Arts on Sunday

[This week, Arts on Sunday reproduces a rare detailed review and commentary on theatre in Guyana from the past.

The Guyanese theatre landscape welcomed with loud voices the return to the stage of an old favourite comedy – “Till Ah Find A Place” by Ronald Hollingsworth.

Every year around this time, we honour the extraordinary Caribbean poet Martin Carter, who was born in June.

[We present a review by Berkley Wendell Semple, Guyanese poet and novelist.

LOVE’S GUIDE    One could see the beauty of the body But could only feel the beauty of the soul But what does it matter True love is blind Feeling is her seeing eyes                                                 Ivan Forrester    [Inside Guianame, 4TH Edition, Spring, 2024, Guyana and Suriname, 2024; 120pp.;

The poems selected here are gifts to Guyana in celebration of 58 years of independence today, May 26, 2024. 

The Confucius Institute at the University of Guyana (CIUG) celebrates its 10TH Anniversary today, having been inaugurated on May 19, 2014, in an official ceremony involving the President of Guyana and the Ambassador of China. 

The ancient township of New Amsterdam in Berbice has still managed to resist the hurly-burly of modern development and retain quite a feel of its long existence as an old urban district with an old world, if not colonial, atmosphere.

Today is Arrival Day. To mark the anniversary of the landing of two noteworthy ships, The Hesperus and The Whitby on the shores of British Guiana on May 5, 186 years ago, here are short excerpts of prose and poetry documenting that immigration experience and its aftermath in various creative ways.

Dave Martins, a legend of Guyanese music, culture, and literature celebrated his 90th birthday last week.

On March 23 last, Lloyd N De Arts Productions, in partnership with students of the Tutorial High School in Georgetown, staged a production titled “The Chosen” at the Theatre Guild Playhouse.

Guyana is among the culturally fascinating countries where it is possible to have, in the same week, two separate holidays and a spiritual observance sacred to three different religions.

  My Heart Leaps Up (or “The Rainbow”) My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!

All the processes and events connected to the Guyana Prize for Literature 2023 concluded on May 3, when the curtains closed on the 2024 Literary Festival. 

After a bounty year in 2023, dramatic performances have made a fair appearance so far in 2024. 

Today is the final round of the 2024 Literary Festival of the Guyana Prize for Literature. 

The Guyana Prize for Literature 2023 will be awarded on Friday March 1 in the dedicated Awards Presentation Ceremony at the National Cultural Centre at 7 pm. 

Among the important cultural highlights of 2024 will be the Guyana Prize Literary Festival which is scheduled to take place between Thursday, February 29 and Sunday, March 3. 

Our review of the year 2023 concludes with theatre, more specifically, an analysis of the dramatic plays performed during the year and recognition of the best achievements and performances.

As we continue a review of the Guyanese stage in 2023, the spotlight is turned to focus on the production Nothing to Laugh About.