Indu Dharmasena’s hilarious comedy ‘At Your Service’ took to the stage on the 29th, 30th and the 31st of July at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. 

The story takes place at the ‘Hill Star’ hotel where owner and General Manager, Mr. Perera (Indu Dharmasena) is expecting a VIP guest; an investor from overseas. He is joined by his receptionist, Chris (Ruwendi Wakwella) and doormen cum bellboy cum waiter cum bartender, Tony (Yasal Ruhunage) as they go to great lengths to impress the prospective investor, a one Mr. Muller. 

Mistakenly, they assume Tom White (George Cooke) to be the potential investor and the drama continues in hilarious twists and turns until they receive a very frightening phone call from the police, informing them that Hill Star is about to be paid a visit by a famous international drug lord of whose identity is unknown. 

You are then taken through a comical journey as Mr. Perera, Chris and Tony attempts to protect its guests; Dorothy Decker (Sashini Wakwella) the one with the hots for the GM, Pamela Anderson (Sanwada Dharmasena) who is not THAT Pamela Anderson, Nimala Alwis (Sulochana Perera) the timid guest whose always lost and Hans (Andre Vallendar) the handsome German guest  waiting to be checked in, while also figuring out the potential drug lord; is it Madam Okorie Zombie (Amaya Wijesinghe) who is set to meet someone? Or is it the mysterious Mr. Silva (Anushan Selvarajah) who doesn’t want his presence at the hotel known? 

Well, it turns out to be neither! Tom White is not the potential investor but is the actual drug lord and Nimala Alwis is not a timid guest but an undercover police detective! And the handsome German guest is not just any guest – but the VIP guest that Mr. Perera was expecting all along! 

Indu’s drama was one of the most entertaining plays to take to the stage this year. The audience was in fits of laughter consistently throughout the play and the actors and actresses were unfailingly in their character at all times. Not only was the Sri Lankan twists to the play refreshing and relatable it also made the play more comical and amusing. 

Overall, At Your Service was definitely one of my favourite plays for the year! Thanks for the laughs, Indu and a job well done to all those who were on stage. 

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BEST PERFORMANCE: DOROTHY DECKER 

Absolutely loved her character! Even though she was on stage only on a few occasions , her character was hilarious and utterly convincing. The accent and pitch was on point and everything she did just added more humour to the situation. 

But also kudos to Pamela Anderson and Okorie Zombie for their consistent accents! 

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We also spoke to the audience about their thoughts on the play and this is what they had to say; 

“It was interesting. Had a lot of things to laugh at”– Riyaz 

“Indu’s dramas have always been good” – Luqmann 

“I loved the humour. I’ve always worked with him [Indu] so I’m happy to patronize his plays. It was nonstop laughter – Angela 

“It was really entertaining. I really liked Dorothy Decker” – Veruni 

“It was very nice and interesting. Good comedy” – Needra 

“I liked it a lot! I love the GM and Dorothy” – Sadumini 

“It was really funny and it had a lot of comedy and it was one of the best plays I’ve been to” – Senruni 

“I liked it. It was quiet interesting.  It was funny because it has such a Sri Lankan twist to it. I liked the receptionist Chris and Toni” – Kaveen 

“Pretty good. Enjoyed it. The GM is pretty good, I thought he held a good consistency – Ramsey 

“It’s my first play in Sri Lanka so I thought it was funny and real good. Pamela Anderson did a good job – Dushan 

“Hilarious! Didn’t want to miss it. Indu was my favourite” – Sonali 

“It was really funny. Liked the GM”  – Devin 

Photographs by Waruna Wanniarachchi