Reviving a comic trio Silent Hands brings back ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’
View(s):The three with little else in common apart from their last name are back. Presenting Tom Dick and Harry, with a brand new cast and a revised approach, Silent Hands is to revive the comic trio later on this month.
Pix by Indika Handuwala
Jehan Bastians
“It’s easily the funniest play we’ve done” Director Jehan Bastians says of the witty script that tells the story of Tom and his wife who want to adopt a baby. Busily getting their act together before the adoption agent pays a final visit, everything goes downhill for the couple when Tom’s well-meaning yet meddlesome siblings show up. Dick who borrows Tom’s van uses it for barely legal purposes, which results in a copious stash of cigarettes and brandy in the premises. The somewhat duller-witted Harry appears later with a cadaver which seems essential in a scheme that only makes sense to him.
The intricate chaos isn’t easy to fabricate and Jehan feels “I didn’t do justice to it last time.” Doing a more mature take on the script, this time around much more depth has been read in to the littlest of details. Keeping it well within the farcical genre it was intended to be the slapstick element while toned down a notch is still very much a part of the play. “We just added a little bit of finesse”
It isn’t just the approach that has matured for Silent Hands this time around, the cast too is considerably older and closer to the ages they have to portray onstage. Even actors from the original cast “would play the roles differently today” he notes.
Tom Dick and Harry by Michael and Ray Cooney will be presented by Silent Hands by special arrangement with Samuel French Ltd, on February 27, 28 and March 1 at the Lionel Wendt. Tickets are available at the Wendt. (VP)
