When Steve de la Zilwa decides on a play to direct, it sends the whole of Colombo buzzing…those who want to be in it, those who want to watch it and those who want to give their take on his interpretation!

It is no wonder it has taken him 10 years to find a play that will inspire him enough to take on the The City and to wait patiently for the new magic breed of actors to appear on the scene.

After his initial introduction into theatre at S. Thomas's, the 'drama drug' well set in his bones,  Steve continued to act, direct, light, sound  and dress theatre since the 70s. To name but a few in his extensive resume: The first production of West Side Story at the Tower Hall; The Cherry Orchard with the Colombo University DramSoc featuring Azira Esufally and Indrika Ratwatte;  Deathtrap with Richard de Zoysa and Graham Hatch;  Little Shop of Horrors with Shannon Raymond, Michelle Leembruggen and Christopher Ponniah; the musical Grease; Post Horn Gallop for S. Thomas' College;  Witness for the Prosecution with the Law College DramSoc; Tons of Money for AFS; and Nedra Vittachi's Poppy.

The British Council / Joint Effort Company productions include; Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist with Peter D'Almeida;  Harold Pinter's One For The Road and Mountain Language and Anna Weiss with Ranmali Mirchandani, Rohan Ponniah and Nimmi Harasgama.

It is his sheer passion as a mise en scene and his profound desire  to create a sublime evening of perfection on stage that keeps us all waiting for more, more and much more!

To 'do a play' for the sake of 'doing a play' is just not in Steve's vocabulary. Like any true auteur he searches for a play with an underlying cerebral meaning. A meaning, that he as the director can take hold of and sculpt into a profound statement that will in fact be fundamentally relevant to the society that we live in. One may not assume, that Equus, in short, a play about a boy and a horse, written some 20 years ago will have an impact on Colombo today, but when it comes to a combination of Peter Shaffer and Steve de la Zilwa one must be careful what one assumes.

While the days grow closer to the first night of Equus, Steve will be sitting in his chair at his desk in his office with one lamp on, a random ipod song playing and his mind will be a whirr with the minutest of detail about His Equus and though the audience may not notice this detail, Steve will know the difference it will make to the play!

- Nimmi Harasgama