Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
Saturday, 15 November 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
After placing the subject of marriage under a comedic microscope, Indu Dharmasena has now journeyed to the other end of the spectrum and landed on the even more titillating and salacious topic of infidelity. Not just your run-of-the-mill marital deception either, but the full-blown lover down every corner kind, perpetrated by a seemingly straitlaced doctor.
Indu, who will assume the chief role of the philandering Dr. Premjith Suwadena, is bristling with the same boundless energy which has led him to create more than 60 plays when describing his character in the latest of them, ‘Here for a Fit-on’.
Indu said that while structuring the production, he drew inspiration from famous English playwright Ray Cooney.
“Ray Cooney inspired this because it’s in real-time. It starts off and everything happens as it happens. Even for the interval we go into a freeze and start off from where we left off, whereas in my other plays there were different scenes,” he explained.
“I always try not to make my plays too long. With TV, when viewers get bored they will switch the channel but when you are doing a production, you don’t want to make them suddenly leave the theatre. You should make them leave the theatre wanting more.”
In the play, Dr. Suwadena is a man juggling multiple mistresses and, after detecting the growing suspicion of his wife, commandeers the house of his hairdresser friend Maithri Sri Hadhakarana. However, the doctor’s dreams of an ideal date with his newest love interest Sumi are rapidly dashed as a retinue of quirky characters, including another of his girlfriends, forces him to manoeuvre his way out of an uncomfortable situation which threatens to lay bare his clever double-dealing.
Indu’s exuberance over the plot and characters seems to filter through to every member of the cast, so much so that there is a tangible joie de vivre which resonates from each one of them as they discuss their roles and experiences working together.
This is especially true of Chithranga Kariyawasan, who will assume the identity of hypochondriac Gloria. Chithranga has periodically acted in Indu’s plays stretching all the back to the ’80s before taking a brief hiatus to pursue her education.
She has since made a successful return to the stage and says she “tremendously enjoyed” playing the role of Gloria.
Sanwada Dharmasena mimics much of this enthusiasm when talking about stepping into the jilted shoes of Dr. Suwadena’s obsessive former lover Anjana.
“The one thing I love about acting is that you can be whomever you want for that short period of time you’re on stage. You can be anything you have subconsciously wanted to be but can’t in real life because people have too many things to tell you. So for me it’s an outlet,” Sanwada revealed.
For Nihili Senarath, who adopts the part of Sumi in the play, the entire acting process, despite being liberating for her in the manner described by Sanwada, did come with the slight awkwardness of having to flirt with Indu, someone who has guided her theatrical growth since her early acting days.
Indu says that rehearsals for any of his plays always operate on a premise of quality over quantity, something Abbasali Rozais – tasked with playing the character of Mahen, Sumi’s brutish husband – states was particularly evident in this production. “The rehearsals were wonderful. Everyone was very relaxed and we always do good work in the time we have together,” he said.
‘Here for a Fit-on’ will go on the boards of the Lionel Wendt on 28, 29 and 30 November. Tickets are priced at Rs. 2,000, Rs. 1,500, Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 (balcony, unreserved). Tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The show on 28 November will be presented by the St. Anthony’s Girls’ College Kandy OGA, while the one on 29 November will be presented by the Rotary Club of Colombo Central to support their ongoing projects.
