Veteran dramatist and actor Indu Dharmasena has been doing his magic on stage, mesmerizing audiences from back then. This time he is back with another version of his much-loved ‘Tommiya’ series to entertain the crowds with his hilarious direction. ‘Madai Tommiya Shooting Giya’ is an addition to a series of eleven plays penned by Indu himself, revolving around Tommiya, a man who comes to Colombo and tries to adapt to its culture. 

Speaking about his upcoming play with Life Online, Indu said that this time Tommiya wants to star in a film titled ‘Sus Sus Gala Ei’. “This film is directed by Zara Shan and the location is out of Colombo. Andana Silva who has been a permanent fixture in this series is called on to do the hair and makeup and with him comes Tommiya as his assistant. The cast and the crew stay at the ‘Sihinaya’ guest house owned by Kapila Kotagaha. As soon as Tommiya steps in to this guest house, he walks in to one of the actress’s rooms and it is from here that all the trouble plus the fun begins. The film has a fussy leading man, a good-looking but notorious female lead and to make matters worse there is also an annoying neighbour hell-bent on closing down the guest house. The female lead Suranie has an issue with the rest of the cast whenever she is on location. When things get going Tommiya too gets interested in doing a small part in the film much to the surprise of the director and the rest of the cast.” 

The cast includes Indu Dharmasena, Sanwada Dharmasena, Sashini Wakwella, Ruwendi Wakwella, George Cooke, Yasal Ruhunage, Anushan Selvarajah, Sulochana Perera, Sharini Mendis and Jaliya Wijewardene. 

The play will be staged on October 21, 22 and 23 at the Lionel Wendt from 7.30pm onwards. A unique feature of the play is that this time, the show on October 21 will be presented by the Bamunuarachchi Foundation and all proceeds from the show will be in aid of establishing the Operation Theatre Complex at the Homagama Base Hospital. 

Photographs by Damith Wickramasinghe