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Don't Dress for Dinner at Namel-Malini Punchi Theatre:

Chef-turned dramatist serves delectable 
stage fare

The early success of the maiden show of "Malsara Bisaw", an adaptation of the English play titled "Don't Dress for Dinner", has further encouraged its director, young dramatist Hemantha Prasad to pursue his dramatic career and make further a commitment to the field.

A professional chef, Hemantha earlier gave up several jobs at reputed restaurants in town due to his commitment to the acting field. "It's very difficult to maintain a balance between those two and finally, I chose acting as my career," he added. Now, Prasad's latest drama "Malsara Bisaw" has gained acclaim from critics and theatre lovers alike.

Prasad's drama is an adaptation of an English adaptation of the French drama "Happy Birthday" by Marc Camolotte. "It's a comedy," says Prasad explaing that this does not fall into the ordinary comedy dramas in Sri Lanka.

"In most of the so called comedy dramas in Sri Lanka, actors make jokes and the audience would laugh at them. But this is different and it gives a novel experience to the theatre goers," Prasad says.

The drama is woven around a married couple and a few of their young friends.

The stage is set as they gather for a dinner and the drama unfolds on their secrets and shortcomings. "They all are trying to cover up their mistakes and this leads to confusion and crisis and that itself creates comedy," says Prasad.

Prasad says the structure of the drama had been prepared to attract more audiences to witness the play. "Nowadays, the number of people coming to see dramas have come down and I am confident that this structure would help us in increasing the drama patrons," he added.

He said his comedy falls between the comedy and tragedy dramas.

This is the second feature-length drama by Prasad who had directed 10 short dramas earlier. Prasad's previous drama "Rashoman" an adaptation of the much popular Japanese drama also won the limelight in the local drama scene.

It grabbed awards for best lighting and best stage setting at the last year's State Drama Festival and also gained nomination as the Best Director.

Asked to why he chose to make this kind of drama, Prasad says although his previous drama "Rashoman" was accepted as an artistic play, there were difficulties in continuing it. "Also, people are leading a stressful life and they prefer simple contentment and taste," says Prasad adding that he produced this drama as an experiment.

"So far responses confirm that my experiment has borne fruit," he added. Referring to the competition faced by local dramas, Prasad says local dramatists should produce dramas which compete with Hollywood and Bollywood films.

"We must make efforts to create dramas focusing on different themes and there should be variety in our stage plays without being confined to one structure."

Prasad criticised that in Sri Lanka, most dramas are produced targeting drama festivals.

"They are forgetting the audience and in turn people are rejecting such creations affecting the whole field."

Prasad said he was willing to produce dramas focusing on different themes. "My next drama will be totally different. My ambition always is to give better and quality taste to the people."

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