The buzz in Guyana right now is about the twin theatres: Kara and Nash, together they are under the ‘Avinash Theatres’ brand and they are the pre-ups to a mega entertainment complex the company is still working on in an effort to remodel Water Street, Georgetown.
A definite spot for wholesome family fun, love birds and even the anti-social loner like me. Other than the restaurants around town, Avinash Theatres is perhaps the most family-oriented business you can find.
But I didn’t go to the theatre to enjoy a movie or stuff my face with snacks, I was on business.
Ticket Booth and Attendants
The company posts its ‘movie schedule’ on Facebook each day, so I anticipated that I was going to see Transit. You could imagine how shocked I was when the box office attendant informed me that I was paying to see The Reunion.
With no notice whatsoever, the schedule changed. Ever told a child that you were taking him to Pizza Hut but switched and took him to a Chinese restaurant instead? This was something of the sort. I shrugged. I didn’t go to review the movie. But I thought of the 100% probability of at least one disappointed customer.
I asked the attendant what happened to the original schedule and she said the other theatre was down, there again – someone who might have made plans to go watch a certain movie either had to go home or watch something else.
From what I have experienced, the staff was very polite and friendly.
Theatre
Because I had arrived half an hour before the movie was supposed to start, I had a lot of time to browse the empty theatre. Washrooms: clean, floors: clean, walls: clean, everything checked out. That is, until I sat down. My Lord! These seats were not designed for a long movie.
They were not the worst, but they certainly were not the best. The steel frames of the seats are thin and somewhat fragile. One person shakes and the entire row shakes. The space between the seats is pretty narrow too. The only comfortable space is higher up where I noticed a sign saying that those seats were made for people over six feet tall. I thought to myself, ‘Good job Avinash Theatres, catering as much as you can to everyone.’
If it is any consolation I applaud the company for having had the seats made in Guyana.
The theatre now had a couple of patrons and we were all looking at the warm up show – a Shaikra concert. We all enjoyed it since a Latin concert is completely foreign to us and you know Guyanese, foreign-minded people.
At this point I realised that it was 5.45 pm and my 5.30 pm movie had not started yet!
Movie time
When the movie finally came on a few minutes later I smiled, Looking at the huge screen and hearing clearly with no cloudiness or rasp; good acoustics.
Happiness can’t last forever. I was never a people person and never will be so I was highly annoyed when a couple ignored the almost empty theatre to come and sit in my row and trust me when I say this was perhaps the most annoying couple you can find. His phone kept going off and she was continuously fidgeting which kept shaking the whole row. When they didn’t talk loud enough, they were putting their feet up on the seats in front of them. Gross!!
To my knowledge there are supposed to be employees walking around looking for those who break general theatre rules, but this theatre had none whatsoever and I wasn’t about to start a fight. I just turned to them with an annoyed smile, got up and took another seat to complete watching the movie.
I would give Avinash Theatres a rating of 3, with the highest score being 10.
