In Brief
- Early Christmas Gift: The Oratory Foundation recently staged captivating performances of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Macbeth at the Naparima Bowl in San Fernando.
- Massive Turnout: Thousands of students, along with teachers, families, and Her Excellency President Christine Kangaloo, attended the performances between 30 September and 2 October.
- Behind the Scenes: The writer experienced the backstage camaraderie, witnessing primary, secondary, and university students dedicating their weekends and holidays to rigorous rehearsals.
- Caribbean Flair: The classic plays were infused with Caribbean rhythm, gestures, and drums, offering young minds vital lessons on ambition and identity.
- Inspiring the Youth: The production served as a powerful reminder of the joy, discipline, and immense potential of the nation’s young people when given a meaningful purpose.
Dear Editor,
Christmas came early to San Fernando this year. In a season when so many of us are stretched thin by long days, tight pockets, and the ordinary weight of life, The Oratory Foundation unwrapped a gift at Naparima Bowl, and I am still savouring it.
Between 30th September and 2nd October, the Foundation, led by Mrs Deborah Jean-Baptiste-Samuel, staged Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Macbeth. Thousands, not hundreds, of students filled that storied southern hall, joined by teachers, families, and, at Macbeth, Her Excellency President Christine Kangaloo. The Bowl, with all the history it holds, lent every performance a warmth of its own.
I have long admired theatre from the audience side of the curtain. This time I was permitted behind it, and that is where my perspective shifted.
Backstage is another country. Eyes adjusting from glare to darkness. Whispered cues in the hustle. Costumes handled with reverence, not vanity. The seasoned actor steadying the nervous one; the elder passing craft to the younger; the commanding voice lending courage to the trembling. Primary schoolchildren, secondary students, and university graduates, one company. With no shortage of limitations and constraints, they surrendered weekends and public holidays to rehearsal, carrying their lines home like precious cargo. The costumes were radiant, yet they paled beside the spirits wearing them.
Before a single line was spoken, as the cast filed from the dressing rooms into the narrow walkway, Mrs Jean-Baptiste-Samuel held everyone in prayer: performers, students, audience, crew, and country. No one was left unnamed. I confess I was overcome.
What followed was Shakespeare filtered through Caribbean contemplation: our gestures, our rhythm, our drum. “A drum, a drum, Macbeth doth come!” rang through the hall, and the tale of a man devoured by unchecked ambition reminded young minds that greatness without conscience is no greatness at all. Twelfth Night offered its gentler wisdom: that beneath disguise and mistaken identity lies the truth of who we are, and that “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.” On that stage, I watched young people achieve it, line by line.
Comedy and tragedy in a single week, much like life itself. I will never again take for granted the labour behind a performance.
This is a company that has carried Caribbean Shakespeare as far as Stratford-upon-Avon, yet it gave its finest gift right here at home: joy, discipline, and the quiet proof that our young people, given purpose, will rise to meet it.
The best gifts are not measured by their wrapping, but by what they leave behind. I left Naparima Bowl lighter, prouder, and inspired. To the actors, the crew, and the Director: thank you, and much respect. The season of giving has begun.
Dinesh Rambally
Via email
