It has been an interesting experience to see the productions that have returned theatre to the public since March, 2021. All together, they may be described as well received by a so far tentative audience, different, sometimes surprising and always instructive.
So far, we have seen Unmasked, by Lloyd N D’Arts, an exercise in social realism enhanced by dance; an exhibition of dance, devotion and faith by the National Dance Company in the Brickdam Cathedral; Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed and Unbowed, the visiting one woman act by Ingrid Griffith; “A Treat for My Mothers 5” by Purple Arts Production; and “Comedy Night” an annual popular show by the Mike James Group in Linden. They all explored different theatre spaces, ranging from the conventional Theatre Guild Playhouse to a few unknown, surprising and unconventional venues like the Girl Guides Building on Brickdam, the altar and aisle of the Cathedral, the Police Officers Mess Hall at Eve Leary, and the Mackenzie Sports Club in Linden. They were all different types of theatre, as would be expected, and offered a variety of experiences. Each had to adapt to the sometimes unusual stages in the unconventional venues, at times having to overcome impediments.
However, none was more instructive in its difference, location, environment and audience than the production by the Mike James Group in Linden. It was a performance belonging to a particular brand of popular theatre with its peculiar set of regulations, its traditional audience, its historical environment, its choice of comic offerings, its mode of delivery and adaptation to its stage. It was popular comic theatre that may be judged by different yardsticks than those applied to the more conventional performances. It would somewhat frustrate the normal methods of evaluation because of the many flaws in its execution.
The production consisted of a series of comic skits all performed by the group, along with stand-up comedy in a sequence all held together and introduced by an MC. It had some of the usual characteristics of performances in the traditional ‘tent’ in which the MC is part of the entertainment and contributes as a stand-up comedian. That was the case in this show. Formerly an annual production on Christmas night at the Mackenzie Sports Club, it had been suspended owing to COVID, and has now resurfaced in the Linden Town Week.
There was an unending sequence of skits and short dramatic pieces exploring a range of themes and situations with exploitation of their comic possibilities. Most often these were obviously chosen and performed with audience appeal in mind. High on the agenda were themes of sexuality, encounters, affairs, surprises, and dramatic twists to produce the comic punchline or the unexpected ending. They covered domestic issues, conflicts, infidelity and parents trying to monitor their teenage children being caught out and compromised by their own dalliances, as well as other popular favourites like church services, tricksters and schemes and betrayals.
The quality was quite mixed, some were hilarious, but some were not yet ready for the stage. James employs a known approach using a mixture of scripts and improvisation, but too often this resulted in untidiness and some drawn out moments with actors not too much in command. These were punctuated by the MC who performed a surprising choric function. He offered comments on the actions, expectations and outcomes of the plot in the various skits as a way of bridging the pieces in a continuous programme. There was, of course, comic intention in this attempt to exploit as much as possible out of each dramatic situation.
The main objective was, of course, entertainment. More value could have been gained if it was used to fill the gaps while set changes were taking place, but that was not the case. It could have been better managed to help the flow of the programme and reduce the necessity of major set changes. But it was generally slow and lacked fluency.
The stage and the set, however, are important factors to take into account when considering this type of theatre. They are part of the venue and the environment. To begin with, this production was not staged in a conventional theatre. It was at the Mackenzie Sports Club, a large ground with extensive seating in stands and large spaces in quite a different environment. There is a make-shift stage platform with microphones that the performers have learned to negotiate, and they did so quite adequately in this production, sometimes making creative use of the ground space around it.
To further colour the environment, the performance took place during the annual Linden Town Week, normally characterised by large crowds, mass-based public events, street parties and popular entertainment suited to that setting. The Mike James theatre has to be looked at in this context since it was designed more for this kind of setting.
How does one respond to a show advertised for 8 pm which did not get started until after 10 pm with no visible problems or hindrances and occasional promises over the PA system that the curtains will soon open? All the while the audience was trickling in and the seats were filling up bit by bit as the music blasted with drinks and food on sale. No one complained; it was a picture of normal life.
When it eventually started it went on till after 2 am. It was very audience driven. The MC announced an intermission, but asked the audience whether they wanted one. They didn’t, so the show continued. The most pleasing thing was that there was a large audience, which must have been very good for the box office. It was the largest audience for all the performances anywhere since the resumption of public theatre.
Of course, this was a different brand of performance. One of the main factors of this brand has been performance venues and environment, which much resembles what played out at the Mackenzie Sports Club. Such theatre has a history. It has been established in the Caribbean and Guyana. It has its origins in traditional enactments. One example is the calypso tent, an old form popular among the folk and working-class elements in its early years, but firmly established among the middle class in later years where it most flourished in Trinidad and Barbados.
Then there was a long productive period of vaudeville around the Caribbean through the twentieth century up to about 1970 when it faded. It was prolific in Jamaica, especially, with Christmas morning concerts always staged in a cinema. Cinema house performances were popular all around the Caribbean. Vaudeville was also part of working-class oriented theatre staged by Marcus Garvey at a popular non-conventional venue Edelweiss Park in Kingston. Stand-up comedy was among the offerings here as in the cinemas. But as these faded, they moved right into the rise of Roots Theatre in Jamaica.
Roots is a very popular form driven by farce and comedy, which also developed in venues outside of conventional theatres. Theatre venues are quite varied in Jamaica, but Roots theatre established travel tours all around the country, performing at quite a variety of popular locations. It is fully audience driven with written scripts, but performers are prepared to divert from scripted to improvised dialogue wherever they can interact with or stretch out moments of good audience response. Farce and ad-lib abound in these popular performances.
Traces of this have been seen in Guyana, especially in some plays and in the original style of performance of the Parika Drama group and in the theatre of Mike James. Playwrights of a different persuasion have also used the form, such as Paloma Mohamed in one play Tyfocious Rickiticks.
There are two plays, in particular, Pleasing Mrs Jones and Skin Teeth Na Laugh both by James which were produced and directed by Godfrey Naughton. These were both farces which incorporated many elements of Roots Theatre and were aimed directly at a popular audience.
Having approached James’ performances with this context in mind, one hesitates to apply normal yardsticks of excellence in trying to assess them. So far, in the return of public theatre, the Mike James group has played to the largest audience, and presented a different brand of popular performance belonging to an environment in which a mass audience is engaged.
