The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts drama finals, previously produced under the title drama/speech, played out at the Frank Collymore Hall last Sunday under the expansive medium of theatre.
This gave practitioners an opportunity to explore their creative minds to the fullest through mixed media: dance, word, song and mime.
It was an effort to sit through it all, however. And the subtle emptying of the 500-seater hall spoke to an inability of the actors to hold the audience. Their exodus was hardly an attempt to embarrass, but it took real resilence to sit through an entire production which ran into four hours.
If there is an assumption about what made the evening a generally tedious experience, it might have been scriptwriters who were too self-indulgent as they pushed the envelope to artistic extremes.
The ineffective lighting also did not enhance the overall production.
On the brighter side, the Tribute – a presentation by Barbados Seventh-Day Adventist School’s Gifted Hands – was exceptional. These youngsters deserved more than the rapturous applause they got at the opening. The use of mime to bring out the beauty of Barbados, showing its fauna and flora, was mind-blowing. The playing of Beautiful Barbados by the Merrymen and God Be the Glory was a fitting tribute to Barbados. It was unfortunate that the lights could not have gone up to reveal their identities.
Boarding Call (to catch the bus of success) by Persistence of Vision (POV) stood out for its clarity of message. At the end no one could have missed the point that an opportunity should be taken when it presents itself.
Neil Waithe and Charlene Haynes were also believable in their skit Pure Service which centred around customer service.
Waithe, who also appeared in an Adrian Green script entitled No Bacco about evils of smoking as he consumed alcohol, has lots of talent.
The presentation Gone by the Yardie Boy Theatre dealt with child/domestic abuse, but the attempt to be fast-paced caused it to come over as erratic because the script was too cumbersome and called for editing. The ineffective lighting also did not enhance the overall production.
Adrian Green, noted for his prolific writing, might just have exposed too much of it by allowing eight pieces of his work to be presented on one evening.
Outside of X-Ale and It Is About Time, the only other one that cut it was Good Girl Getting Better, performed by Ossie-Ann Joe who spoofed Rihanna.
The Lodge School’s Dying But Fighting Back was also a good effort. It showed how traditional values were having a tough time surviving the new and evolving mores in the society.
One could not help recall that school’s effort years ago to bounce back after a decline in the eyes of the public as a major education institution.
Other contributions for the evening came from Sabrina Ambrose doing Sti(n)g Muh, Toni McIntosh with Shame On Me? Shame On You, and Oswald Joe’s Ms Island Fitness, all wriiten by Green.
Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP) Drama Group presented Check Ya Self and Hustler while Rhythmic Resilience, also from HMP, offered up Reflections.
Graham Bannister, with In d Pen; New Dimensions Eagles doing Chain Breaker; and Ayesha NuRa reciting Angels also appeared in the finals.