The National Cultural Centre will come alive next Saturday and Sunday evening, March 9 and 10 with the full-length play, I Am Us produced by the Ethnic Relations Commissions as a means of promoting unity and to preserve peace and good relations despite the divisiveness of past elections.
I Am Us was written in 2015 by Neaz Subhan, who had hoped to have it staged in 2016, who has tailored it for this staging. Subhan is also the director of the play. The play focuses on two neighbouring families reflective of the two largest ethnic groups. While their differences with regard to their ethnicities, religion and culture may be expected to be contributing factors for disagreement, the elders within the families remained good natured to each other serving as the best examples for their children.
I Am Us weaves the very important aspect of holistic inclusiveness. This unity becomes threatened and is regrettably fractured as elections approach. With this unfortunate aspect of our history, such events can reveal latent suspicious among Guyanese, especially these two focus groups.
“Suspicions are brought to the fore revealing some factors that sow division. Parallel, is genuine conviction of others who want to derive unity through their unstinting efforts. These scenarios precipitate a conundrum through undesired conflict of wanting unity against counter-productive situations,” Neaz said, explaining the reason for the play.
Neaz further mentioned that while all of this plays out the other ethnicities within the minority despite feeling marginalized try to heal this divide and foster unity. The need for togetherness becomes a huge issue which is why Guyanese cannot afford to be disunited.
The play also examines challenges in respect to communication stemming from the generation gap and how each differently views the situation at hand.
Some of the questions that arise are about Guyanese and the future. Can Guyana afford a disunited people? Is the younger generation being set the right example? Must elections continue to be a potentially divisive event? The stage provides a mechanism that will allow its audience to reflect.
Neaz noted that it was the establishment of the Ministry of Social Cohesion after the 2015 election that inspired him to write the play. “I felt that was the vehicle to robustly work to bring the people together. The story is centred around Surwah, an Indo-Guyanese, his wife and daughter; Coalpot, an Afro-Guyanese, his wife and son. It moves from their togetherness, like a family, to the breaking away as a result in difference in the electoral preference,” he revealed.
The younger generation, troubled by the unfolding situation and how their future will be affected, work effortlessly to making the adults realize that being divided by politics has no place in our society.
The play has its share of humour which the Guyanese audience would welcome. However, questions often avoided are brought into the open. The ERC seeks to create an atmosphere that makes its audience rethink their sense of purpose in creating a better Guyana.
The one-of-a-kind Guyanese play relies on its mixed cast of almost a dozen actors: Paul Budnah (Surwah), LaDonna Kissoon (Kunti – Surwah’s wife), Gerard Gilkes (Coalpot), Simone Dowding (Norma – Coalpot’s wife), Troy Parboo (a Portuguese man called DeFreitas), Romel Edmondson (Fiedtkow – an Amerindian man), Malisa Mathur (Surwah’s daughter Rekha), Yohance Koama (Kevin – Coalpot’s son), and Godfrey Naughton (Slacks, the policeman). In addition to the play, there will Indian Tassa drummers, African drummers, Indian dancers, African dancers, Amerindian dancers and Chinese dancers.
Entry to see the play is free of cost and tickets were being distributed by the NCC so as to reserve seating. There was been an overwhelming response, resulting in no more available seats.
I Am Us is scheduled for a 7 pm start on both nights.
