Theatre as investigative therapy, or as healing ritual, was demonstrated last week when the production Omega – the Beginning, directed by Nicose Layne and Rae Wiltshire was staged at the Theatre Guild Playhouse, Kingston.
The production was a response by the directors to troubling social situations in the country – in particular, violence against women. It was specifically aimed at normal negative, unhelpful attitudes, urging society to rethink its judgmental reactions when certain actions lead to tragic outcomes. Members of society are too ready to be unsympathetic to behavioural issues and problems among women, teenagers and secondary school students. The production called for understanding and urged a rethink of public attitudes to such angsts as teenage pregnancy.
The play was originally titled The Ritual (Or Friday Morning First Period) and written in 1978 by Zeno Obi Constance, a Trinidadian teacher and playwright. Constance had said he wrote it when he was asked to produce a drama as a response to common issues affecting youths. He consulted students at his school and they identified teenage pregnancy as a burning problem. He therefore set out to write about that, but the play grew into other issues. The play is published in Caribbean Plays for Playing edited by Keith Noel (Heinemann 1985 and Carlong 2001).