As theatre in Guyana is still trying, among a number of testing circumstances, to return to normalcy following the two years of prohibition inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, among the most important recent developments was the return of the Link Show.
This annual satirical revue returned to the stage with the performance of Link Show 36 directed by Ron Robinson and produced by The Theatre Company and Gem Madhoo-Nascimento of Gems Theatre Productions. It has so far been one of only three productions at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) since it reopened, running for four nights initially at the beginning of July, then held over and repeated for a few more performances later in the month.
The new management regime at the NCC, including the exorbitant rental fees, is an issue that has inhibited the number of productions at that venue since it reopened. It appears the Link Show only managed to take the stage there following some successful negotiations. Apart from that, the show itself had to confront other issues, both commercial and artistic. Audiences have been reticent and slow to reemerge since the restrictions have been removed. Local theatre is definitely faced with a decline in audience numbers, and furthermore, there is a preference for farce. The audiences attracted by Link Show 36 were modest compared to the multitudes it previously enjoyed. Yet, there are those who look to the annual satirical revue for a witty analysis of national issues, laughter arising from lampoon and take-off based on vice and folly in national politics, personalities and social life. Link Show faces a dilemma resulting from all those factors.
Intrinsic in that dilemma is the very survival of the annual production. It faces rising production costs; it needs to sustain its popularity and ability to sell tickets; it has to manage its content between the influence of farce and slapstick as against social and political satire.
With respect to survival, there are only two remaining institutions in the Caribbean today which are monuments of the highly valued satirical tradition in the theatre. These are the Annual Jamaica Pantomime Musical and the Link Show. They are endangered species. Interestingly, the Pantomime faced a similar dilemma when it had to compete at the box office with the highly popular farce in Jamaican theatre. It gave in to the pressure for a few years between 2015 and 2017, somewhat righting itself in 2018. Link Show 36 seems to have been influenced by the draw of popular appeal in jokes, which took priority over political and social satire.
According to Director Robinson’s Programme Notes, “for two years, because of Covid 19, we’ve not had a Link Show, and it’s great to be back again. Because of the long absence, much has happened in Guyana that is begging for satirical review and comment. [That is quite true.] We have attempted to capture as much of it as possible.” That attempt did not really manage to capture most of what happened during the two years. There are events yielding an abundance of vice and folly that were not effectively treated by Link Show.
The politics of Guyana since the No Confidence Vote in Parliament, and the elections of March 2020 all the way up to 2022 had been indeed “begging for satirical review and comment”. The attempt to rig the elections alone, that dragged on for five months, provided enough material for a whole opera or full length drama. There were events that were ridiculous, laughable and tragic; there was unmitigated vice and there was nonsense that Link Show did not lampoon beyond brief reference in perhaps two skits.
The show got off to a start quite well with effective integration of satire in the routine Pink Panther opening sequence. There was a good laugh at the most recent atrocity in public art. The unfortunate Harpy Eagle impaled on a spike that has been a public laughing stock for months was woven into the sequence, quite appropriately as something frightening.
It was the same with a number of the ‘quickies’ – short, compact pieces of humour usually with a sharp punch line. Among the most successful were the ones that were not just jokes, but made a satirical statement. A good example was “Weapons”, which was a sharp comment on the real seriousness of prevailing violence in schools. Another example was “Prezzo”, which satirised President Ali’s very effective success at weight loss. It was effective in visual presentation, but assumed more meaning in the suggestion that he might have also set out to shed other types of weight: political baggage. A short jab at the bizarre minibus culture, “Tourist”, depicted the ambushing of potential passengers by touts, a strange and terrifying experience for any unsuspecting tourist.
One of the most popular features in the Link Show is the “Over De Fence” sequence where many topical issues are treated by neighbouring women talking over the fence. In Number 36 this was one of the few skits lampooning local politics in any significant way to take advantage of the abundance of likely material. Among other things, it touched on President Ali’s close association with Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Vice-President Jagdeo’s conflict with Su Zhi Rong and items touching Guyana’s oil industry.
Another item of political satire was “Chaos,” which lampooned the expected elevated debates and discourse about weighty matters of state in the country’s Parliament. It dramatised the ridiculous and petty preoccupations and crude misbehaviour that occupy the time of the representatives in Parliament. It was a hilarious exposure of some of the matters that became public knowledge and incited amazement, consternation and disapproval.
The only skits touching the election and the attempts to steal it came in “Wuk Pon Dem” and “Detention”. “Wuk Pon Dem” poked fun at a spiritual invocation performed by party members to influence the success of the attempts to falsify the election results. “Detention” was a ‘quicky’ that targeted the crass falsification of numbers in the Region Four results, dramatised in the skit as an inability to master mathematics. But those were marginal and could not come near to an intention to treat the affair.
The thin line between entertainment in the popular culture and serious dangerous violence was exposed in “Badaration”, a take-off on the concert which celebrated Guyana’s Independence Carnival which was interrupted by gunshots and pandemonium. That was a little window opened onto the dancehall culture and its invasion by gunplay and gun violence in the society.
The other offerings in Link Show 36 were jokes without much commentary on human affairs, except to say how funny they can be. There was a much reduced focus on homosexuality, which in the Caribbean society is still much misunderstood and feared, so that a safe way of dealing with it is to treat it as an object of hilarity. This was played down in this show. Many of the other skits dealt with a line of other popular favourites such as infidelity, sexuality and the Chinese comic character.
There was a recurring problem of audibility, including some lack of clarity in the speech of actors, but in a more pronounced way because of technical failures in the stage facilities. Yet Link Show 36 exhibited effective choreography by Sonia Yarde and expert direction and management of an experienced cast well versed in the delivery that characterises the performance style of satirical comedy.
