Exit Puss, enter Diary of Freddy
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Pic by Anush de Costa
Pusswedilla was his audiences’ runaway favourite but Feroze Kamardeen is now on a new track. ‘Diary of Freddy’ his latest production will be nothing like Puss!  Feroze who has written and directed the new play has a star cast : Dominic Kellar, Gehan Blok, Daminda Wijayaratne, Dino Corera, Sean Amarasekera and Mohammed Adamally. ‘Diary of Freddy’ goes on the boards from November 24 – 27 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre and box plan and tickets are available at the theatre from November 15.
Here is a glimpse into Freddy’s world:
Day 1- The Operating Theatre
Spent the whole day at the hospital. Inside the surgery for over 5 hours. That is remarkable considering I am neither a doctor nor a nurse and I am definitely not the patient. During the surgery, the Chief Surgeon stepped out to talk to Mrs. Woodbury. For over ten minutes all we could hear were shrieks. To make things worse the Chief Surgeon specifically instructed me to find something that has been misplaced. Having looked all over the theatre, there is only one place I hadn’t looked, INSIDE the patient! I finally found it and it was not where I expected to find it! We spent a long time trying to revive the patient. What puzzles me is, did the patient require foot surgery? More importantly, which foot were they supposed to operate?
Day 2 – The Fly in the Soup
Today was my day at the restaurant. I worked very hard clearing the board but the tickets kept piling up. Dietrich, the waiter took my very special mushroom soup to a customer. The customer claimed he found something in the soup and then the Manager got involved. In this fine dining restaurant we take pride in our service and guarantee satisfaction. I peeked and saw the Manager talking to the diner. I didn’t know what the problem was. The soup was sitting on the pass for a while and I suspected that a fly may have found its way into it. This could mean disaster for Dietrich. Had the diner discovered the fly? Is it really a fly? The main issue may have been not the fly, but who killed it?
Day 3 – The Politician
Went to the town hall today to hear our local Member of Parliament. All the voters were there and I think everyone wanted to (know?) what was happening? More importantly why nothing was happening? The MP tried hard to explain the inaction, the failure of the government to fix things and improve the local hospital and school. I was wondering if he will try to blame everything on me. He almost did but I think the people didn’t believe him. Then he told us the truth. I guess sometime the truth is the hardest pill to swallow.
Day 4 – The Trial
I was in court today. I was the lead prosecutor in the case versus Boris Slimpinsky.This was a sure win for me. I had more than ten eye witnesses who saw Boris carrying out the crime. My closing arguments were pretty convincing and all that was left was to hear the counsel for the defence. I could not belive what that lawyer was saying! Was he trying to get his client acquitted? Everything he said only made my case stronger! That guy is probably the worst defence lawyer in the world. Or is he?
Day 5 – Flight
Flight 714 had just taken off. As the the First Officer, I prepared for what should have been a routine flight from London to Dhaka. Something did not feel right with the Pilot and the co-pilot. I suspected that they may have been drunk. They spoke to the passengers for far too long and said some things that frankly were quite unprofessional. I had a good mind to report them to management when we returned, but then I realized that I forgot something. The passengers had to endure a lot of things during the flight, from a hijacking, to losing the nose wheel, to a lack of fuel. I guess that the little thing I forgot may have been the really tough one for the passengers to live with!
(More next week)