THE IRRESISTIBLE RISE OF MR.SIGNNO

Author – Indika Ferdinando

Publisher – VAPA university Press

First Edition 2022

ISBN 978-624-5785-13-1

150  Pages

This is a spellbinding story about the seductiveness and bedevilment of power. A chance opportunity leads the lamebrained “ every-person” signno to inadvertently gain an increasing power to control not just others, but also the gods and demons. Bewitched by his own good fortune, he deceives those around him by orchestrating a series of dire circumstances to recklessly satisfy his growing taste for power. In the process, his naive ordinariness is sublimely transformed into cruel cunning and disingenuity. Swathed in this excess of hubris, signno eventually, and foolishly, sets out to show the omnipotent Death that even he can be conquered.

The story of Signno draws upon the powerful multi-sensory experience of traditional sinhalese healing rituals Gammaduwa and Sanni Yakuma, through a clever focus on the engagement of all six senses in the course of performance. Signno also presents as a richly inventive and highly engaging commentary on contemporary politics in sri lanka. Crafted by master storyteller Indika Ferdinando, the play was fist performed in Colombo in 2015 to critical acclaim by theatre critics and audiences  alike.

Dr. Adrian McNeil

Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance

Monash University 

Australia  

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