Al Creighton

Last week we commented on the huge popularity of stand-up comedy on the Guyanese stage, and the way it sells tickets over and above all else in the local theatre.

Today, around the streets of Georgetown, small, straggly groups of youths dressed in motley costumes can be seen prancing about, almost to the rhythms of two or three lazy-looking drummers who stand at the side of the road.

At lunchtime on December 18, 1989, AJ Seymour (AJS) phoned to ask me if I would be very kind and pass for him that afternoon to take him to the Guyana Prize Awards Ceremony at the Cultural Centre.

Much tribute is being paid to Martin Wylde Carter (1927 – 1997) around this time, and with very good reason.

Arabesque It is very peaceful here With the white clouds drifting And the palm trees lifting Graceful arms to fan the air.

Quiet’s Event                                 I The mountains slowly emerge out of mist and cloud This is the epitome of quiet’s event when the sun warm and filled with distant barking of dogs rises inevitably into the mind rises into the world and exists beyond abstraction beyond any attempt to ignore its objective presence, so that we feel eternally alive.

Guyana’s National Drama Festival (NDF) 2017 has now reached the stage where nominations have been made for the various awards and prizes in the different categories.

The National Drama Festival (NDF) is now in progress at the National Cultural Centre. 

It was recently announced that Guyanese-British singer, songwriter, musician and producer Eddy Grant has released a new album titled ‘Plaisance’.

Creative Writing in Guyana has a long history, though the formal and certified training in it is very short.

They Came in Ships   They came in ships From far across the seas Britain, colonising the East in India Transporting her chains from Chota Nagpur and the Ganges plain.

Albion Wilds                   Dear Solitude!                   Where peace and concord dwell,                 Whose smiling beauties quell                 The soul’s inquietude.

Popular literature is an important and substantial study. It is a genre whose international impact is astounding.

At this time in Trinidad and Tobago the festival of Ramlila (called Ramleela there) is very widely celebrated.

How can anyone forget the magic of that childhood realm called  “on the way home from school…”?

A very significant factor in Carifesta is literature. A meaningful study of this regional cultural festival is a lengthy and complex undertaking that will require many revisits, including its treatment and representation of the region’s literature.

Guyana proved itself a major force in Carifesta XIII. The performances and exhibitions commanded attention and made a notable impression upon all, it seemed, in Barbados last month.

Faith is at the core of all religious festivals, but they tend to follow discernible patterns in the way they are practiced.

Carifesta XIII is in progress in Barbados. This edition of the region’s premier festival of the arts has underlined a number of issues affecting the festival and a number of patterns that have formed, indicating trends that have developed.

There is a substantial body of work by a writer who was one of St Lucia’s most outstanding dramatists and who was quite dominant among West Indian playwrights throughout the 1960s into the 1970s.