– Extends show times to include evenings for adults

FOR the last three years, the National Drama Company (NDC) has been making an indelible contribution to the learning process for Fifth Form Literature students by bringing to life plays that are part of their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Syllabus. In 2016, it was Derek Walcott’s ‘Ti-Jean and his Brothers’; in 2017, they staged Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Lion and the Jewel’; and this year, the NDC will bring to the stage Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. The play, which is directed by Esther Hamer and Keron Bruce will have both matinee and evening performances for the first time and will run from April 13-15 and 17-19.

At a press conference hosted at the National Cultural Centre on Wednesday, Hamer explained that the NDC saw huge benefits in presenting plays from the CSEC syllabus given that the visual, dramatic and musical display of the pieces performed significantly help to develop clarity and understanding of the play’s plot, characters and themes. “After each matinee performance, there is an interactive question and answer section that caters to the specific needs of students. Through these interactions and those with Literature teachers, we can safely say that those performances have helped Guyana’s CSEC students to properly prepare for their Literature examinations,” she said.

Hamer stated that the night performances were added this year because the NDC began to receive requests from adults who were unable to make the matinees. “We didn’t expect all that interest from the adults and a lot of people were not able to come [in the previous two years] because they are working so now we are trying to capitalise on that,” she said. If all goes well and if finances and other factors permit, the NDC hopes to take this educational venture on the road to schools in other parts of the country.

Hamer added that as far as possible, the play will stick to the original script and language. She added that they are also trying to source original music (with minor additions and mixes in between)and stay true to the mode of dress of the period.
The cast comprises of a skilled group of actors who are all members of the NDC, as well as former students and/or lecturers of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD).

Other Opportunities
Asked whether there would be opportunities to involve students in the actual production of plays in the future to give them first-hand experience, NDC’s Creative Director, Al Creighton stated that such an initiative would need to be done through the Allied Arts Unit within the Ministry of Education which has direct responsibility for students in the arts. “Our immediate mandate is the School of Drama so we focus on that, but we also assist secondary schools, for example, we have a team of mentors who go out and assist groups in producing theatre and we send them to secondary schools through Allied Arts so we have some input. There is also the annual National Drama Festival which has a category open to secondary schools,” he said. The NDC also hosts an annual workshop for teachers which train them in stage management, set design, costuming and other areas of theatre.

Identifying with themes
The NDC believes that as they bring ‘The Tempest’ to life, students will be better able to identify with some of the themes that Shakespeare incorporates such as romance and elements of the supernatural. With a rich mix of dance and music, Creighton said that the play draws heavily on several aspects of traditional theatre as well.

As they continue to fulfil their mandate, the NDC also hopes that sometime in the future, more Guyanese will gravitate to genres of theatre outside the highly popular comedies that are usually staged. “This is not easily done. The company has tried to perform cutting-edge theatre that moves into the frontiers of theatre through set design, costuming, post-modernist techniques and performance. This has been done in many of our performances and we are still trying to get large numbers of people. We have to try to find ways to get the larger audience to see these things and become aware of them,” he said.

Hamer added that even as they continue to hope for larger crowds, the company will continue to do its work and that eventually, things will pick up. “We need to be constant and consistent and people will come … it will take a while… but if we keep working on it, it will happen,” she said.

As for ‘The Tempest’, the NDC believes that the audience will certainly enjoy the production.
“We plan to make it an experience. For you to become enveloped in what we are doing,” Hamer said.