Arts
Lots of laughs amidst the love, lies and diamonds
In the words of Tom Stoppard, theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. That is certainly the case for Kusal Kukulawala, the adulterous anti-hero of Indu Dharmasena’s Love, Lies and Diamonds, on its second run at Lionel Wendt from September 7-9.
Indu and his cast
Kusal (Indu himself) finds himself in a disaster of his own making when his unsuspecting wife Deepika (Sanwada Dharmasena) finds a diamond necklace meant for his girlfriend Priyanka Haddagoda (Saneesha Ramanayake). Unsurprisingly, chaos ensues.
But what of the poor souls who happen to get caught in this hilarious mix-up? Meet the motley crew that either help or hinder Kusal’s schemes in their own highly entertaining ways.
Menaka (Minoli Pieris) is Kusal’s new secretary, an entirely well-meaning and earnest woman doing her best to hold up to his demands. Her bumbling nature means that it rarely goes well.
“I’m eager to please but unfortunately I don’t end up pleasing anyone often!” Minoli explains.
Percy Ranaweera (Jaliya Wijewardena) is the jeweller who delivers the necklace that kicks off the plot, complete with a special discount just for Kusal.
According to Jaliya, the two are old friends and they’ve been doing business for a long time.
Danny Sahabandhu (Abbasali Rozais) is the long-suffering Financial Controller for Kukulawala Holdings, who Kusal affectionately dubs his ‘Sahayata Danny’.
Abbasali describes him as a humourless but loyal man who never lets Kusal down despite his inappropriate behaviour.
Saneesha Ramanayake
Jaliya Wijewardena
Minoli Pieris
“There are lots of relationships like that, especially with men, where one person is quite decent and the other person may not be quite that nice. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the person behaving indecently is a bad person. So in the same way, I don’t think Kusal is a bad person. But he has a weakness for women, evidently,” he explains.
Asela (Sahan Wijewardena) is a harried legal assistant at the company, whose role entails getting documents ready for Mrs. Kukulawala to sign over a plot of land as a donation for an orphanage. The stress of paperwork is compounded by his inclusion in Kusal’s schemes to keep her occupied as he attempts to steal back the necklace.
“My interpretation is that I’m actually quite scared of Mr. Kukulawala,” Sahan says, on his character’s motivation. “I have to project a stressed-out character.”
Monica Ellanasooriya (Kamanthi Wickramasinghe) inadvertently throws a wrench in the works with her appearance. As the name suggests, she is after a sponsorship for an organisation she is involved in, and whom Kusal has been actively avoiding. Unfortunately for everyone involved, she decides to drop by when she’s least expected or wanted.
Abbaslai Rozais
Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
Kamanthi describes her character as a bit of a drama queen, which decidedly fits her right in with the commotion unravelling on stage.
With its signature humour, sharp wit and colourful characters that we can all see a bit of ourselves in, Love, Lies and Diamonds is a laugh riot not to be missed.
Tickets priced at Rs.2000, Rs.1500 and Rs.1000 (reserved) and Rs.700 -balcony (unreserved) are available at the Wendt or online at www.lionelwendt.org
The show on September 8 is presented by the Bamunuarachchi Foundation in aid of the ongoing project of upgrading the Homagama Base Hospital.