- CT7 returns with music for Agatha Christie’s ‘Witness for the Prosecution’
By Naveed Rozais
That theatre has had a hard time of it these past few years is beyond dispute. All the arts have been crippled by the pandemic and our national crisis, not to mention the 2019 Easter attacks. However, artists are nothing if not persevering, and this November will see one of Colombo’s most passionate amateur theatre troupes, COLD Theatre 7 (CT7), stage their first full-fledged production since 2019.
COLD Theatre 7: A troupe finally off hiatus
CT7 is the brainchild of actor and thespian Kevin Cruze. Kevin has always had a vision of forming an amateur theatre troupe with the main objective of being able to create a pool of artists with a variety of talents and develop their skills by giving them the necessary opportunities, exposure, and confidence to showcase their talents when it really matters and prepare them to perform on the grandest stage.
Founded in 2013, CT7’s first major assignment was the staging of one of Agatha Christie’s classics ‘And Then There Were None’ in November 2013, which was a great theatrical success.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Brunch, Kevin was thrilled to share that after a three-year hiatus, CT7 would be staging Agatha Christie’s ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ from 17-20 November. This amateur production of ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ is sponsored by Official Promotional Partner Drama Sri Lanka and Online Shopping Partner Daraz.
Interestingly, Kevin shared that this was the first Agatha Christie production CT7 had staged since their 2015 production of ‘Mousetrap’.
“I generally like mystery genres,” Kevin said, sharing why he’s found himself back to performing an Agatha Christie work, noting that, in general, a lot of CT7’s performances had been those of mysteries: “Even when I read a play or watch a movie, I like to try and solve the puzzle myself. What I’m trying to do with ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ is give that experience to the audience and leave them on the edge of their seats trying to solve the mystery and figure out what’s happening.”
A new take on theatre promotion
Today (23) marks an interesting day for Colombo theatre because it sees CT7 launch a music video which will form the basis of much of the hype for ‘Witness for the Prosecution’.
Titled ‘COLD Theatre 7 Presents ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ (Covered by Melanie Bibile),’ the music video is a cover of the song ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ by Doris Day. It is covered by one of the cast members of ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ Melanie Bibile (who plays one of the starring roles), and the video features Melanie and another cast member Taariq Jurangpathy.
The video is directed by Kevin Cruze with vocals by Melanie Bibile, music composed by Nishan Daniel, videography and video editing by Anoj Wijayaratne, photography by Sheran Fonseka and Michael Hingert, artwork design by Michael Hingert, costumes by Chantal Dassanayake, Christine Cruze, and Aunty Jojo, and production management by Hashen Ratnayake with the support of crew members Sahan Rangitha, Thisal Wirasinha, Harshana Rathnayake, Ashweni De Silva, and Annette Candappa.
Speaking on using a music video as a means to promote a non-musical theatre production, Kevin explained that one of the things the last few years had demanded from artists was being more creative when it came to getting people excited about theatre again. “I don’t think people have been doing music videos related to theatre in the past, but again, these are challenging times, and as artists, we need to be more creative about how we can draw audiences in to watch shows. Just word of mouth, or Facebook, or Instagram is no longer enough and that’s when the whole music video idea came about,” he explained.
Linking song to theatre
Melanie Bibile, who does the vocals for this cover of ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ by Doris Day explained that part of why the song was chosen was because of how the song itself captured a mystery between lovers, with sweet lyrics that had something of a mysterious edge to them. “‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ coincides with the way we speak and the language we use. We shot it about two weeks ago, and even with the music itself, it’s a nice song, a beautiful song, but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s about a wife asking her husband if he really loves her, and there is something off about it,” Melanie said, adding that this created an air of mystery and made viewers want to find out more.
Taariq Jurangpathy, the other star of the video, also noted that this move was an innovative one that served to get audiences interested in the subtext behind the video and then in what the video was promoting. “You expect this lovey-dovey couple and you see the video and realise yes, they are in love. There is a lot going on, but there’s also this idea of ‘perhaps,’ which drives suspense.”
This cover of ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ by Doris Day goes out amidst a range of other content from CT7 designed to pique people’s interest in the mystery that is this latest production (today, for instance, is the day the name of the performance is being released, and in the buildup to this, only obscure references have been named in their promotion so far to keep audiences interested).
Info box
‘COLD Theatre 7 presents ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’ (Covered by Melanie Bibile) | Official Music Video’ can be watched on:
YouTube – Cold Theatre Seven
Facebook and Instagram – @coldtheatre7
