Mind Adventures Theatre Company presents Samurai
- Performance dates: from Tuesday, March 25, 2008 to Sunday, March 30, 2008
- Directed by: Tracy Holsinger
- Time: 8.00pm to 9.30pm
- Location: British Council Lawn, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The play will be performed in the british council hall in the event of rain.
- Tickets: Rs 500 available at the gate on days of the show. Call 0777 742390 or 0772 828877 for booking details.
- Official Website: daytripper.wordpress.com
gallery
cast
cast for tuesday 25 march, thursday 27 march and saturday 29 march
- Kung - Ryan Holsinger
- The Empress - Subha Wijesririwardene
- The Royal Proclamation Reader - Sulochana Perera
- Sharaku - Wasaam Ismail
- Yuki - Jehan Gunesekera
- Buncho - Nuzreth Jalaldeen
- Utamaro - Brandon Ingram
- Nishimura - Ruvin de Silva
cast for wednesday 26 march, friday 28 march and sunday 30 march
- Kung - Ryan Holsinger
- The Empress - Mahina Bongso
- The Royal Proclamation Reader - Sulochana Perera
- Sharaku - Mihiri Warnasuriya
- Yuki - Aavon Fernando
- Buncho - Anush de Costa
- Utamaro - Brandon Ingram
- Nishimura - Jehan Mendis
synopsis: Samurai by Geoffrey Case
Source: nationaltheater.org.uk
Samurai is a story set in the ancient city of Utagowa, Japan. Utagowa no longer exists, but when it did it was famous for two things: four years of famine, and one year of unbelievable wealth. The famine ended when a golden samurai sword was brought to the city by a boy named Yuki. In almost no time at all crops were growing, the entire population was fed and clothed, and life began to get better. It actually got better than anyone could have dreamed, and sometimes the citizens thought they were dreaming, because everything they wished for—food, the latest fashion item, gold, diamonds or even a new home—would miraculously appear, and this was all because the sword had magical powers. Needless to say, pretty soon everyone was living high on the hog and was knee deep in anything that passed for a gadget in tenth century Japan. But the good times didn't last. After an absence of a year, the boy Yuki returned to the city to remind the citizens of their promise, made when they were starving, to return the sword to the forests of the North so that others, less fortunate than them, could search for and benefit from the magic of the sword. Realizing that the engine of their wealth was to be taken away, the citizens decided the only sensible course of action was to fight tooth and nail to hang onto the sword. But what they'd gained on the consumer roundabouts they'd lost on the intellectual swings, and they realized pretty quickly that they really weren't up to planning a campaign of deceit, or planning anything at all requiring creative thought. They needed a leader with an agile and cunning mind if they were to hang onto what they had. They turned to the Ex-Royal Proclamation Reader, a man who a year earlier had tried to overthrow the Empress and seize power. Promising him anything he desired if only he would help them, they became his co-conspirators in a plot to imprison the Empress and cheat Yuki by sending him off with a fake sword.
The story of Samurai tells how Yuki, with the help of the rescued Empress, fights against insuperable odds to return the Sword to the God-like Golden Army of Samurai Warriors in the Northern forests, and how he and the Empress, at the hands of the wealthy citizens of Utagowa, pay with their lives. But the power of the sword has one final surprise for the citizens: it saves their souls.