Dummy – Sri Lanka – 27th August

27th August

‘’Dummy’’ – Sri Lanka
Directed by Sarathchandra Walpola

A middle-aged man in his fifties who look like a thief with a sense, reminding Janawarjana portrait in the novel ‘Les Misérables’ enters a textile clothes shop while he escapes from the jail. The man grabs some clothes from a display rack and rushes to the fit-on room. He takes off his ruined jumper and puts on new clothes. When he comes out, he suddenly notices a female dummy with a glamour outfit kept in the showroom.

This man, who had been suffering a monotonous life in jail for long, quickly changed his mind and aroused his romantic feelings by seeing the erotic female dummy. Now the prisoner metaphorically transforms into a romantic lover. Then he tries to attract her (dummy) with his exaggerated body language. He begins to communicate with her (dummy) through eye contact. Gradually, the dummy animates his imaginary world, and he falls in love with the female dummy. The sub-text of the play is about the wondrous relationship between a human being and a non-living object (dummy) and the conflict of structured lifestyle and confused mental conditions.