Around the World in 80 Days took place from August 12 - 14 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The play directed by Thushara Hettihamu was presented by the English Dramatic Society of Royal College and the Old Royalists’ Association of Dramatists. The play was an adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic novel ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ where a one Mr. Fogg along with his valet Passepartout attempts to travel around the world in 80 days to win a wager of twenty-thousand pounds. 

As they travel across 10 different countries and cities, the play unravels their hilarious journey across the world. Unaware they are being chased by an Inspector who is convinced that it is Fogg who robbed the Bank of England, the story takes Mr. Fogg and his valet on an adventure involving (but not limited to) elephant rides, smart talking themselves out of prison and kidnapping a widow who was about to be sacrificed! 

With such an adventure packed play – we couldn’t possibly find the time to be bored. With a cast of 40, Royal College presented a well rehearsed drama that had an unexpected comical side to it. Kudos to the cast for their convincing accents – we were especially impressed with Passepartout and his consistent French accent and Audoa who deviated from the usual high pitch tone used to imitate female roles and projected a richer but lower tone instead. 

Having diverged from their previous adaptations of more serious plays, Royal College pulled off an enthralling play that had the right amount of drama and humour at every turn. 

Overall, we thought that Around the World in 80 Days was a pleasant surprise. We were expecting something more serious but we found ourselves laughing most of the time. Congratulations to the cast for successfully pulling this off! 

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Best Performance: Passepartout 

Played by Hidaayath Hazeera, Passepartout was the biggest comic relief in the play. With his French accent and his hilarious facial expressions, there wasn’t a moment in which Passepartout didn’t have us laughing. Despite how difficult it is to consistently talk with an accent, Passepartout managed to stay within his character for the duration of the entire play which we thought was pretty admirable. Good job, Hidaayath! 

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We spoke to some of the audience members about what they thought and here’s what they had to say: 

“Funny! Such an amazing cast. Rivi (Audoa) was amazing! It was a well directed play with the right amount of comedy!” – Nandula 

“I thought Passepartout and Mr. Fogg were really good!” – Thushara 

“It was a great play! I really like Passepartout. He’s such a funny character with an accent and all” – Inouk 

“It was very interesting. It’s a great family drama to enjoy!”– Darshini 

“Really enjoyed it! Mr. Fogg and Passepartout are the best!” – Ms. Amaratunga 

“It’s very nice. Really like the characters!” – Charini 

“Good fun! I thought Passepartout was very good!” – Aadhil 

“The play is very interesting! My son was acting as Passepartout and I think his movements and his French accent was just great!” – R. Hazeera 

“It was interesting. I thought Passepartout is really good. Overall the play was better than we expected it to be!” – Hiruni 

Photographs by Waruna Wanniarachchi