Arts
Guess who’s staying at Albert’s Hotel Hill Star?
View(s):Indu Dharmasena’s ‘At Your Service’ a play inspired by the popular British comedy Fawlty Towers returns to the stage after 20 years
Comedy and confusion: Indu (far left) with members of his cast for All Set for Service. Pix by Indika Handuwala
By Kaveesha Fernando
Meet Albert Perera, owner and general manager of a small hotel in the hill-country called ‘Hotel Hill Star’. It is Albert’s one dream to make Hotel Hill Star a five-star.
Enter a German company that is sending a prospective investor to see the hotel. Of course he is to be a VIP guest. Meanwhile, Albert is also rather inconveniently informed by the CID that they suspect that an international ‘kudu-raja’ (drug-lord) will be staying at the hotel and meeting a local drug dealer there at the same time. Tony – the hotel’s doorman cum bellboy cum waiter cum bartender, is alarmed by this news and feels they must take it upon themselves to catch the criminal, but Albert is unperturbed insisting that the staff focus on their VIP guest.
Amaya Wijesinghe
George Cooke
Receptionist cum PR manager cum administrative assistant Chris, is more concerned about all the guests and wants to avoid a possible shooting or hostage situation. Their differing priorities are challenged even more by the fact that they are informed that an undercover CID operative will also be staying at the hotel but of course, they don’t know his or her identity.
Among the guests is Nimala(a timid local who easily gets lost), Pamela Anderson (who loves pointing out that she is not THAT Pamela Anderson), Tom (everyone’s favourite guest), Dorothy Decker (the free soul), Okorie Zombie (who loves regaling people with tales of her supposed past as African royalty), Hans (the Western tourist who isn’t allowed to say or do much), Mr. Silva (the elusive middle-aged tourist) and Kusum (the personal assistant used to getting her way by casually dropping her famous employer’s name).
Ruwendi Wakwella
Sanwada Dharmasena
Playwright Indu Dharmasena invites audiences to join Albert, Chris and Tony in their quest to work as a team to conceal any shortcomings of Hillstar from their VIP guest while simultaneously managing the demands of all the other guests – potentially criminal or otherwise.
As ‘At Your Service’ comes to the Wendt for the second time after an almost 20-year hiatus, Indu promises that the comedy will leave audiences in fits of laughter.
Apart from directing the play Indu plays Albert. He says that the main issue with his character is the fact that he never listens to anyone. Albert orders people about without asking them what their issues are. This leads to a lot of problems, says Indu. “In fact, there wouldn’t be a play if he just listened,” he adds.
Sarani Wijesinghe
Sashini Wakwella
Yasal Ruhunage takes on the role of Tony who does everything and everything. “I run and do everything,” he grins. Ruwendi Wakwella is Chris who takes on multiple roles from receptionist to publicist to the point where she “lets the GM describe who she is”. Together, Chris and Tony hold the fort when Albert panics.
Nimala Alwis is played by Sulo Perera. “My character is timid and soft spoken. In fact, she is intimidated by Albert,” says Sulo. Tom is played by George Cooke “I’m a very general character – I could be anyone,” says George. Pamela Anderson is played by Sanwada Dharmasena who explains her character as an obnoxious Western tourist.
Yasal Ruhunage
Sulo Perera
Amaya Wijesinghe, plays the role of Okorie Zombie, a formerly eminent middle-aged woman. Sashini Wakwella plays Dorothy Decker “a bit of loner who travels about getting acquainted with everyone along the way”. Hans, played by Andre Vallendar, is a character who isn’t allowed to say or do anything. Anushan Selvarajah’s Mr. Silva is a character who is quite private and overthinks things and makes a big deal out of small issues.
Kusum, played by Saranie Wijesinghe, is a character used to commanding respect because of her boss ‘Balapokuna’.The other characters are rude and dismissive of her, much to her annoyance.
Andre Vallendar
Anushan Selvaraja
Each character contributes to the general confusion through their different personalities. Indu says that his main aim through the play is to highlight the fact that it pays to listen. “If you don’t listen to people and what they have to say, you can end up in big trouble – in fact you can create chaos,” he says. Through this Fawlty Towers inspired comedy, he also attempts to bring out the two sides of the hotel trade – difficult and stubborn guests as well as difficult staff.
Indu Dharmasena’s ‘At Your Service’ is on July 29, 30 and 31 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre at 7.30 p.m. Tickets priced at Rs.1500, Rs. 1200, Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 (Balcony – unreserved) are
available at the venue.