An interest in theatre from unexpected quarters
Another positive feature in the recent Guyana National Drama Festival was the clear sign that some amount of theatre is taking place among schools and youth groups. There seems to be encouraging energy, interest and vibrant activity in some quarters, in certain instances as a result of the Schools Drama Festival, and in a few [...]
Nrityageet: Creativity and innovation over three generations
Nrityageet is “a pure dance theatre production reflecting the creativity and innovation of three generations of dancers, choreographers and producers.” This is how the director Seeta Shah Roath describes the production as she introduced the performance in the Programme Notes of Nrityageet 32 at the National Cultural Centre. In that brief reference she manages to [...]
The Indian ethos in Guyanese literature
That part of Guyanese literature that may be described as East Indian literature is indistinguishable from the totality of the nation’s writing in terms of styles, themes, subjects and other concerns of authors today. Yet, literature written by or written about Indians in Guyana attracts great interest and makes up a major part of the [...]
Mervyn Morris: a distinctive West Indian poet
Malefactor (Left) So you is God? Den teck we down! Tiefin doan bad like crucifyin! wha do you, man? Save all a wi from dyin!S Malefactor (Right) Doan bodder widdim, Master; him Must die; but when you Kingdom come, remember I. when you sail across de sea, O God of Judah, carry I wit dee. [...]
Easter and its impact on the arts
Easter is one of the most important religious festivals for Christians and the second in magnitude of the two very prominent ones with extensive public appeal (the first of these is Christmas). It is associated with public exhibitions, although relatively subdued today and confined to the church, but in a large way is partly responsible [...]
Remembering Victor Hugo
Tomorrow at Daybreak Tomorrow at daybreak, when the fields are pale I will leave. You see, I know that you wait for me. I will cross the forest, I will cross the hills I cannot live far from you any longer. I will walk, my eyes seeing only mind’s visions Seeing nothing else, hearing not [...]
Developing a tradition
It might surprise many to hear it said that after 41 years Guyana’s premier national festival is still a developing tradition. Yet, there are many reasons why that is true in the case of Mashramani, which was founded in 1970 and adopted as the national celebration of not only Republicanism, but nationhood. There is a [...]
Not satire
The theatre of satire in the Caribbean has a very strong history and tradition dating back to the period of slavery. Its roots may be found in the European carnival led by the French Creoles in Trinidad, the masked balls and masques, and the negres jardin (‘field negroes’ or ‘field slaves’ in loose translation) – [...]
Makantali: An important production
The recent staging of the Harold Bascom drama Makantali by The Theatre Guild was an extremely important production. It was the presentation to the public of a major play by a notable contemporary Guyanese writer in a series of efforts by the resuscitated Theatre Guild to resume the staging of prominent plays of merit at [...]
Satire has moral responsibilities
The annual satirical revue Link Show 27 directed by Ron Robinson and produced by The Theatre Company and GEMS Theatre Productions provoked a number of letters and comments in the press in February 2011. These included reactions to both content and quality, complaints about extravagance, questions of fairness, and the nature and functions of satire [...]
Book review…Voices of the enslaved
By James G Rose (Trevor Burnard, Hearing Slaves Speak, UK : The Caribbean Press, 2010. – 194p.) In accordance with the United Nations Declaration, Guyana has joined with the rest of the world in declaring 2011 as The International Year for People of African Descent. An additional set of titles in the Guyana Classics Series [...]
Derek Walcott, the dramatist
His victory over a first class field in the 2010 TS Eliot Poetry Prize last month elevated Derek Walcott yet higher in world literature and placed him yet again under the international spotlight. It is not a position with which Walcott is unfamiliar, since this highly decorated artist is recognized as the best poet writing
A school of experimentation
(Poui, Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing, No: XI, December 2010; eds Mark McWatt, Jane Bryce, Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Mark Jason Welch, Dept. of Language, Linguistics and Literature, UWI, Barbados; 186 p) Continued from last week True to its origins as the initial outlet for the products of creative writing workshops at Cave Hill and even [...]
A school of experimentation
(Poui, Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing, No: XI, December 2010; eds Mark McWatt, Jane Bryce, Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Mark Jason Welch, Dept. of Language, Linguistics and Literature, UWI, Barbados; 186 p) As Poui celebrates the publication of its eleventh edition, the editors have found the best way to summarise the nature of its achievement and [...]
‘A very great poet’
It was announced on January 24 in London that Caribbean poet Derek Walcott had won the TS Eliot Poetry Prize 2010 for his latest collection White Egrets. This was yet another triumph for the writer who has already won the Nobel Prize (1992) and brings him under international public gaze once again, basking in praises, [...]