Tons of fun

Unsuccessful inventor Aubrey Allington inherits the life interest in a fortune, which reverts on his death to his cousin George Maitland. As cousin George is thought to have died abroad, Aubrey's wife – Louise, has the "brilliant" idea of Aubrey dying so that he can be resurrected as his cousin and thus avoid payment of his own enormous debts. But in the best tradition of farce, complications arise in the form of George's wife, another Maitland impostor (the butler's brother) and finally...oops...nearly gave away too much of the plot there didn't I? I guess you'll just have to be patient for one week more and then trot yourself down to the S. Thomas' College Hall (Mount Lavinia), on November 2–4, at 7.30pm to find out now won't you?

Tons of Money by Alan Ayckbourne and Will Evans, presented by the S. Thomas' College DramSoc (Drama Society) will have theatre-goers laughing in the aisles from the moment the curtain opens! The proceeds of the show will go towards the College Chapel Renovation Project.

"The last comedy we did was Playing Doctor in 2003. We've done mostly serious productions since then as we've never had just the right cast to pull off a comedy, until now," says director Vinodh Senadeera. Most of the cast are quite experienced acting–wise but, all of them excluding one member, have never taken part in a comedy before. So, they were quite excited about taking up the challenge this time around, added Vinodh.

"I chose this play in particular because when I saw it back in the 80's when Steve de la Zilwa first did it here, I realised that it had potential to be tackled by a younger cast as well," said Vinodh. All A/L students, the cast is quite a versatile and busy lot it seems. Rowing Captains, Choir Leaders, Interact Presidents, debaters, former basket-ball captains, former National Karate Champs, they've got a little bit of everything. "We have only just started the gruelling practices. I've already told the boys' parents that they won't be seeing their sons till the show's done," said Vinodh laughingly.

"A comedy needs to be meticulously planned and choreographed. The timing has to be just right and the diction too is quite essential when doing comedy. However, the boys seem to be coping quite well with it, even though it's most of their first time doing comedy," added Vinodh with pride. It's also been quite a while since they've used the College Hall for a production, he says adding, that they've managed to build a nice set to compliment the venue as well.

Unlike most other fast paced, hysterical comedies, in this one, you don't realise till the very end what has happened, as there are so many "twists" and "people being brought back from the dead," that it's almost impossible to predict how it'll end, added Vinodh. "It's also very wittily written," he said.

Having got my fill from the 'Director,' I waited patiently for the boys to pull out socks and tissues from their bras, roll down their stockings, take off their hair-clips, get out of their dresses and high heels and remove their jewellery with the greatest of ease and what could only be taken as utmost normalcy!

Having regained a "masculine" demeanour, Milindra Kulugammana (18) one of the two Vice-Presidents of DramSoc, seems to find himself once again playing a female role, he says with a sigh. "The closest I've been to playing a male role was when I played a male beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last year, he said good naturedly. He also sometimes found himself falling back into using animal gesticulations and a gruff voice and it took him a while to get into the groove of playing the part of a female again, he said.

He's also the only one in the cast to have performed in the last comedy done by the DramSoc in 2003 Playing Doctor, in which he played Max the nurse. Also situations like his bra coming off on stage during his last production, will help him deal with similar experiences this time around, he said. "It was easier to play a female role when I was younger and the high heels, wig and tight underwear doesn't help the cause much either," he says, adding, "that even so, it's still quite interesting playing the role of Louise Allington, as her character is not really defined. At times she seems quite cunning and scheming, whilst at other times, she comes across as being quite dumb." "It's been great working with the rest of the cast; they're just awesome," he said sincerely.

"Having only been in serious productions like Antigone and Narnia, I've been bugging Sir to do a comedy this time," says the DramSoc President – Shanil Wijesinha (18). Playing the role of the eccentric inventor Aubrey Allington, who's most famous inventions have been a rat remover and a hair restorer. "Aubrey wants everyone to think he's rich, when in reality he's miles in debt and is even quite bankrupt," says Shanil of his character.

"Being a part of a comic production has been exactly as I thought it would be," said Shanil adding, "especially as everyone's in a jovial mood anyway, we're all cracking jokes and having a blast!" We like to consider ourselves crazy, funny people, but, the hardest thing about doing a comedy is sustaining the energy levels throughout the play and getting the humour across to the audience as the plot relies a lot on the dialogue and not just on slap-stick humour, so we have to ensure that the audience catches on," elaborates Shanil.

The 'Karate Kid' Tarik Jayasuriya (18) speaks of his role as the Butler's brother Henery who's roped in by his brother to try and dupe the Allingtons off their new-found wealth! However, getting caught in the act was obviously not part of the plan, at which point he decides to make a hasty retreat. Unfortunately though, everyone else is in hot pursuit of him which only helps heighten the hysteria of the play further. However, what his fellow cast members found most humourous was how a former Karate Champion cum ruggerite winds up getting beaten up in the play!

"Playing a female role is definitely more challenging than playing a male role as you have to acquire a different personality all together and also certain feminine mannerisms and reactions which don't come naturally to boys," explains Jehan Gunasekera (17), who plays the role of the "excessively friendly" Jean Everard. She seems to have a fairly low I.Q. as she mistakes three men to be her husband but, it's a very colourful and interesting role to play nevertheless, he adds.

"It's been a once in a lifetime experience as it's a really crazy yet supportive bunch this time around. If ever someone gets any negative feedback, the others immediately rally around and suggest ways to improve the scene; everyone really looks out for each other! I never get tired of practices," says Jehan emphatically.

The second Vice-President of DramSoc cum Choir Leader – Jurinesz Shadrach (18) finds his character Giles the gardener quite comical, as he's constantly in his own little world. He's also quite disillusioned so, my friends say I don't need to act much but rather, just be myself, he says with a laugh. Although he's always involved in some sort of extra curricular activities or another, Jurinesz says that he's managed to keep his grades up and not get killed by his parents as yet!

As almost all of the cast our of the same batch, the cast is quite united and have quite a good bond, he says. "This makes it much easier for us to bring out the comic elements of the play as there needs to be a good chemistry between the actors in order for that to happen," he adds.

If a rollicking weekend filled with fun and laughter is what you're looking for, at Tons of Money you should be!

Tickets are available at Barefoot, Janashakthi Full Option (Staple Street) and the College office and gym.