The curtains closed on the theatre stage in Guyana for 2017 with the annual comedy show c, produced by Lyndon Jones and Maria Benschop. This had two segments: the first night was the competition, and saw local stand-up comedians in a contest for the virtual Comedy King or Queen of the year. The second was a full production of stand-up comedy with those belonging to the top echelon in the field giving full performances, joined by some of the others as guests.
A number of significant stories will come out of this. One is that Uncensored confirmed its place as the most popular show on the Guyanese stage. It recovered comfortably from its one bad year in recent times – last year – when the National Cultural Centre was closed for rehabilitation and it had to seek an alternative venue. It used the Giftland Mall, outdoors, and it rained. It lived up to the old saying, “There’s no business like show business . . . so let’s get on with the show.” That is often translated into “the show must go on,” and so it did, but only for one night and took a buffeting.
2017 saw it back on terra firma with still the fullest house for the year, though not its usual sold out solid. Its only rival on popularity was a show by the same company – Benschop’s Nothing to Laugh About. The current trend is that comedy is the most popular, along with farce done straight for laughter.
