Arts on Sunday

The public theatre today is dominated by humour. Comic performance is by far the most popular and commercial theatre is the most viable.

The recent rediscovery of a collection of short stories by Commonwealth writers first published in 1971 has given rise to many pertinent thoughts about the literature and the significance of the selection highlighted at that time.

VIII Enough, Catullus, of this silly whining; What you can see is lost, write off as lost.

Although the Christmas season has ended in Christendom, it makes such an impact, and is so influential in other parts of the world that it continues in a subterranean sense, to be a subject of interest.

The Little Vagabond Dear mother, dear mother, the Church is cold; But the Alehouse is healthy, and pleasant, and warm.

Christmas Bells   I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play,        And wild and sweet        The words repeat    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

The performances in the National Drama Festival (NDF) 2015 came to a rollicking, hilarious end with the performance of a comic farce – popular theatre of a type that appeals to the contemporary audience.

The Members of the Jury have completed their very intense deliberations and debates and have reached agreement on the winners of the Guyana Prize for Literature and the Guyana Prize Caribbean Awards.

The annual National Drama Festival (NDF) of Guyana is in progress at the National Cultural Centre, running every night at 7 o’clock until November 28.

The Guyana Prize for Literature reveals an interesting mix of some of the leading writers and previous winners and a wave of very new writers among the contenders, according to the shortlist recently released.

The Theatre Guild of Guyana staged a Festival of Plays at the Playhouse in Kingston last week-end in which four new plays and playwrights were presented.

Jamaica reverberated last week with birthday tributes, programmes and performances in honour of Ranny Williams called ‘Mas Ran,’ (October 26, 1912 – August 11, 1980) who was born as Randolph Samuel Williams on October 26, 2012 in Colon, Panama.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is now inviting entries for its 2016 competition.

The National Dance Company of Guyana, in the performance of ‘E-Majin,’ for Dance Season 36, directed and choreographed by Vivienne Daniel, celebrated not only a product of 36 years of dance in Guyana, but demonstrated dance as a work of the imagination.

We have already commented that the ‘summer’ of 2015 was like a field lying fallow in the production of theatre in Guyana.

While the theatre agenda in Guyana is currently quite busy, the production of plays on the public stage is at a low ebb – a condition that is expected to be only temporary and is not unrelated to the business of the agenda.

Sonnets from China XVI (sometimes titled The Embassy) As evening fell the day’s oppression lifted; Far peaks came into focus; it had rained; Across wide lawns and cultured flowers drifted The conversation of the highly trained Two gardeners watched them pass and priced their shoes; A chauffer waited, reading in the drive, For them to finish their exchange of views; It seemed a picture of the private life.

      Kanaima / Tiger (for Richard and David)   In the darkest middle of the rubber walk where the interweave of overhanging branches was thick above the road, the four schoolboys walking home (loitering in the roadside bush, collecting shiny rubber seeds in their wooden pods) suddenly stopped – movement, talk, breath, all stopped: for there in the road, yards ahead, stood a black tiger.

Pocomania Long Mountain, rise, Lift you’ shoulder, blot the moon, Black the stars, hide the skies, Long Mountain, rise, lift you shoulder high.

(Continued from last week) As we continue to focus on Carifesta XII which was held in Port au Prince, Haiti, from August 21-30 and closed its curtains exactly one week ago, we find ourselves still confronting the persistent and overriding significance of Haiti as a venue for this Caribbean festival.