By Nicosia Smith and
Mark McGowan
The staging of Guyana’s Carifesta X signature play in Linden was postponed on Sunday but many patrons only learned of it when they turned up for the performance at the Lichas Hall on Monday evening.
The decision to reschedule Monday’s night staging of The Legend of the Silk Cotton Tree was because one of the key cast members was involved in another Carifesta-related performance at the same time.
According to Dr. Paloma Mohamed, the Artistic Director of Carifesta X, the organisers only discovered on Sunday that Kijana Lewis would have been involved in Guyana’s Signal Dance Production at the National Cultural Centre at the same time the play was scheduled for Linden. Consequently, a decision was made by the organisers to have a dance production by the delegation from Antigua and Barbuda instead of the play. The play has now been rescheduled for Saturday, August 30.
Mohamed told Stabroek News that the postponement of the play was communicated immediately to the authorities in Linden and that a radio announcement was also aired.
When Stabroek News contacted Lewis, he said that an understudy had been selected for his role and consequently his unavailability for that night should not have affected the staging of the play.
The director of the play, Al Creighton, said that although there were understudies for the characters, not all of them would have been properly prepared for stage.
Creighton also explained that apart from one of the actors being involved in another activity, there may have been other reasons for the postponement of the play. He told Stabroek News that many of the foreign delegations had indicated an interest in performing outside of the capital city and that the organisers had made a decision to hold back the local performances to allow the overseas delegations to perform instead.
Lindeners who gathered for the play were non-plussed. As patrons arrived for the two-hour play at 6 pm on Monday, Carifesta X officials at the door told them of the programme change. They were also asked if they would like to stay on for a dance performance instead.
At 7.15 pm, Leon Roberts, public relations officer of the Regional Democratic Council and regional representative for Carifesta X, made a general announcement that the play would not be staged because of “cast problems”. However, he said, an Antigua and Barbuda dance performance would be held.
Roberts said he was notified of the change at 3 pm on Monday, but because of the time-frame was not able to make a media announcement. Some patrons in the crowd disagreed. They felt that there had been enough time for an announcement to be made.
One woman remarked, “this is disgraceful.”
Roberts said the Antiguan dancers should have been accompanied by a band. However, the band was not able to play because of the limitations of the Lichas Hall infrastructure. Stabroek News was later told that the equipment would have blown fuses and caused echoing owing to the enclosed facility. Roberts said the band was suitable for performances at large venues like the Providence National Stadium.
Around 7.20 pm, the three males and seven females of the National Dance Theatre Group of Antigua and Barbuda took to the stage dancing to a soul melody, which quieted some of the by then restless patrons, who had been there for over an hour in some cases.
Following the first dance, there was over a five-minute break. The second performance was a stirring solo, beautifully performed. During a second, longer break, patrons began to move around and some started to clap to urge the performers back on stage.
For the third and final piece, which ended at 7.55 pm, the seven dancers in carnival-style costumes danced to a spicy beat utilizing the entire stage and received much oohs and aahs from the mixed audience.
Roberts then announced that he had asked the band to return to Linden tomorrow, to play at the Wismar Bayroc Community Centre at ‘Guyanese Night’, an open air venue.
After their stage performances, dancers Monifa Browne and Shamara Sebastian spoke with Stabroek News.
Browne said the performance at Linden was the group’s first for Carifesta X, and it was scheduled to perform yesterday and tomorrow, with its 15-member drama arm.
Both Browne and Sebastian said they only learned of the Linden performance around 3 pm on Monday and that the bus to transport them arrived around 3.30 pm.
“We expected a performance but did not know where and what time,” Sebastian said.
Browne, who is participating at her first Carifesta said the group came to Guyana with a total of seven dance pieces.
Sebastian, who is at her third Carifesta, said, “look it’s good…no complaints.”
Browne too confessed, “I have been having a wonderful time.”
Both have also been enjoying the Grand Market at the Sophia Exhibition Site and the variety of leather sandals, “we have been buying them like crazy.”
The Antigua and Barbuda group was slated to perform My Birthright yesterday at the Tain Campus Auditorium, and Priscilla’s Wedding tomorrow at the Anna Regina Multilateral School.
On Saturday, the Jamaican play River Bottom was held at Lichas Hall to a capacity crowd and on Sunday, a Brazilian children’s play was held. River Bottom was scheduled to be held over yesterday at 7 pm, as a result of the good response on Saturday.
A reading by Ken Corsbie scheduled for yesterday at Lichas Hall from 6 pm – 8 pm was cancelled.
