set to be staged in Colombo this November. If you are even slightly interested in live theatre, we implore that you go see it then. 

To spoil the plot now would be a disservice to the storyline, as a large part of the driving force behind the engaging narration is due to the suspense it builds – what’s to come, what did he do, what happened? All of these questions keep the audience on the edge of their seats, eyes peeled for answers.

As the story unfolded, we as audience members caught ourselves guessing certain outcomes and possibilities and celebrating when we were rewarded for some of our guesswork; this is not to say that the plot was in any way predictable, but rather that it was a testament to how engaging the narration was. 

To be perfectly honest, the play was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. but took some time to actually begin, and we were pretty exhausted from our journey so we were looking to get back to our hotel, grab some dinner, and go right to bed. We had originally planned to leave the hall at 9 p.m. whether the play was finished by that point or not. However, the story unfolding before us had different plans as the time went over, and we were stuck to our seats, waiting to see how it all ended. 

With a limited cast, simple set pieces, and a classic story structure, Marikar’s ‘Once Upon a Family’ proved to be a top tier experience. 

The highs and lows 

The cast played a significant role in the overall success of this show, with the primary leads played by Anaz Haniffa (Casila Suleiman), Fazmina Imamudeen (Inaya – Casila’s wife), and Tobias Vishvabaratha (Warnakulasooriya) delivering dynamic performances. 

We must also make note of some of the supporting cast including Hemal Muscreen (Ashraff – Casila’s youngest son), Bhagya Senadhira (Abdul – Casila’s eldest son), Tiara Beneragama (Sara – Casila’s daughter), Ashfaq Hasan (Ibrahim), and Aslam Marikkar (Nana), who were just as good and delivered solid performances. 

Special note must be made about Fazmina Imamudeen who so accurately captured the nuances of her role, so much so that during a particularly emotionally-charged scene her anguish was felt throughout the audience with one of our own crew shedding a tear at the portrayal of her character’s sorrow. 

We were slightly torn on Tobias Vishvabaratha’s portrayal of his character, because, while his performance was undoubtedly engaging, he was tasked with clunky dialogue which affected  some of his delivery, with dialogue that at times felt long-winded and unnecessary. However, not everyone was bothered by the wordy lines, and overall, Vishvabaratha’s performance was a notable highlight of the show. 

Now that we’ve established that the actors did a great job, we have to nitpick one of the only problems with the production – the questionable effects. While it is understood that the budget was likely limited, there was one particular moment where an absolutely hideous fake beard and chest hair was drawn on a character, and the ridiculousness of the whole get-up really hindered his otherwise impactful performance. 

There was a similar instance where a fake blood patch was created by what looked like a red half sheet paper stuck to a shirt. The lacklustre effects were distracting and it was a shame that this detail was overlooked. 

Despite this, we enjoyed ourselves and the experience had us thinking that we should go to the theatre more often, even if it is out of Colombo. 

‘Once Upon a Family’ by the Sri Theatre Company was an absolute delight and we wholeheartedly recommend that you make time to catch this play in theatres when it comes to Colombo later this year. 

Info box

For updates on Sri Theatre Company productions: 

Facebook: @sritheatrecompany

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