THE stage of the National Cultural Centre is set to come alive Wednesday evening with echoes of yesteryear when the National Library takes on its most ambitious project ever.
The event is the staging of a local adaption of ‘To Sir, with Love’ in honour of its author, Guyanese-born E.R. Braithwaite, on the occasion of his 100th birthday. It is not the 103-year-old institution’s first effort to honour this internationally-acclaimed son of the soil. Last year the Library presented ‘A Morning with E.R. Braithwaite: A Kind of Homecoming’, and last June it celebrated E.R. Braithwaite’s Centennial Month.
To most people, ‘To Sir with Love’ is a movie that starred Sidney Poitier. For those of us who are Oprah buffs, we know that Poitier is a Bahamian actor and that the popular American talk-show host credits him with inspiring her to take up television journalism. He was the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for the movie Lilies in the Field.
We also know the song ‘To Sir with Love’ from the film of the same name. It was sung by Lulu – a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality. She is internationally identified with this song.
We know the song mostly because we heard it played on the radio by deejays like the late Pancho Carew, Basil ‘P’, Seegobind and Rudy Grant among others. We have also sung this song at assorted graduations and farewell ceremonies and parties for teachers and students alike.
Not much is known, though, about whether this song was ever sung for doctors, lawyers, politicians or the President, or if a ‘To Miss with Love’ version ever came out or caught on.
Also, it is not a very well known fact, especially by locals, that ‘To Sir with Love’ – the movie – is based on a novel by the same name written by a Black Guyanese, E.R. Braithwaite. It is his first published book.
It is perhaps this kind of awareness that the National Library feels compelled to raise when it set out on the challenging venture of introducing Guyanese writers, playwrights and poets to the reading public.
To help the process along, the Library enlisted the expertise of 29-year-old playwright, Mosa Mathifa Telford.
Mosa, who hails from the East Coast village of Buxton, began writing when she was just seven years old. She wrote nursery rhymes. She wrote her first play, ‘Dream Lesson’, at 14. She then migrated to London where she studied for a diploma in Performing Arts.
Mosa has already staged seven plays through the Theatre Guild’s One-Act Festival. She will shortly launch her own theatre company. She currently writes for the popular radio drama, ‘Merundoi.’
‘To Sir, with Love’ will be directed by Ron Robinson, and stars the young actor, Leon Cummings, in the lead role.
E.R. Braithwaite will be part of the audience. He is also expected to receive a National Award.
Buy your tickets early. They are available at the National Library and the National Cultural Centre.