Barrington Braithwaite’s The Legend of the Silk Cotton Tree will be Guyana’s signal dramatic performance for Carifesta X, the Government Information Agency (GINA) has said.
Scripted and directed by Al Creighton, the play was one of two to be submitted after the Carifesta artistic committee sought ideas to stage a new Guyanese play for the festival. Creighton said the play which dates back to the eighteenth century Dutch plantation society is steeped in Guyanese traditions and rituals. He said too it also ventures into the spiritual realm. In an interview with GINA, Creighton said the play is set in the eighteenth century and present day. The storyline reads that a fictitious Dutch planter became involved in occult and spiritualism to gain wealth and power. In his plot to achieve this goal, he allied with an African ‘obeah’ man, who abducted and possessed a child which resulted in the possession of a particular blood line in one present day family. “When the contemporary family began to recognise the possession, they then went back into the history of the family and started to see how best they can fight this curse or this age old possession…so the play is about this fight,” Creighton explained.
The cast includes a number of leading and new Guyanese theatrical actors such as Sonya Yarde, Neaz Subhan, Godfrey Naughton, Richard Naraine, Jennifer Thomas, Lionel White and Christina Basil. Ron Robinson plays the Dutch planter. He said the play includes scenes done “in the period of the 1763 Rebellion and when the beliefs and myths about Dutch spirits were hidden in the silk cotton.” Robinson said he is optimistic that the play will be one of the best to be staged during the festival which will feature some of the other top theatrical pieces from around the Caribbean. “This has all the concepts of drama. It has drumming, dancing, drama and historical weight so a lot of the elements of theatre and drama are right here in this production. Guyana is going to be proud of this particular play and I think Al Creighton has done a good job in this production,” he added.
While highlighting the impact Carifesta has had on local theatre, Robinson alluded to the rebirth of the Theatre Guild and the theatre training programme from which about 600 youths benefited. “That is going to pay off because they are already utilizing the skills they have learnt in preparation for CARIFESTA. We intend to keep them going and they will continue to continue to apply those skills they have learnt. I see that in the near future a lot of theatre happening in Guyana with a lot of good young breeds will emerge,” he said.
Subhan plays the role of Hubert who has returned to Berbice after studying in England. He is the husband of Elsa, one of the main characters in the play and though he disagrees with the authenticity of the legends but becomes worried after seeing how Elsa is being affected by it.
“We are very happy where we are at this point in time. The entire cast has worked hard over the last few weeks and we are just basically waiting to perform for the CARIFESTA audience,” Subhan told GINA.
The Legend of the Silk Cotton Tree will premiere at the Linden Concert Hall and School (LICHAS) on Monday and then move to the National Cultural Centre on August 29. Rehearsals are held daily at the Theatre Guild.
It is being managed by Gem Madhoo. Madhoo who was also involved in the recent production managers training programme, noted that Guyana had lost some of its enthusiasm because of the migration of some of the best writers and actors and as a result of the recent training programme “new energy” is likely to emerge. Technical support for the production will be provided by the new support staff who recently benefited from the training programme.
Meanwhile, Artistic Director at the Carifesta Secretariat Dr Paloma Mohamed told GINA that there is a full complement of technical support staff who will be assigned to several venues for theatre, such as Queen’s College, The Bishops’ High, City Hall, and venues in Berbice and Essequibo. About 16 drama performances are to be staged. Mohamed said too some of the trained technical support staff will be assigned to visiting delegations that will be bringing plays to the festival.