Raymond Choo Kong (August 5, 1949 – July 13, 2019) was a major contributor to an important movement in the contemporary theatre of the Caribbean. He was a major personality in drama in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), a foremost practitioner on stage at a time when what was happening in that arena reflected the characteristics of developments across the Caribbean.
A leading force in commercial and popular theatre in T&T, he helped keep it alive and there are notable factors relating to his contribution that are significant in the state of drama in the Caricom region. His major activities supported one branch of Trinidadian theatre, but his work and career also included important involvement in the other branches.
Choo Kong was known for comedy, popular plays, entertainment and thrillers as opposed to what may be regarded as serious Trinidadian drama, the genres of traditional forms, or avant-garde works. As a major mover in the commercial and the popular he would have been contrasted to the work of, for example, the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, formerly driven by the theatre of Derek Walcott.
An examination of Choo Kong’s entire career of some 39 years, however, would reveal the breadth, depth and extent of his contributions. It would show the importance of his branch of work and its place in the theatre traditions of the West Indies, as well as Choo Kong’s work in those areas often considered serious. His place and his categorisation may be significant arguments in the notion of so-called conflicts between the comic and the designated serious theatre.
Early in his career as an actor, Choo Kong became an integral part of the rise of professional theatre in Trinidad and Tobago at that time. His first influences would have been centred around the Little Carib Theatre, major personalities like Helen Camps and the dominant drama of the times. This was the kind of work being done by the Trinidad Theatre Workshop (TTW) and the plays of Derek Walcott, even though he was already personally separated from the company before 1980. The climate around the West Indies was still determined by those major players including Trevor Rhone and Denis Scott. Other personalities such as Earl Warner graduated from the Jamaica School of Drama and Thom Cross had migrated from Jamaica to Barbados where, as directors, they both led the theatre in Barbados.
Yet, at that same time, there were other currents gaining ground and flowing stronger following from the early springs in theatre in Jamaica in the 1970s. This was the rise of popular theatre, comedy, and professional theatre. Although Choo Kong had set sail in the mainstream that was still dominant in his early years, it was in these three currents that he eventually steered his course and found a rich harbour in which to weigh anchor.
He founded Raymond Choo Kong Productions, which he served as producer, director, playwright and actor. This became a major company in the 1990s, progressing steadily through the present and becoming the most prolific group in Trinidad. His very busy career was also decorated with several theatre awards.
This company became famous for a range of popular comedies and fast-moving thrillers. It set the pace in Trinidad but was falling in step with the trends across the Caribbean. Jamaica, where almost all these movements began, had developed different kinds of popular plays, including comedy and farce, but grounded in local popular culture and traditions. Imported comedies flourished briefly but faded.
However, they were prominent in the popular fare in other countries like Guyana and Trinidad. While local drama took the opportunity to grow, the decade of the eighties in Guyana saw the reign of imported thrillers. Such entertaining dramas held court in Trinidad as the main ingredient on the stage had been comedies. Choo Kong was king in this area. There have been several plays highlighting sex and various intrigues around hilarious situations. Numbered among these were The Mating Game, Choose Your Partner Wisely, Run for Your Wife and It Runs in the Family.
Choo Kong Productions was very much a part of theatre development and the experiences of the local stage – they were both growing together. Choo Kong was performing and temporarily made his home at a variety of different and changing venues since the eighties. This itinerant characteristic typified the theatre in Trinidad for all the decades since then and was experienced by all the major companies, including the TTW.
There was a venue in the Port-of-Spain Tranquility area; there was a tent structure on the northern edge of the Savannah; they moved to the Central Bank Auditorium; then to the Cipriani Labour College, the most recent venue. Choo Kong had initially started in his hometown, Arima.
It is thus possible to find that Choo Kong had a defining role on the stage in Trinidad, which can be placed in the context of Caribbean-wide trends. His main niche was laughter, and even there he was an extension of the West Indian satirical tradition. He produced satirical pieces, including political as well as social satires of Trinidad. The best examples of these were productions he did in partnership with actress and comedienne Penelope Spencer at the Cipriani College.
Then, quite outside of that, are examples of plays he produced which were of different genres and required serious studies of other theatrical types. During Carifesta 1995 in Trinidad, when drama was still a major component of the festival (before it diminished to what it is today) Choo Kong produced Lady Precious Stream, a Chinese drama of the classical type. This was a different theatre experience for the audience, quite unaccustomed to the arts of the Orient. This Trinidadian production was faithful to the Chinese theatrical traditions and directed by Choo Kong. Choo Kong was, therefore, much involved in the mainstream.
He also produced and directed major western musicals, such as The Sound of Music. What is of even greater importance is his involvement in theatre at the most interesting levels, and at the fore of the state of the art in the Caribbean. Perhaps the best example of this is that he directed the drama Mary Could Dance written by Richard Raghubarsingh. This play was performed on the fringe during Carifesta in Trinidad in 2006. It was not part of the official Carifesta programme (there were no major full-length plays in the festival) but performed at an unconventional venue (in an old cinema house).
Mary Could Dance is a drama of major importance. At the time it was one of the most outstanding plays around the Caribbean, in the company of others such as The Final Truth? by Thom Cross in Barbados, Uptown Bangarang by Basil Dawkins (Jamaica), Not About Eve by David Heron (Jamaica) and Derek Walcott’s Haytian Earth, revised production at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine in Trinidad.
At the time, such plays were considered among the strongest in terms of craft, excellence and treatment of issues of import. All of them, except Haytian Earth, examined areas touching on HIV, homosexuality, attitudes to lesbianism and same sex relations, problems relating to the stigmata and social attitudes. Both Mary Could Dance and The Final Truth? emerged as primary works with discourse on HIV among the important preoccupations.
Raghubarsingh had worked previously with Choo Kong, and then, in this case, had his work directed by the master. Even in some of his comic pieces Choo Kong enlisted satire as a form of theatre. For example, in addition to very topical political satire, in his joint production with Penelope Spencer, he turned to social commentary in which he addressed Trinidad’s propensity to racial stereotyping. He was able to laugh at himself in his portrayal and protest of Trinidad’s Chinese community reduced to racial stereotypes.
Choo Kong Productions, then, had substantial growth on the local stage, at the forefront of delivering the demand for popular plays, with a diet of sex, sensational intrigue and comedy. Yet the company could also be numbered among the producers of important drama in the context of trends in the Caribbean.
And that is the place that Raymond Choo Kong, director, producer, actor and playwright, carved out for himself on the Trinidadian stage. Those are the reasons for his prominence and the imprints that remain as a result of his having trod the boards in the West Indies.
