Howl, howl, howl! O you are men of stones.
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack.
Shakespeare, King Lear
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Shakespeare, King Richard The Third
Michael Gilkes’s The Last of the Redmen (2006) by is one of Guyana’s foremost dramas, occupying a place of significance among the best of Guyanese theatre and as a major work of Guyanese literature. It holds the distinction of being the winner of the Guyana Prize for Literature 2006 and was first produced in that same year by GEMS Theatre Productions, directed by Gilkes who also played the role of RAF Redman in what was then a one-man play.