“When something wrong and is know you know//Stand up, stand up and say it is so…” Many people who see Paul Budnah around will associate this song from the Link Show with him. He has been part of the Link Show, also providing back-up musical accompaniment, for the past few years.
Paul has also worked behind the scenes in theatre for a number of years, but shone stage front last year when he won the Best Supporting Actor award (Short Plays Category) for his role in Farepicker, a play written by Ken Danns and directed by Sonia Yarde, 
which also captured awards for Best Production, Best Costuming and Best Performing Cast during the National Drama Festival.
Talking about his winning performance Paul said the play was basically about the struggles of a single mother (played by Colleen Humphrey) raising two teenagers and facing financial challenges. To make ends meet she turned to prostitution. Paul played “Greek” a rather grumpy old man who owned the brothel where the prostitutes plied their trade.
He described the character as “crotchety, fretful, grumpy and old” and according to him this was not hard to portray because many times when he is at work faced with certain situations it puts him in that mood, though he does not let his clients see this. “I don’t reflect Greek’s character in reality but I was glad I had a way of expressing all those emotions on the stage. What angers me in the play and in real life is noise nuisance so I connected easily with the character,” he said.
Paul was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in Deep Wounds (Junior Category) which was written by Melinda Primo-Solomon. The production took the Second Runner-up for Best Production along with the Best New Guyanese Stage play in the Junior Category, the Best Performing Cast and the Best Actor, Sean Budnah, who just happens to be Paul’s son.
Apart from acting Paul also serves back stage. Notably in this past drama festival season, he was the stage manager for the Award winning play Mommy written by Sonia Yarde.
Asked to comment on the 2013 chapter of the festival, Paul, who has been involved since its inception in 2011, said this year had a downward twist and he wishes to see vast improvements in the near future.
“We had problems with rehearsal space. We had to use the Cultural Centre because nowhere else was available to us unlike [the previous year] when the ministry and the coordinators of the Drama Festival provided several venues to rehearse, a few like the Bishops’ High School. …We had to rehearse outside the Cultural Centre in the dew when they closed up the building at nights.”
He further mentioned that even when the Centre was open for rehearsals there were clashes with other plays and several times the stage needed to be shared and other sections of the building parted out for rehearsals.
Another problem Paul highlighted was in regard to stage sets and props of the plays. “The National Cultural Centre can do more with extra stage hands,” he said. “…Changes between the plays took close to an hour in the short plays category where there were three plays per night. As one play’s set was taken down it took a while for the other to go up and this took a long time, even the judges grew impatient and the audience left before the other plays started.”
Lights and sound had severe problems also according to him, “…This affected many plays in different ways; not forgetting the AC didn’t work and as of today is still not working. The payment regarding this year’s drama festival was most disgusting and very discouraging to present dramatists and the future of theatre in Guyana.
“Drama in Guyana is an art that is slowly but steadily on the rise. There are so many talents here in writing, directing, stage managing, costume, set designs and all the other aspects pertaining to theatre. It’s not about acting alone, everybody in the arts is equally important. It’s like a chain link, everybody supports each other and we need the right foundation especially from the government.”
He continued, “It is admirable that the government has taken the initiative to start a local drama school but we need improvements in theatre facilities and conditions, organisation and management when it comes around to the staging of the drama festivals.”
Paul has his plate full at the moment. He is currently rehearsing for the upcoming Link Show which will celebrate its 30th staging. The Link Show has chosen to break tradition, primarily because of the degradation of the NCC. It will now be hosted at the Parc Rayne complex, Rahaman’s Park.
Paul has been part of the Link Show since 2010. Apart from performing in skits he will also double as Assistant Stage Manager alongside Nicola Moonsammy.
Other projects include acting in Forgotten Promise a film by Somnauth Narine, which starts filming on April 1; directed by Mahadeo Shivraj. By the end of April he will be stage managing the stage adaptation of the radio serial drama The Tides of Susanburg, which was written by Francis Quamina Farrier. Award winning dramatist, Collette Jones-Chin is resurrecting the production to be staged at the Theatre Guild. After that he is set to perform in Ronald Hollingsworth’s Till I find a Place 3.
Paul’s day job is in pest control services and the other side of his life is the church. He is a Roman Catholic who attends the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, commonly called the Brickdam Cathedral. He serves as a guitarist with one of the church’s three choirs.
It was at church that his interest in drama began as a young boy at the age of seven. From time to time he was cast in short skits for Easter and Christmas. He also did some amount of acting in school, but it was when he became involved with GEMS Theatre Productions in 2007 that things really got serious.
“Gem [Madhoo-Nascimento] gave me a break in theatre,” he said. Paul had taken his son, Sean to the Youth Theatre Workshop run by Gem. While observing, he took an interest and approached Gem who encouraged him to join. He laughed, looking back at himself in his forties and still signing up for youth theatre. “Gem actually re-opened the theatre doors to me,” he said.
From there on he was active in several productions, especially around 2008 when Carifesta X was held in Guyana. Apart from his roles in theatre he volunteers his musical talent to the Guyana Society for the Blind.
“I always loved theatre. I’ve always loved watching plays and actually witnessing how people can transform themselves into different characters. Drama makes you laugh, it makes you cry and it gives you an awakening feeling. It makes you ask certain questions from what is being portrayed in front of you.”
He admires dramatist Ron Robinson especially when he plays a drunken character, when asked why he said because a person can adapt to any character but playing drunk is a challenge Robinson excels in. Paul also adores Margaret Lawrence who he calls “Maggie” for her tones and voice that she makes very good use of.
Paul also looks up to well-known Guyanese singer Dave Martins. “His songs are very hilarious and the lyrics are also inspiring. He has songs you can sit and listen to and enjoy every word, unlike songs today that are gibberish.” Paul feels honoured to have worked with Martins in his music video “If You’re a Man” which was produced in Guyana. It is a song that deals with domestic violence which Paul stands firmly against, “…Not only as a Christian man but as a human.”
Paul grew up in the Kitty/Campbellville area; the last of four children in a middle income family. He enjoyed playing cricket and table tennis as extra-curricular activities and recreation time saw him at one of the many Georgetown cinemas back in those days.
Paul was married for 24 years until his wife became a victim of cancer, leaving behind a heartbroken father and four children. Today he lives with his son, Sean. His other three children, daughters, are now married and living with their own families.
