Actor Mark Luke-Edwards was just 12 years old when he shook the dust of Wakenaam Island off his boots and migrated to city life.
He recalled what a huge culture shock it was for him to suddenly be in the densely populated capital when he had been used to not seeing many people on Wakenaam.
He was brought to Georgetown by his aunt, who formally adopted him when he was 14 which saw him growing up with his three “socially enlightened” cousins, who he said, he grew to love and respect as siblings.
Mark has a sister but seldom spent time with her.
Living in the city exposed him to different things. Education was a priority in his new home and it was at secondary school that he developed an appreciation for drama.
For the school’s annual Christmas concerts he would often perform in skits, which subsequently led to him performing in plays at his local church. One of the most memorable for him was In the Midst of it All at the Tucville Assembly Church.
“I wouldn’t see drama as something I ventured into doing,” Mark said. “I never grew up saying I wanted to be an actor but after my director, Althea Thomas chose me for her church play, I realised I always had the ability but never pursued it vigorously. I just stumbled upon it.”
He said he had a “second stumble” when he was invited to join the cast of the Merundoi Radio Serial Drama. “I became friends with a man by the name of Max Messiah who was another cast member. Later I was auditioned for and got involved in Mori J’von Comedy Jam and then I became friends with Mark Kazim. All of these opportunities I consider to be a huge and continuous stumble.”
Although he said he was always part of the Theatre Guild, he officially joined just last year.
In 2011 his dream came through when he was cast in the Link Show as Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, current leader of the opposition. “After stumbling upon it once again, I decided to embrace it because I have grown to love it. It was always a part of me and now it’s my second nature, talent has been bestowed upon me and now I am really embracing it,” Mark said.
He prefers roles that challenge him. “I like roles that are highly coloured, very sad, with accents, if I’m drunk or just plain energetic. I love roles that kick me out of my own shoes. Although I like serious roles I have some amount of comedic talent. I’ve got a bend towards comedy.”
Sonia Yarde, Kijana Lewis, Richard Narine, Henry Rodney, Margaret Lawrence and Ron Robinson are just a few of the people he looks to for inspiration in acting.
In the future Mark sees himself directing plays and venturing into writing skits for the Link Show along with more poetry. He is particularly fond of the Link Show and expressed that he is already living the theatrical dream of many artists.
He has appeared in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, directed by Robinson; Ronald Hollingsworth’s Watch de Ride and directed by Jennifer Thomas; Thomas’s Front Yard, directed by Thomas and Sheron Cadogan-Taylor and Full Hundred, written and directed by Althea Thomas among others.
One of his most memorable experiences was performing in Full Hundred in 2011 in front of 15,000 people in Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica. “That was a high point of my acting career,” he said.
Mark recalled that rehearsing for A Midsummer’s Night Dream was challenging because of the language and the long monologues. “It was pressure and felt agonising; I was very nervous about the challenge but I enjoyed it.” He played the role of Duke Theseus.
Mark won the 2012/13 Best Supporting Actor Award from the Theatre Guild alongside his colleague Mark Kazim in another play. “I was shocked because my category had names like Henry Rodney and Mark Kazim. … I wasn’t expecting to win anything,” he added.
He was also part of Till Death which was directed by Tashandra Innis and won the National Drama Festival’s Best Production Award for 2012.
Mark’s wish is that more schools could become involved in dramatic arts and that theatre would be decentralises from Georgetown alone. He would like to see playhouses built countrywide.
A lover of Scrabble, simply because he loves words and the ability to form them, Mark has been married for the past nine years. He said his wife is not theatrically inclined but very supportive of his ambitions. The couple has two children, a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy whom they love dearly. Mark said his daughter is very attentive and is showing an interest in drama.
Though it is completely at odds with what he loves doing, Mark is an accountant, having graduated with a Degree in Accountancy from the University of Guyana in 2003. However, he is currently a student at the Guyana National School of Theatre Arts and Drama and plans on doing a couple of plays in the future with Cadogan-Taylor. He is also excited about doing Shakespeare again.
