‘Maya’, a production by the Mind Adventures Theatre company, unfolded its great performance on 8th September, at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The play was written and directed by Tracy Holsinger and the music direction was by Ruvin de Silva.

The play initiated with beautiful music produced by the cast themselves, making it an exceptional highlight that favoured the process of capturing the audience’s attention. The lighting, background music and sound effects succeeded in creating a vision of ecstasy that held the audience’s undivided attention throughout the performance. 

The costumes were quite striking, especially with the luminescent glow that made the dimly lit scenes even more dramatic. 

The play involved demonic women that were looked down on and discriminated by men. The most inspirational character ‘Maya’, who was the leading female role, sent strong and powerful vibes that portrayed women as clever, independent and powerful beings, despite the underestimation towards them. 

Maya builds up courage and determination to rescue the imprisoned queen of the land and to protect those she loved and cared for. Overcoming obstacles along the way, she continued her adventure which involved excitement, anxiety and sacrifice until the very end.
The fight scenes displayed great forms of martial arts and intense physicality that were filled with extraordinary energy and skills.

The joy brought about by the energetic dancing and celebrations infected the audience while the tense scenes created suspense in the minds of every viewer.

With the use of magnificent props, realistic elements and trilingual dialogues, the cast was able to successfully send the audience on a journey of a wide range of emotions that included joy, trust, sorrow, fear as well as anger. 

Each and every movement that was taken by the actors were brilliantly executed and the facial expressions greatly emphasized the vibrant personalities of each individual.
The cast was indeed quite talented in many aspects. They managed to successfully get fully involved in all the scenes that included dancing, fighting and even running away.

The making of music with different instruments was an extraordinary sight to witness. The greatest instruments that stunned the audience were the melodious vocals of the actors who also contributed in creating the sound effects. The soothing chants echoed throughout the theatre, creating a heartfelt atmosphere.

The entire plot of the show itself was quite intriguing and seemed to whisk the audience away into the world of adventures, making their way through the chaos and destruction to achieve victory along with the characters on stage. 

Shedding light on feminism and courage, the cast of ‘Maya’ successfully ended the play with a well-deserved victory and great rounds of applause by the  audience. 

The fresh and original plot that included engaging characters and domineering motives, resulted in a realistic fiction in which women were honestly portrayed and given empowering roles.

After the play, a few people  shared their thoughts on ‘Maya’:

‘Maya’ was Tracy at her creative best. So very much condensed into 70 power-packed minutes with elements of theatre, Kolam, Kung-Fu, magic, Angampora… all restricted to, and seamlessly worked out in a large circular space and effectively communicated with very sparse, trilingual dialogues. Its sheer physicality was very palpable and kept one thinking “now what next?”. Bravo Tracy. Bravo cast and crew.

– Kumar de Silva

 

It was very good. Very interesting. The make up was superb!

 – Denushka

The lighting was really great. It was almost like we were watching a movie and you can connect to everything they said. The vocals and instruments were really good. It was great. It was awesome.

– Selena

 

It was visually very beautiful. Fantastic acting.

– Shyamala

 

It was amazing. There was a wide range of talent coming from each individual actor and it was so original. I loved the take on it. Every role had so many dimensions to it so I really enjoyed it.

– Sharmi Gamage

 

I thought the play was amazing. The sound effects were incredible and the dances were really fascinating. The way they used the paint and smoke, the masks and change of characters were great. The feminist critique was really inspiring and energizing.

– Kiyomi

 

I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The dancing and the fighting were amazing. It completely blew me away.

– Deepika

 

I thought it was really good. Kind of unusual sound production. Very impressed.

– Jeff Marshall

 

It was very well produced and I loved the costumes.

– Keshani

 

I thought it was a very well devised production and it’s nice to note that women were not in a disempowered role. The women were not subordinate or subservient. The women have been given an empowering role. The setting and the costumes’attention to detail was very nice. I did appreciate it.

– Pravina Harris

Photographs by: Nisal Baduge