Drama, Drama, Drama!

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being” – Oscar Wilde

The Greeks, originator of the western tradition of theatre, used the public staging of plays to provoke discussion on and the transmission of, cultural values, as far back as 500BC. We can still benefit from the readings of say, Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus.
A week ago, I attended one of the performances being put on at the National Cultural Centre, as a part of the National Drama Festival. It’s a shame there isn’t more public support for this initiative. That afternoon, there were two performances, the first by Annandale Secondary and the next by Queen’s College.
The performance by Annandale was a completely original piece – written and performed from scratch. And I, was thoroughly impressed and, from the thunderous applause so was everybody else – especially the second formers squealing behind me! Their play, titled ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’, dealt with a recurring theme that we unfortunately see in everyday life – the ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ syndrome.
The play, used pretty extreme examples, and wrapped up with the daughter being encouraged into loose behaviour by a friend. She became pregnant and HIV/AIDS positive pushing the mother who spoiled her, into committing suicide.
It really was a thought-provoking play. The kids behind me kept up a running commentary: “Eh! Eh! Look at she!” “Good fuh she!”  I’m sure at some point most persons were asking themselves, ‘Why do people stray away? Why do they go ‘bad’?
And it’s a question worth asking. But I’m not sure anyone has a definitive answer.
If you ask any of the persons ‘breaking out’, they might offer the rationale of the wayward friend in the play:  ‘I’m tired of doing everything my parent’s way’ or ‘I want to be free to do whatever I want’.
But the dénouement of the play illustrated the folk wisdom that ‘wha sweet does sometimes hu’t belly”.
Because unlike what the strong-headed friend advised the Preacher’s Daughter, you can’t party your way through school with bus conductors or whoever and expect things to end up all sunshine and roses. Chances are, you might end up like the tragic heroine, pregnant with AIDS or if you’re a boy, with just the AIDS.
So youths (angst ridden and all) must accept that listening to their parent’s isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, their advice, having been there before, is at least based on experience. And though they probably don’t like admitting it, they probably made some of the same mistakes that you’re about to make and that’s why they know they’re cautioning you.
The other performance was done by Queen’s College: an excerpt from the CSEC novel, ‘The Wine of Astonishment’. Comparing it from what came before, the kids behind me thought it was ‘boring”. But I was also greatly impressed by their handling of a much more sophisticated theme – the suppression of a non-standard (African) religious expression, the Shouter Baptists of Trinidad in the 1940’s.
I knew that though excerpted from a book, the actual lines spoken onstage were written and put together by the actors. They were all fourth formers, including my brother, and I was amazed by how well they stepped into roles that were so far off from who they are in real life. They played their parts convincingly and even managed to insert humour in an otherwise serious work.
On the whole, however, I think the Drama Festival gave all of these school kids a brilliant opportunity to be involved in what happens backstage and the experience of performing onstage in front of packed auditoriums.
And, like the Greeks, to learn and teach something about life. It’s something, I’m sure, that’s worth telling the grandkids about.