A few good laughs can not only heal your soul, but also make you spread that cheer to everyone around you. Indu Dharmasena has been dealing in the business of laughs for quite some time now, having written close to 58 plays; “Madai Tommiya Help Kala” is the 11th in his side-splittingly funny Tommiya series. The play will be staged at the Lionel Wendt from the 18th to the 20th of January, and if you are in the mood for rolling on the floor laughing, then I suggest you get your tickets fast!
.jpg)
This time around we find the naive but good natured Tommiya, coming to Colombo to educate himself on the intricacies of the English language. His guru; hair dresser Andana Silva, insists that Tommy speaks in English every waking second of his life, to hasten his learning process. Into this mix enters Nilmini; Andana’s friend, who’s down from the United States, and what results as you can imagine, is a series of hilarious puns and jokes that will make you laugh your insides out. Did I also mention that at some point Nilimini’s ex-boyfriend Govinda Suraweera suddenly drops in out of the blue? He had dumped Nilmini ten years ago to marry a rich politician’s daughter, and now he’s back and it’s upto our Tommiya to make sure that there is some distance between Govinda and Nilmini. Will the forever good-natured Tommy end up helping or actually making things worse? Well, you will just have to find out for yourself this weekend.
.jpg)
I sat down with Indu and his cast to discuss the play and the complexities of directing a comedy. I was curious to know what kept bringing Indu back to the character of Tommy. After all, the character has survived 11 plays spanning almost two decades making Indu Dharmasena and Tommy pretty much the Sri Lankan Tyler Perry and Madea of comedy.
Indu Dharmasena
“I keep coming back because everyone likes him…when I wrote the first play I had no intention of continuing it. “Madai Ithing Dubai Giya” was written partly due to an old maid who had gone abroad and told us horrific stories about her experiences. Tommy wasn’t even the main character. This was in 89 or 90 and the character has developed quite a lot since we started. He’s like my alter ego now!”
Sanwada Dharmasena
His wife and partner in crime, Sanwada Dharmasena (who plays Nilmini) also added that:
“Tommy is such a likeable character. He is innocent and he means well. He’s a good Samaritan…and says things directly to people’s faces…but it’s just that he happens to get himself into a lot trouble which is of course hilarious.”
All these colourful characters including Tommy come from the creative insights of none other than Indu himself. He explained to me the creative process behind each of his Tommiya plays:
“I listen to people…some of these things are things I’ve actually observed. Even the characters are a combination of people… I don’t use it to hurt or poke fun at people. I don’t want the audience to laugh at people or at us; I want them to laugh with us.”
You could say that comedies are a trademark of Indu Dharmsena’s productions. I asked him what allures him to the genre:
“It’s what I enjoy…I love watching comedies. Also, it’s not that I play to the gallery, but I try to cater to my target audience who come to my plays for something not too heavy…they just come to enjoy and relax a little. It’s sort of a form of escapism.”
Although on the surface comedies seems light hearted and fun, making people laugh is really hard to pull off, for directors and actors alike. Indu shared with me the challenges and complexities involved in pulling off a comedy and the specific aspects of it that he had to focus on in this particular play:
“In Sinhala drama it’s mostly how you deliver the lines….you don’t have to say anything witty…but the way you say it matters, whereas in English comedy you need to be careful about timing. This is like a mix of both. I firmly believe it’s harder to make a person laugh than cry because you push it and people wouldn’t find it funny.”
This answer made it clear to me that Indu knew exactly what ingredients are required to make an average Sri Lankan laugh. Of course acting in a comedy is as challenging as directing one. As Sanwada and Yasal Ruhunage put it:
“When you hear people laughing you feed off the laughs! it’s a natural high, and that’s what keeps us coming back…I mean its likes an addiction!”
Sitting among the cast I realised what a fun and positive atmosphere it was. Clearly everyone involved were having a ball putting together the latest edition in the Tommiya series. I asked the cast what it was like working with Indu:
“Hilarious and scary! Especially when he gets mad!” says Anushan Selvarajah who plays Govinda, adding, “He is also the man who trained and brought us all up from school.”
“It’s fun and entertaining. The kind of relationship we have with him…we are all friends but everyone respects him,” says Sanjana Selvarajah who plays Tania.
Sanwada summed it up for me the best when she related an anecdote to describe what it’s like working on an Indu production:
“After our last production we had a cast party and when he said we were going to have another play and asked who’s interested? All hands went up!”
Abbasali Rozais
Before wrapping things up Abbasali Rozais, up and coming playwright and the man behind Andana Silva brought up a pertinent point:
“All plays carry an underlying message and what makes Madai Tomiya Help Kala compelling is its premise and message, which you will have to come and watch to find out.”
So if you’re in the mood for some classic Sri Lankan comedy seasoned with good old puns and word twisting, come on down to the Lionel Wendt this weekend, and as cast member Anoop Kapukotuwa reminded me:
“Don’t eat too much, because you’re going to laugh so hard!”
The Cast
|
Tommy |
Indu Dharmasena |
|
Andana Silva |
Abbasali Rozais |
|
Tania |
Sanjana Selvarajah |
|
Mahesh |
Yasal Ruhunage |
|
Nilmini Byrd |
Sanwada Dharmasena |
|
Saro P |
Ruwendi Wakwella |
|
Saro M |
Nihili Senarath |
|
Anu |
Oshini Gunawardana |
|
Govinda Suraweera |
Anushan Selvarajah |
|
Rocky |
Anoop Kapukotuwa |
By Maleen Jayasuriya
Pics by Indraratne Balasuriya
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 Comments