By Jasmaine Payne

LOCAL students were over the past few days given the chance to experience the magical world created by award-winning St. Lucian poet and playwright, Derek Walcott.The occasion was the staging of the local adaptation of Walcott’s famous Ti-Jean and his brothers at the National Cultural Centre from Tuesday to yesterday.

The play, directed by Al Creighton and Subraj Singh, was staged as a collaborative effort of the National Drama Company, the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, and the Unit of Allied Arts in honour of Education month, and is part of the current Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) syllabus.
“One of the things that the drama company does is to educate through theatre,” Creighton said.
“So we felt we could make some contribution, given that it is part of the syllabus, and it would be a good experience for students to see the play, and also to demonstrate the kind of theatre that the Drama School and the Drama Company does,” he told The Buzz in an interview.

A DELIGHT

And the experience itself was a delightful one, in which Walcott’s magical but eerie vision of a universe where animals tell stories, and humans make deadly deals with the devil, is expertly and creatively portrayed through the collaborative direction of Creighton and Singh.
The play itself differs in genre to what the Guyanese crowd is accustomed to, straying away from realist traditions and instead utilising aspects of post-modernism and folk tales.
“I think it’s important for Guyanese theatre to catch up with what the rest of the world is doing, especially in the Caribbean,” Singh said.
“We see this kind of theatre a lot in Jamaica and Trinidad, and we are doing our part to ensure that Guyana gets there with everybody else,” he added.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Ti-Jean and his brothers features a poor woman with three sons: The strong but arrogant Gros-Jean (played by Ackeem Joseph), the self-righteous but naïve Mi- Jean (played by Keon Heywood), and the meek and fearful Ti-Jean (played by Nikose Layne).

They make a deal with the devil (played by Mark Luke Edwards and Nicholas Singh as the devil disguised as ‘Papa Bois’) that whoever out-smarts him will be rewarded. While the two older brothers fail and are killed, it is Ti-Jean’s playfulness, patience and wit that ultimately defeat the devil.
It is a tale as old as time; one which features the dualities of good over evil, and which has been told in numerous forms, perhaps the most famous being the tale of David and Goliath, one of the many biblical references in the play itself, but which was beautifully and magically captured in this local adaptation.
MAGICAL
Indeed, the magic could almost be seen in the vibrant colours of the fabrics used in the costumes and stage design, and heard in the music compiled by local musicians throughout the production.
Moreover, perhaps it was the sound effects, the use of lighting; perhaps it was the sinister chanting or the sight of the demons crawling on stage; or maybe it was the general conditioning of our minds that the presence of the devil in any narrative should induce fear, but the production featured genuinely chilling aspects that unnerved the entire audience at various sections.
Creighton and Singh’s adaptation is infused with unique elements such as dance, exaggerated folk elements and strong influences from Trinidad’s Carnival (the chant of the devil from Trinidad’s Devil Mas is repeated throughout the play) which help to enhance the play, and add to Walcott’s own genius.
“I am happy to be part of this, because of the opportunity it provided to do a different kind of theatre,” Creighton said, adding:
“To do Walcott is also a privilege and an honour; he is one of the world’s leading poet playwrights.”
It was also a pleasure, he said, to work with Singh, who he says has a promising future in Guyanese theatre.

Seems the respect was mutual, as Singh said of him: “It was equally an honour to work with Al Creighton, because he comes with this wealth of experience, which is nice to tap into.”
As to the play, he said: “And for me also, it was a great honour to stage a Walcott play, not only because it is Walcott, but it is an important play, especially the way in which our adaptation balances modernity and history, because we have post-modernist techniques and borrowed from folk tale traditions of the Caribbean.”
Other actors who were part of the production were: Tashandra Inniss, Nicola Moonsammy, Nirmala Narine, Melinda Primo-Solomon, Sonia Yarde, Esther Hamer, Kimberly Fernandes, Ayanna Waddell and Onix Duncan. Music was provided by Lisa Adams, Kimberly Samuels, Ricardo Stanton.