The Mike James Drama Group of Linden returned to the stage on February 18 last with James’ latest play called For Better or Curse performed at Lichas Hall. This signaled the continued vibrancy of this company and loudly announced the opening of their campaign for 2023. That was welcomed, in a climate of concern for the survival of dramatic production both in and out of Georgetown. The company, who is also officially known as Mic. James Productions, is almost alone in practice out in the regions, and this rare public show at the neglected Lichas Hall in Linden was encouraging.
It has proven to be quite a rewarding study to investigate what takes place in theatre in the far-flung areas outside of the capital city in Guyana. Before COVID-19 closed the theatres in 2020, this activity was consistently carried by only two groups – Mic, James Productions and the Conquerors group in Parika, Region 3. But while this is the second production in Linden since the end of the prohibition, nothing has been heard from Parika.
Interestingly, there was quite a flurry of activity in outlying regions and in unconventional venues largely fueled by two catalysts. The outreach initiatives of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD), working through the National Drama Festival (NDF), and the secondary schools, working through the CXC programme of Theatre Arts (CSEC) and Performing Arts (CAPE). A combination of those saw many small, but very significant, public performances by schools in New Amsterdam, and in school halls and other venues, particularly in Georgetown, as well as in West Demerara and Parika, with one each in Bartica, Essequibo Coast, St Cuthbert’s Mission and Den Amstel.
The NDF had been responsible for the formation of the Conquerors in Parika, but they developed as quite a distinct, independent group in that community. The NDF was discontinued by the previous government in 2017, curtailing what was growing as a fairly promising surge in community theatre. Then the pandemic halted the secondary schools’ CXC performances to which the public was invited.
Where Linden is concerned, there are references to a “Golden Age” when there was an amateur drama group among the middle and senior staff of the bauxite company in the 1960s. They are recorded as having won prizes in drama competitions held at the Theatre Guild in Georgetown, especially in 1965 as reported by playwright and actor Francis Farrier. But after time drew hazy curtains over those years, it was the Mike James group that emerged in recent times to hold the fort on stage in the mining community.
For Better or Curse is their most recent work. This is a play in which a young couple fall in love and marry. But even from the beginning there seems to be a veil of mystery, foretelling that this marriage was destined to doom. It wasn’t long before a malevolent, shadowy character in the form of a former suitor from the bride’s past appears to sow discord and seems to cast a mysterious spell over the lives of both husband and wife. As a man, he has an axe to grind, claiming that after all the material benefits he offered the girl she rejected him and formed a union with the man she married. As a mysterious, almost supernatural villain, he threatens to destroy the marriage, perhaps by obeah, perhaps by some other tragic spell.
True to the prophetic words of this shady, devious intruder, the marriage begins to fall apart, starting with the trivial but unreasonably patriarchal obstinacy of the husband and the silly, hasty acts of retaliation by the wife. This developed into the seeds of jealousy, suspicion, accusations and demands for divorce. All is complicated by the involvement of the parents of both the bride and groom, when a usually understanding and supportive mother-in-law turns enemy in support of her son, and a usually reasonable father then draws lines in defence of his daughter; battle lines are drawn as both sides declare war, and the bride walks out of the home.
It all comes to a climactic peripeteia when the villainous mischief-maker blows a puff of powder in the husband’s face, rendering him speechless and incapacitated. He then steps in as the former suitor, in an attempt to persuade the wife to leave her husband and go away with him.
This sets up the drama at a point where action is needed to bring about a resolution. The characters are forced to make decisions upon which hang their future existence and the balance of the play. The play is poised at a suspenseful moment when it is not entirely clear whether it is dealing with malicious vengeance on the part of a wronged ex or with the supernatural in the form of some avenger with spiritual powers. Many trappings of obeah are thrown in by the play to deliberately confuse the audience.
The play manipulates all of this to complicate the plot and leave the audience in two minds. The vengeful mischief-maker uses subterfuge and tricks to deceive the characters and poison their minds. Yet he is consistently presented as shadowy, other-worldly and either in possession of powers himself, or has inflicted injury through consultations with an obeah practitioner.
The play is melo-drama and comedy. A number of plot weaknesses surfaced, but they were there because of the comic intentions of the playwright and director. At the beginning what first appears to be red flags raised over the nature/character of the girl amount to nothing in the plot development because they seem to be there really to create laughs for audience entertainment. The same will account for a few other occurrences that would require explanation as the play progressed, but got none – their function was to create comic effect.
There was a prolonged scene – much too long and unnecessary – depicting the revelries at the kwe kwe and at the wedding reception with the behaviour of some characters that delighted the audience but had no other bearing upon the plot. In another scene one of the characters who turned out to be a co-worker of the wife, is heard professing his interest in the daughter of a man during a conversation, but that disappears thereafter, leaving questions as to its meaning or relevance.
James is known for the deployment of a number of popular or dramatic techniques in his plays. In this one there was an effective opening – the appearance of a Prologue with a choric rhyme about when boy meets girl. It was a worthy introduction to the play and had the effect of a chorus with the hints it gave about what was to come. It would have been more effective if both of the two performers recited the lines in performance – but one of them merely read the lines from a phone, which somewhat distracted.
A major device was the use of songs, which heightened the melodrama as well as showed characteristics of the type of comedy typical of James. A number of popular songs were interspersed in the performance – soul songs expressing emotions to underscore the plot. It is a common device that cashes in on the popularity of the songs themselves.
It was also in keeping with the type of theatre often used by James – the popular Roots theatre common in Jamaica. There are two groups in Guyana that have been seen to adopt and adapt Roots theatre : Mic. James Productions and the Conquerors of Parika. It is the Roots/ dance hall style of these plays that set them apart as a type which require understanding and different yardsticks for evaluation. The expectations and execution are different, and they are to be seen in the context of their projected audience.
The production of For Better or Curse did not provide any printed programmes, although the credits were announced during curtain call by the director. We are unable to refer to the cast by name, although they all understood their roles and performed adequately. The audience was entertained and the play delivered to them what they have come to expect from the James drama group.
