Once upon a time drama and theatre in Guyana were exclusive to the Theatre Guild and vice versa. So dominant was that institution and its playhouse that it was indivisible from the formal mainstream conventional Guyanese stage. Of course, folk theatre, traditional enactments and working class entertainment such as vaudeville continued separately and elsewhere. That dominance and concentration ended in 1981 with the opening up of commercial or professional theatre and the National Cultural Centre. Investigating the history of many things, therefore, would lead right to the Theatre Guild, whose “Golden Age” glistered between 1957 and 1981.
This includes drama festivals, concerning which, the poor state of records and archives make it difficult to research and we depend on the memories of a few personalities. But even the enthusiastic recall and the personal possessions of photographs and clippings by playwright, director, actor and journalist Francis Quamina Farrier cannot answer all the questions.
It is therefore difficult to establish the history of festivals of one-act plays, for which reliable information is sketchy. It is indisputable, however, that the Theatre Guild of Guyana resuscitated its intended/sometimes annual festival of one-act plays in late October, 2023. This was a reconstruction of the festival that was refuelled in 2010 but faded again within a few years.
This latest revival was led by festival coordinator Simone Dowding, who has been credited with making it happen, but this time there were only three plays entered to break the long drought of many years which started even before the Covid-19 prohibition. Competition was therefore not very hot and involved an old play – Before Her Parting by Mosa Telford under a new director Colleen Humphrey, and two new plays: Keeping Up by Brandon King, directed by Anastacia Shako-Van Tull and Fashion Cuts written and directed by Frederick Minty.
Before Her Parting is a well known, gripping, moving and tragic drama vividly dramatising domestic violence against women. It is well remembered for its brilliant production by Tivia Collins that won the National Drama Festival on its debut. That memory worked against this production because Humphrey’s version suffered by comparison. Such comparison is therefore unfair, but even considered on its own merit in this festival it didn’t quite come off. There was very little to bring off the atmosphere: the horror, the pathos and the high drama taking place in the household of the abusive husband (Randolph Critchlow), his mother (Jennifer Kendall) and the wife he murdered (Kim Fernandes). The scenes in the afterlife were flat with little difference among the chorus of murdered women, except for a few sparks from Latiefa Agard who generated some feeling and emotion.
Critchlow, normally a strong actor, was a bit more like a caged bird, getting little reactive energy from Kendall who, like a few others in the play, had projection problems. However, energy and dynamism came from Fernandes who communicated well in a sensitive performance demonstrating understanding of the character, and from Frederick Minty as Death, whose portrayal had some power. But character interpretation was questionable since he was quite aggressive, roughing up the murdered wife in a situation where one expected soft sympathetic treatment from the forces in the afterlife.
Keeping Up, as a new play by a fledgling playwright, had less sophistication but quite a bit of promise and competence. The plot surrounds a schoolgirl (Vashti de Souza) who suffers constant abuse from her drunken father (Telroy McCalmount) at home and similar violence and bullying from her classmates at school. The play benefits from undercurrents of intrigue in the parallelisms between her experiences at home and those at school. This is sharpened by the ironic comparisons between the father and the teacher who subjects her to rank injustice and prejudice. Further strength comes from unverified suggestions that the father could have been driven to drink because of mistrust and relations with his now deceased wife, while effects of the girl’s dysfunctional home are complicated by her lesbian orientation which triggers her classmates’ hostility.
There was much evidence of under-projection but bright sparks of acting from Safira Abrahim-Williams. The leads, McCalmount and de Souza demonstrated significant promise as new performers, obviously without experience but effective and convincing in communicating the dramatic situation. There was a happy ending but the play did not allow enough time and action to bring it about without charges of deus ex machina.
Fashion Cuts was written by Minty as his test piece for his Diploma in Creative Writing at the National School of Drama. It enters the high, ostentatious, artificial, tension filled world of fashion, attempting a psychological study of personalities and all the accompanying ills that could affect a model. It had some good points in this regard, including a title borrowed from the cutting of cloth, but could have done with a few cuts itself. It had a most impressive beginning, fast moving and convincing with the high electricity of the runway, followed by the rivalry and violence, but slowed down considerably and faded in the second half which was badly affected by some character singing lengthy songs which the playwright/director felt echoed the mood.
To the play’s credit was the possibility that the troubled plight of Molly (Tristana Roberts), a newcomer who rapidly rises to become “the face of fashion” and the envy of her rivals, was really all inside her own head. She is afflicted by a host of enemies whose names suggest personality, emotional and typical characteristics in the field of fashion modelling, and characters with stock names as in a morality play. Molly was tormented by Brains (O’Neilka Bacchus), Looks (Dashawna Williams), Body (Anastacia Shako Van Tull) and Style (Latiefa Agard), while Faith (DeVonte Renaldo) was her constant support and companion. The morality play elements and the use of the Demons (Brandon Singh, Hahadeyah Peters, Elliot Gonzalves, Ethan Gonzalves) strengthened the play, while the songs distracted. The Demons also performed well. Additionally, Roberts put in some work and gave a creditable and believable performance as this vulnerable model unsure of herself, but was limited by the lengthy song she had to sing and the fact that she spent so much of the play actually lying on the ground. The production further suffered from poor projection from some performers, including Renaldo.
Roberts would qualify for nomination as the Best Actress for her overall performance. But de Souza, in her quiet, simple, subtle style was competitive and would also win a nomination despite her newness. At the same time Fernandes was the outstanding performer in her production (Before Her Parting). But she was the least encumbered of the three lead actresses and can perhaps be named as the best in the lead roles.
In supporting roles among the actresses, quite a few from Fashion Cuts recommend themselves – Van Tull as Body, Agard as Style and Bacchus as Brains. Agard competes against herself because of her equally good performance as the school girl in Before Her Parting, while Abrahim-Williams joins the nominations from Keeping Up. However, Agard made the greatest impact in a small role with style and attitude, and is quite likely the best actress in a supporting role.
Among the lead actors only Critchlow and McCalmount were good enough to win nominations. Critchlow proved himself a strong actor as the lead in Before Her Parting. He would come up against the newcomer McCalmount (Keeping Up). But Critchlow was below par throughout and McCalmount did enough to convince in a character role and can most likely be named as the best actor in a lead role.
In terms of actors in supporting roles, the teacher in Keeping Up was good for a nomination, but perhaps Minty will walk past all the contenders and claim the best actor in a supporting role.
Of the three directors, the contest was between Van Tull and Minty. For a more complex and sophisticated production with more techniques attempted, Minty will perhaps carry off the title as best director.
Again, it is very close between Keeping Up and Fashion Cuts to be considered as the best production. In spite of Fashion Cuts’ slickness in some areas, its weaknesses weigh against it, while Keeping Up was simple but deeply effective, making it difficult to choose between them. Keeping Up can, perhaps, get the edge and the victory.
Fashion Cuts can quite likely carry off the titles for the best set and the best use of costume.
