By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Mussoorie, 14 Jul: The Annual Inter-House Dramatics Competition was held at St George’s College on the 12-13 July at its Patrician Centenary Auditorium. The Chief Guest on Day 1 was Pooja Poddar Marwah, an Award-Winning Author, Columnist, Blogger, Speaker and Executive content writer whose writing journey is spread across many mediums. She has been featured for her work in various publications. The Chief Guest was introduced by Sagar Joshi and presented a potted plant as a token of appreciation.
The plays were judged by a panel of judges, namely Nasrin Sultana, Facilitator English, Mussoorie International School; Meghna McFarland, Senior English teacher, Wynberg Allen School, Mussoorie, and Veena Kalia and Manju Sharma, former Staff, Department of English, St Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun.
The Chief Guest on Day 2 of the Inter-House Dramatics Competition’24, was OP Manocha. A man of distinguished experience as a scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Manocha, has played a pivotal role in executing various defence projects. A man who wears many hats, Manocha is a writer, an avid traveller, a poet and a blogger.
Yuvraj Singh introduced the Chief Guest and a potted plant was presented to Manocha as a token of appreciation.
Marthins’ House presented Helena’s Husband, a historically rich narrative unravelling the complexities of love, betrayal, patriotism and strife. The cast included Parth Gaba as Helena, Queen of Sparta, Christopher D’Souza as Menelaus, King of Troy, Yuvraj Singh as Analytikos, Rio Gonsalves as Paris, Prince of Troy and Achintya Srivastava as Tsumu.
Tapsell’s House presented ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ – a magical adventure in a mind blowing race through time, spectacular spells and an epic battle. The cast included Hridhvik Anand as Harry Potter, Shubhashish Gupta as Hermione Granger, Ayushmaan Aron as Ron Weasely, Prerak Rastogi as Draco Malfoy, Vinamra Mehra as Ginny Potter, Felix Kurian as Albus Severus Potter Sr, Soumil Mittal as Scorpus Malfoy Sr and Akshat Raj as Delphi Diggory.
Cullen’s House presented ‘Alladin’, a thrillingly adventurous production filled with magical elements. The play was a vivid portrayal of Middle Eastern culture and featured Krishnam Grover as Alladin, Mahin Ghosh as Jasmine, Aarav Puri as Sultan, Sagar Joshi as Jafar, Veer Pratap Saini as Genie, Shaurya Agarwal as the Magic Carpet, Yuvraj Chhabra as Lago, Adhvik Garg as Abu and Arnav Singh as Rajah.
In the final play of Dramatics 2024, Gateley’s House presented Hotel Transylvania, a stage adaptation of the popular film of the same name. The play was the story of the classic good-evil battle and explored the theme of the existence of other worlds in the Universe.
The cast included Count Dracula played by Dhruv, Mavis played by Nandini Mehar, Johnny played by Madhav Ramesh and a slew of other characters like monsters, zombies, guests and the like.
The criteria for evaluation included clarity, expression, gestures, stage coverage and effects such as lights, music, costumes and overall appeal.
Marthins’ House was declared the winner of the competition while Cullen’s House secured the Runners Up Trophy. Principal, Brother Ramesh Amalanathan addressed the gathering and expressed his sincere appreciation to the judges. He lauded the efforts of the teachers and students, saying that such events foster the overall development and growth of the individual.
The evening came to an end with the presentation of mementos to the judges.
The Annual Inter-House Dramatics Competition 2024 was successfully organised under the supervision of Bro Ramesh Amalanathan (Principal, St George’s College), Bro Babu Varghese (Superior), Bro Felix Kumar (Vice-Principal and Sports Secretary), Mark Gonsalves (Senior School Coordinator), Deepali Ballabh (Cultural Coordinator) and Bhavnesh Negi.
