The Jubilee Theatre Festival came to a close on the night of Sunday, 12th June, at the National Cultural Centre when Francis Quamina Farrier’s comedic play, Journey to Freedom, was staged.

It was directed by Godfrey Naughton and ran for over two hours. The manner in which the play was so overlong is just one of the factors that made it a bit of a lackluster event for what really should have been the final trump card in the hand being dealt by the Jubilee Festival.
Journey to Freedom does contain the kind of patriotic sentiments that are ideal for a Festival which aims to celebrate Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. The plot concerns a variety of tenants who live in buildings rented to them by the colonial-minded Mr. Jones during the time when Guyana shifts from being a colony of Great Britain to being an independent nation. Although it does meander and wander away from its main themes often, the play eventually comes back to its focus which appears to be the reactions to, and the repercussions of, independence. It’s a nice concept, but it never really reaches up to its full potential in this production.
The production started off with a nice musical number, but the opening was also marred by an uncalled for voiceover that proceeded to inform the audience on what they would see in the play, which was unnecessary and went against the old theatre adage of “show us, don’t tell us.” Another notable thing about the production was the conspicuous lack of believable period costume, which is important since the play, being set in the sixties onwards, qualifies as a period piece.
There were several live musical numbers throughout the play and some of the songs, such as Gavin Mendonca’s version of “Not a Blade of Grass” and Kimberly Samuel’s rendition of “Oh Beautiful Guyana” were quite good, although I do feel that the live steel pan orchestra was heavily underutilized. While the singing itself was fine, the way the music was integrated into the play (basically having all the action and dialogue stop and allowing the characters to simply stand and stare at the singers) was awkward and really did nothing to give the play extra points for creativity and purpose in the inclusion of musical numbers. More thought could have been put into how the songs and singers would be integrated into the play alongside the characters. Characters standing around and doing nothing while the song is sung is not even allowable in the most basic of Bollywood films.
Some of the more capable performances in the play include Nicholas Singh as the soldier, Rohan. Singh uses his body to communicate emotions well, and one of the better scenes in the production is where, saying nothing, he simply stands and savours the “independence air.” However, he needs to bring the same level of emotion that is in his body to his voice. Johann David was able to express the seductive slyness of his character and, along with Nirmala Narine, gave the audience one of the funniest moments in the play. Nelan Benjamin as the “choke-and-rob” bandit was very good and was one of the few characters whose lines constantly made the audience laugh. The students of the National School of Theatre Arts and Dramas as extras were suitably expressive and brought the “village-vibe” that was necessary for the setting. Other members of the cast included Sonia Yarde, Akbar Singh, Taneka Caldeira, Alicia Charles, Kijana Lewis, Abigail Brower, Shevon Henry, Brian Goodman and Frederick Minty.