I must be frank, I was looking forward to this particular stage drama and couldn’t contain my excitement until the curtain rolled away and the show began! It was truly a delight to see how big and strong the crowd was even for the second day of the show, from the young to the old. 

The show started with Rob Brewster (played by Shanaka Amarasinghe) thinking out loud and getting his book done to send it to his publisher, and his secretary Max Blake, played by Ashini Fernando (now mind you, Max is a woman!) kept on making errors and was incredibly hilarious, and so was the fact that she can write shorthand but can’t read it and cannot stand the words 'you’re fired'. Rob’s roommate Jimmy Carmichael (played by Delon Weerasinghe) works in drama (the irony) and keeps getting auditions on his way. Out of the blue, Rob receives a letter where his parents are to visit him and cannot wait to see him being a successful doctor and this exactly is where the drama starts! 

It was beyond hilarious to watch Dr. Rob Brewster pretend to be a doctor and Max the confused nurse along with Jimmy who had no other person to help him out to play the role of patients and watch him make his appearance with his hilarious stage play costumes! And yes, he even dressed like an Arab, a blind French man (who suddenly got his eyesight back and reads magazines whilst being blind), an expecting mother, and Superman himself! 

We certainly could not hold back our laughter when Rob had to go through the pain of 'healing the patients', and dealing with Jimmy’s insane choice of outfits along with fooling his lovely parents Jane and Rob Brewster III, played by Michelle Herft and Jivan Goonetilake. They were incredibly naïve and so awfully proud of their son. 

But things went downhill, when their "jacka**" neighbour Chuck Murdock kept lurking around like a mad man trying to find if his ex-wife was seeing someone and to be more specific, it was Chuck himself! And when his ex-wife Maureen did come in, in an entirely confused state as well as mistaken for the maid, she certainly had to go through some messed up chaos! 
And finally after Uncle Harold (played by Danu Innasithamby) came in, with pains literally everywhere and wanted a diagnosis (which he did get) was something where he gets the disorder of acting and behaving like a dog. It was such a sight! 

And to put things in place, after all the chaotic drama which has taken place, Rob finally tells his parents the truth and they were alright with it and was delighted when the publisher calls with regards to the publication of the book. Amidst all this, Rob proposes to Max and we were laughing (although it was certainly sad) when she said no. 

Either way, 'Playing Doctor' directed by Vinodh Senadeera and presented by the Combined Theatre Company certainly did bring a one of a kind rib tickling comedy to the audience! 

And here’s what the audience had to say! 

It was really great! - Anjali 

Very funny. - Roshan 

Funny and entertaining! - Mythri 

It was really nice, and seeing my teacher on stage like that was pretty cool! - Avishka 

Very good! - Shamri 

Funny! - Saheli 

Good casting, script and direction! - Roshane 

Photographs of the cast on stage courtesy Kings Co.