| Mirror
Magazine |
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The
doctor is in
Having mainly stuck to serious plays, tragedies and musicals over the recent past, Vinod finally found a cast that could handle a comedy, and thought it would be the ideal opportunity to have a re-run of ‘Playing Doctor’, a sure crowd puller, in his eyes. Once Colombo theatregoers get a taste for Thomian productions, the possibilities are endless, says Vinod. “I want to give the boys a chance to experience all types of drama, instead of being stuck in one particular style of acting,”he says.
The story revolves around Rob Brewster (Asitha Tennekoon), an aspiring writer who has trouble revealing his true profession to his ambitious parents. Therefore he hides behind the pretence of being a doctor. All goes well, until one fine day, his parents Robert Brewster III (Andi Schubert & Mahangu Weerasinghe on alternate nights) and Janet Brewster (Mevan Kirella Bandara) decide to come visit their pride and joy (Rob) and watch their ‘supposedly’ successful son in action. This is where the plot begins to thicken. The switch from ‘Black Dawn’ (the last Thomian production) to ‘Playing Doctor’ was huge but good, says Asitha (18). The social stereotypes and putting up a front to please your parents still exist, he says. Furthermore, it’s a theme most youth can identify with, he adds. “The cast is a really great set of guys, everyone’s given 100% or more and we have a great time on stage, that’s the main thing,” says Asitha emphatically. Rob’s mother Janet Brewster is played by Mevan, a comparatively soft spoken and shy member of the cast who endures being bullied by his fellow cast members with never failing good humour. Making his debut appearance in a College production, he seemed to be fully satisfied. From looking for sponsors to painting sets and finding props etc. it has been a great experience, he says. Mahangu (18), who is also making his debut on stage, says that it’s been quite tough but at the same time great, especially as he got the opportunity to make new friends. Playing the role of Robert Brewster III is quite a challenge as his character is the complete opposite of himself. “Being someone else is the best part of acting for me,” he says. Rob has approximately a day to transform his little apartment study into a doctor’s office, do a crash course in medicine, train his rather dense secretary, Max Blake (Milinda Kulugammana, 14, the youngest member of the cast), to answer the phone as “…Nurse Blake speaking” and find some patients for himself… pronto. He designates the latter task to his ‘wannabe actor’ friend/roommate, Jimmy Carmichael (Neraj Saluwadana) and rushes around getting the rest in order. So great is his degree of stress due to this, that he doesn’t realize until it is too late what Jimmy has up his sleeve. Neraj (17) the President of DramSoc, is a natural, taking part in his third major school production. He plays the part of Jimmy as well as twelve other characters, in the play. The manner in which he switches from one role to another within seconds is quite commendable. Playing Jimmy is a totally new and different experience for Neraj and he seems to be loving every minute of the challenge. “We, as a cast, are quite a close unit and have made a pact to give this our best and bring DramSoc back into its former glory,” says Neraj with pride. The havoc heightens when Rob’s neighbour Chuck Murdoch (Naveen Perera), the psychotic and jealous type, keeps storming into his apartment in search of Jimmy, who he’s convinced is involved with his ex-wife, Maureen (Kris Balthazar), quite a hot-blooded and sensuous woman, on the look out for some ‘young blood’. Uncle Harold, (Vivek Jayasuriya), one of Rob’s relations and a hypochondriac who eventually thinks he’s become a dog, adds to the general sense of pandemonium already rampant on stage. Vivek (17), is supposedly (courtesy of Vinod) the most unpunctual, unfit and fussiest cast member of the lot and is by the way, also, the Vice President of DramSoc. His palpitations and sensitive skin are just two of the zillion symptoms he’s supposedly plagued with and are recorded on his endless list of symptoms, that he reads out to Dr. Brewster. His obsession with illness is so strong that when he discovers that he may have the symptoms of a disease that makes him believe he’s a dog, he actually begins to act as one. He prefers playing flawed characters, he says and has created a strong bond with his cast members, as they were with him all the way, especially during a recent bad patch he went through. When Jimmy reveals
to Rob that he couldn’t in fact find a troupe of actors to
play his patients, the solution is inevitable. Their superbly executed
plan of action however, is bound to leave the audience in gales
of merriment. This production is sponsored by, Dynavision, TNL radio
and The Sunday Times. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Milinda
Kulugammana, Mahanya Weerasinghe and Vivek Jayasuriya
Naveen
Perera, Mevan Kiriella Bandara and Neraj Saluwadana
Mevan,
Milinda, Asitha Tennekoon and Neraj
Mevan,
Andi Schubert and Kris Balthazar
Mahangu,
Asitha and Kris
