Bengal Bungalow :

A riotous comedy with cunning twists and unexpected turns!

The dynamic theatre company CentreStage Productions will stage the hilarious comedy, Bengal Bungalow for two nights, on September 9 and 10 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.

Written and directed by Jehan Aloysius, Bengal Bungalow is a fast-paced situation comedy with cunning twists and unexpected turns! The riotous production played to full houses in 2004 and 2010, earning exceptional reviews. The performance will be a fund-raiser for our theatre-based humanitarian projects.

Situation comedy

Set in Bengal in the late 1930s, Bengal Bungalow was written in the genre of British farcical theatre, with mistaken identity, sensational characters and situations, as well as cunning twists.

The plot revolves around a British family residing in India, whose home, Bengal Bungalow, becomes a bizarre circus when a British pilot decides to accidentally crash his aircraft through their newly refurbished guestroom. The pilot loses his memory as a result of the crash, leading to a host of comic misunderstandings, misdemeanours and misadventures. As more characters, both British and Indian, ranging from a notorious robber, a hapless priest and an enraged mahout, make their appearance, the play skyrockets towards its hilarious climax.

The cast is a mix of actors from the previous performances in 2004 and 2010, as well as fresh new stars in the English language theatre, who will keep you in fits of laughter.

The wildly comical cast includes, Anabella Brochard, Nandun Dissanayake, Shehan (Babs) Wijemanne, Julian Anderson, Michael Jayawardana, Jordan Bryan, Patrick De Kretser, Roshane Jayampathy, Tayhani Kannangara and Prabhath Dhevindra.

The Troupe

CentreStage Productions is an amateur theatre troupe formed by Jehan Aloysius in 2001, with the aim of using various theatre techniques to produce and promote original theatre in Sri Lanka. The focus of this non-profit troupe has always been on fostering theatre skills in young people in all areas - from scriptwriting to acting, direction and production.

The theatre troupe has many groundbreaking theatre achievements to its name. Since the initiation of their humanitarian 'StageHands Project' in 2005, they have also focused on using theatre for initiating social change that can develop, empower and mobilise communities to grapple with social and personal issues. They regularly conduct theatre workshops with schools, theatre troupes, and amateur dramatists both of the English and Sinhala theatre circles. It is important to note that these volunteer workshops and humanitarian endeavours are funded by the proceeds from their plays.

Jehan Aloysius is a full-time theatre practitioner as well as a visiting lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts. Over the past two decades, he has been involved with over 60 productions of the English and Sinhala language theatre. In addition, Jehan has been associated with The Royal Court Theatre of London, ART of Bangalore, Theatrum Botanicum of Edinburgh, Brave Theatre Festival of Poland, Rikskonsertene of Norway, The British Council, as well as the National School of Drama of India.

Jehan played lead roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the multi-award winning productions of Children of the Sea and Finding Marina.

He has produced theatre and workshops in Norway, Poland, Scotland, Qatar and India. In 2001, Jehan founded CentreStage Productions, an amateur theatre troupe which produces original theatre in Sri Lanka. The troupe's works have travelled around Sri Lanka and overseas, and featured in the foreign media.

Jehan's directorial credits include Reality Show, Rag - The Musical, The Ritual, Pyramus & Thisby, Caliban's Rebellion, Prince of Egypt, Stormy Weather, Bengal Bungalow, An Inspired Swan Lake and Nutcracker. As a playwright, Jehan has been shortlisted for The Gratiaen Prize for Literature, for The Screaming Mind (2000) and The Ritual (2008), and was on the panel of judges of the 2014 Gratiaen Prize. Two of his plays were selected to represent Sri Lanka at Asia's largest arts festival, the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. Jehan's humanitarian efforts, through his StageHands Project, include work with children affected by poverty, natural disaster and the war, as well as physical theatre productions with those living with mental and physical challenges.

As an amateur theatre troupe specializing in producing and promoting original theatre, we are thankful to our supporters in the media as well as Cargills PLC for continuing to support us for the past 15 years.

- P. R.