By Subraj Singh
The Preliminaries of this year’s National Drama Festival (NDF) are over, and the finalists have been chosen. Going into the final phase of the competition are a number of worthy productions and it is impossible to go into the merits of each one here. Therefore, continuing with last week’s trend of highlighting only the positives of the productions seen in the Preliminaries in order to celebrate theatre and to recognize that each work of are, due to the effort and heart put into it, is special, we shall be taking a brief look at three more plays that entered the NDF this year: The Perfect Man, Baraka’s Revenge, Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend.

The Perfect Man – written by Ato Vaughn; directed by Tristana Roberts

Although the play did not make it into the Finals of the competition, it is certainly one of those that will be remembered by the audience for a long time. Focusing on a young man who is attempting to use magical powers, murder and human sacrifice in order to build, from a combination of male body parts, the perfect and resuscitate her dead lover to life, the already sets itself apart from what is the norm. The production was carried by the lead performance of Ruqayyah Boyer who performed capably and brought a warm sort of sexual appeal, manifested through BDSM, sex toys and the lingerie on the stage. It is a performance that calls for extreme courage and Ms. Boyer must be commended for taking on a role that most other Guyanese actresses would not even contemplate doing. The ideas in the plot of the story were quite good and, if revised and developed more, can really morph itself into a very excellent play.

Baraka’s Revenge – written by Melinda Primo-Solomon; directed by Nickose Layne
This play is in the Open Full-Length category and tells the story of three friends who open a

mysterious bottle and unleashes an ancient backoo. Perhaps the best thing about this production has to be use of dance. The dancers, led by Nathaya Whaul, really make a strong impact and the African moves and music really go well with the theme of the play. They used the stage well and the dances themselves were well choreographed. The lead actress, Kimberly Fernandes was also quite good and despite everything was able to make a lasting impression on the audience by being able to handle the shifting of the play nicely.

Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend – written by Ackeeni Bentick; directed by Kevon Henry

This play has advanced to the Finals in the Junior category and most of the members in the cast and production team come from the newest batch of graduates from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama. Friendship is, of course, the main theme of the play which focuses on a group of female friends – each distinct and uniquely represented by the individual actresses who play them. The script also addresses themes such as love, betrayal and revenge. The play has a nice multitude of characters and several situations that are ripe for dramatic tension. Moreover, even though it has strong themes and is literary, the play is a lot of fun. It provides entertainment and characters for the audience to hate and characters for the audience to cheer on. It is balanced in almost every way necessary.
Overall, it is obvious that the Finals of the National Drama Festival will be quite the event to look forward. With strong competition and some excellent work being done in the Festival, there is no doubt that this year’s NDF will be one to remember.