It’s going to be wild chaos as Indu returns!
View(s):By Yomal Senerath-Yapa
It’s another rumbustious Indu Dharmasena comedy, this time set against a wildlife park where in a hotel to rival Fawlty Towers, a chaotic weekend ensues. The action begins when the adulterous Casanova Niranjan Papolwatta (Tharusha Kumarasinghe) plans a rendezvous with his paramour and his wife decides (in all innocence) to pay a visit as well.
Throw in other elements – the manager of the hotel Sam Boladeniya (played by Indu himself) who in manful connivance tries to cover Niranjan’s tracks; ravishing receptionist Manori (Sanwada Dharmasena); factotum Siri (Chamitha Piyasena); sharp-eyed journalist Namali (Kamanthi Wickramasinghe) and friend Rehana (Rachael Hammer); the no-nonsense pukka sahib William Gasgoda (Michael Holsinger) and wife Gloria (Priyanka Holsinger) and the result is merry mayhem!
A cast of old timers to new faces: All set for Love, Lies and Wildlife. Pic by M. A. Pushpa Kumara
Indu wrote ‘Love, Lies and Wildlife’ after a weekend at Yala and this time the cast is a melange from old-timers like Michael Holsinger who has been with him from the ’eighties to the very young Chamitha, and Rachael.
The femme fatale of the play is Niranjan’s ‘latest flame’ the actress Surekha, played by Shemaiah Ratnayake. Having joined Indu’s group last October Shemaiah despite her youth has to play a seasoned actress with an aura which is challenging. “I’ve never played a character like her before but I am falling in love with her,” laughs Shemaiah.
The unsuspecting wife is played by Krys Soysa who has acted with Indu for close upon 30 years. Taking to the stage after a long absence Krys is, like Indu, a wildlife person and this resonates with her, she says.
The curvy new receptionist learning her ropes mid-chaos, Manori, is played by Sanwada, Indu’s wife and she says “if I mess up my lines Indu gives me a look- which is the most challenging part.” Running around in high heels is another challenge she says. Naïve and ingenuous, Manori doesn’t help the entangled situation with her blunders.
Kamanthi Wickramasinghe plays Namali the hard-nosed journalist. A real-life scribe herself she says that in the play she “creates a lot of drama.” The challenge she says is that “as usual in Indu’s plays until we act out in a crowd we really don’t know where people would pick up and start laughing- but fingers crossed, I hope I can bring a smile to someone’s face.”
Young Chamitha Piyasena, the baby of the cast plays the ‘door-boy’ Siri, and says that while his own English happens to be good and the character’s command of the language not so, “it’s difficult to get into that kind of mentality- but I am getting used to it.”
Indu’s staunchest and oldest ally in the play Michael Holsinger plays William Gasgoda – ardent wildlife photographer and ‘wildlife snob’ for whom nothing is more annoying than queues of jeeps to get a glimpse of a leopard or bear. He is always planning a new system for jeeps in Yala.
Michael reminds us that Love, Lies and Wildlife is set in real time – 90 minutes. Of his character he says, “It’s a smallish role but nice because he gets to scold a lot and everyone’s a bit scared of him. I also happen to be Surekha’s uncle, and I don’t approve of my niece being an actress.”
Priyanka Holsinger plays the placating wife of the tetchy, irritable Gasgoda (Priyanka’s real-life husband also is Michael). Returning to the stage after a long break Priyanka finds the character “‘easy to relate to.”
Adds Michael about rehearsals, “I just love the camaraderie, it doesn’t feel like a rehearsal- it’s like a gathering.”
With a glorious tangle of hilarious mishaps and errors, Love, Lies and Wildlife will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt on May 8, 9 and 10 at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Wendt or online at mytickets.lk.
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