Indu's back with ‘Run for your wife’ 

Inspired by the works of Ray Cooney, Indu Dharmasena is getting ready to stage Cooney’s longest-running comedy ‘Run for your wife’ this Valentine's season. As another one of his productions which fall under the genre ‘farce’, Cooney’s farces combine a traditional British bawdiness with structural complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be things that they are not and often talk at cross-purposes. Speaking to the Daily Mirror Life, Indu shared his views about his latest production. 

Give us a brief synopsis of the play. 

The story revolves around John Smith who is a cab driver in London. He has two wives and spends two separate lives. He has to work according to a very precise schedule to juggle them both, with one wife at her home in Streatham and another at home in Wimbledon. But he falls in trouble brews when he is mugged and ends up in hospital, where both of his addresses surface, causing both the Streatham and Wimbledon police to investigate. So his schedule is a bit messed up now he goes on trying to explain the situation to his two wives and two police officers with the help of his lazy neighbour in Wimbledon. 

Is it something you planned for the Valentine’s month? 

Actually no. It was very coincidental. 

Why do you mainly concentrate on comedies? 

I personally like comedies. People are quite busy with their heavy schedules and I don’t think that they would enjoy watching tragedies. Comedies would at least keep them laughing and give them some relaxation. 

Some critics say that this trend of comedy is influencing the theatre industry and that it is a bad influence. Do you agree with this? 

I don’t agree. I think it is a nicer and better way to get a message across. I think that even in 95% of tele-dramas you would mostly see people crying. We as actors know how difficult it is to make others laugh. Therefore I do not agree with what they say. 

 

Let’s talk about the cast. 

John Smith is the main character. Sanwada Dharmasena plays the role of Mary Smith, Michelle Herft as Barbara Smith, Abbasali Rozais as Sergeant Porterhouse, Yasal Ruhunage as Bobby Franklin and George Cooke as Stanley. I think all of them are putting in a lot of energy. 

 

What about the setup? 

The setup has two venues in one place. The furniture etc., is arranged so that they are common to both flats. 

What : ‘Run for your wife’
Where : Lionel Wendt
When : February 19-21 

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
Photographs by Kithsiri De Mel