Link Show 37 returns to the National Cultural Centre for a repeat performance on October 26 at 8 pm. This, in itself, is a significant event for theatregoers in Guyana who get another opportunity to see the popular annual satirical revue and get some comic relief, particularly if they had missed it when it had its regular season for 2024 in July. But this return is of interest for other reasons which have to do with the state of dramatic performance in Guyana today.
Link Show 37 is a joint annual production of GEMS Theatre Productions and The Theatre Company, directed by superstar of the Guyanese stage Ron Robinson and produced by extraordinary personality in the field Gem Madhoo-Nascimento. They have a supporting cast which includes a few of the outstanding celebrities. Sonia Yarde is stage manager with sound controlled by Nizam Bacchus and Paul Budnah and stage movement by Yarde.
Audiences can look forward to seeing a virtual survey of political and social events that commanded attention over the past year – the laughable (mis)behaviour of politicians and personalities in public life and all the misdemeanours and foibles of the year parodied and highlighted on stage. This theatre of scandal and folly has been made more intriguing by the very busy and influential social media with its new cast of characters that should provide the satirists with popular material. The Link Show’s modus operandi is lampoon and take-off, revisiting the year’s incidents and issues in laughable form.
Some of these have fallen off of the Link Show’s menu of skits and “quickies” and several of the items are simply jokes – short funny presentations with no satirical intention that can keep an audience entertained. Some of the traditional features that remain on the show’s agenda are items like “Over the Fence” – a hilarious sequence of dialogue between neighbours over the back fence that separate their yards. The exchanges are crafted to include the comic idiosyncrasies of the neighbours, but designed to bring out much commentary on human behaviour and topical social events or issues.
Another is “At the Stabroek” – a grand market scene set at Stabroek Market, popularly known as “Big Market” in Guyana – a popular venue in the centre of the city known as a place where anything and everything is sold, where people interact and the audience can get a view and a reflection of almost everything that goes on in the city of Georgetown. Like “Over the Fence”, this is a venue that is cut out for happenings worthy of social and political lampoon.
Yet another of the old favourites is Professor Havingsport, a character whose portrayal calls upon the special expertise of Robinson, who has been playing him in and out of the Link for decades. It is a take-off on the eccentric university professor dressed in full academic robes who performs all manner of wizardry with mathematical figures and formulae and with words to the amusement of the crowd. He is a staple in this revue.
Mixed with the items of satire are other features designed to delight. “Quickies” are short, snappy sequences that may be take-offs or just common jokes not necessarily with any satirical content. They are usually fast moving with an impactful punchline on which they often depend. In the best of times the quick jokes have some bearing on a known event or personality, and when this happens we get the very best out of the quickies. But the script writing is not always that astute.
The mixing continues in all the other items in the show, and has some bearing on why we say this held over performance is significant. Many of the items are merely attempts to make the audience laugh and have no special treat. Some of them veer towards farce or even slapstick, which have always been present in the Link Show, but have not always been the main event. However, over the recent years there has been a slow falling away from strong satire, especially effective political satire, and this could see the tradition, as well as the success of the show, diminish. The strength of this, and future Link Shows will depend on the production’s ability to deliver the old favourites described above and preserve what have been at the core of this show as a special event – as an annual revue rather than just an ordinary comedy show or a farce. Even the strength of audience entertainment, ipso facto, depends on the successful retention of those favourites and their ability to retain their form.
The adjoining factor, very relevant to the theme of significance, is the question of the popularity of The Link Show and the temptation to give in to what might be more popular at the expense of traditional form. This show has struggled to survive. It is not doing so badly at the moment. The whole idea of repeating a show is often because it has been, as they say in the theatre, “held over by popular demand”. This happens when the audiences keep pouring in and will not let a show go. The Link can still attract a fair crowd, but unfortunately, it has seen better days and can still remember when it had full houses, broke attendance records and sustained long runs. That is not the case today.
Generally, the Guyana audience for theatre has declined, but more specifically, the crowds will only come out to see comedy, farce and slapstick. There was a little difference with The Link because it offered something of a more specialist nature – the range and forms of satire. As in other theatrical traditions, the producers or the writers and performers are tempted to move away from their art to make their offering more popular. They are influenced by the going market and start thinking they need to try more to make the audience laugh in order to make their shows more attractive and sell tickets. There is growing fear that this is what The Link Show is doing, or that the script writers have been losing the talent for political satire.
This held over performance draws attention to still another significant factor. It is advertised as “KFC Link Show 37”. This means that the producers must have had a significant degree of sponsorship or material support from the KFC franchise. There is quite a bit of high-profile advertising in the printed programme, but a major sponsor is suggested. This is a very good thing for Guyanese theatre, which is in great need of funding to survive. Generally, over the years, it has been difficult to get the private sector to invest in theatre, but there have been some important breakthroughs. We have seen increasing private sponsorship, but yet, not enough; or it might be that some producers have the skill to negotiate assistance from companies, while others do not.
This repeat performance is also important because the producers are willing to take the risk, and it creates work for actors, performers and stage practitioners. Further, the creation of work will remind us of the history of The Link Show. This annual production was founded by Robinson and Madhoo-Nascimento in 1981 when The theatre Company was also founded by them and professional commercial theatre in Guyana actually started. Practitioners began to receive payment for their work and productions began to earn money – vast sums for some producers. Today, that earning power has been cut, but the theatre is fully accepted as a place where people earn money for their work.
This history also reminds us of the importance of this annual satirical revue internationally. It was part of a wave of such annual satires in the Caribbean, which were a strong tradition. That, too, however, struggled to survive with only Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana holding on. The Link is the longest running theatrical stage production in Guyana. It is under threat and one can only hope that the challenges outlined above can be overcome so it will not permanently close its curtains or give away its satirical form.
How much of that form still survives can be seen in the repeat on October 26. On stage will be a cast of established actors and actresses who have been well schooled in the style of delivery of take-off and lampoon over many years of Link Show performances, and it is of interest the extent to which they can reproduce that familiar style. They are joined by many who are new or fairly new to the stage and to this type of theatre and it is to be seen if the show retains its identity. The cast is Sonia Yarde, Paul Budnah, Stephen Mohammed, Michael Ignatius, Christel Mangra, Sean Thompson, Fitzroy Cummings, Kwasi Ace Edmonson, Tchaiko Rodney, Brandon Singh, Gerard Gilkes, Simone Dowding, Kevin Kellman, LeTisha Da Silva, Makini Thompson, O’Neilka Bacchus, Mark Luke-Edwards, Aliyah David, Rovindra Persaud, Lucas Singh, Latiefa Agard and Kenisha Lynch.
