A number of Guyanese plays that began to develop after 1981 belonged to the period of the popularisation of drama in Guyana and the rise of a new, popular and populous audience for theatre.
Last week we analysed the rise of two productions in the Guyanese popular theatre in the context of trends that have developed in the Caribbean region and in Guyana.
It is always of infinite interest to take a close look at trends in theatre in Guyana while casting a glance across the Caribbean to see how they measure up.
It is convenient, but properly justified by theme, form and history, to define Guyanese Literature into a number of periods starting from its early beginnings.
What is Guyanese Art? To what extent can this be answered by the exhibition ‘Abs-tract Art in the National Collection currently on show at the National Gallery, Castellani House?
During the National Drama Festival in 2013 and again last year in Guyana, it would have been noted that there were multiple entries of plays written by Guyanese dramatist Paloma Mohamed, performed by different groups.
There are several ways in which theatre education in Guyana in its widest context has been broadening its scope and attempting to achieve greater depth at a national level.
The rain set early in to-night,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
Siren Song
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Colonial Girls School
for Marlene Smith MacLeish
Borrowed images
willed our skins pale
muffled our laughter
lowered our voices
let out our hems
dekinked our hair
denied our sex in gym tunics and bloomers
harnessed our voices to madrigals
and genteel airs
yoked our minds to declensions in Latin
and the language of Shakespeare
The annual Republic of Guyana Distinguished Lecture Series, established in 2011, continued last week with a lecture that provided, as has been the intention, an opportunity for intellectual engagement with concepts that define Guyana as a nation as a part of the celebration of Mashramani and the anniversary of Republicanism.