Harquail celebrates 30th year with full slate of events
(L-R) David Bereaux and Marc Powers performing in Pantomime
(CNS): To mark the Harquail Theatre’s 30th year, the venue will host 30 anniversary events. First up on the calendar are three back-to-back theatrical productions being staged in the Studio Theatre.
Henry Muttoo, artistic director of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF), based in the Harquail, explained the significance of the theatre. “The Harquail Theatre is not just a building…it is a creative space in which artists of all kinds can imagine and realise their dreams,” he said.
“It is a space that gives us the permission to suspend our disbelief for a moment and venture into unknown and familiar territory with abandon. It is a safe space as well as a provocative one – asking everyone who enters to allow themselves to let go, for now.”
First on the schedule, the CNCF and the School of Theatre, University of South Florida, have partnered to bring Pantomime by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott to Cayman, fresh off of performances in Tampa and Nassau, set for 30 and 31 October at the Harquail.
A third performance of Pantomime is planned for the Prospect Playhouse on 1 November, a nod to the long history between the Harquail and the Cayman Drama Society. The group produced several plays at the Harquail before the playhouse came into existence.
Pantomime, which was written in 1978 and performed off-Broadway in December 1986, is now considered a Caribbean classic. Directed by Muttoo, this latest production opened in Tampa and then travelled to the Bahamas, where it received an equally enthusiastic reception at the Shakespeare in Paradise Festival. The production will feature performers David Bereaux of Gimistory and Marc Powers, director of the School of Theatre & Dance at University of South Florida.
Next up, Tony award-winning play Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard, with John Kani and Winston Ntshona, will be performed 13-15 November, directed by Philip A. Burrows of the Bahamas and featuring actors Dion Johnson and Mark Humes. Muttoo handpicked this play, saying the performance was “captivating, bold, painfully honest about the physical, psychological and spiritual trauma South Africa and the world suffered during apartheid”.
To complete the trifecta, The Fallen Angel and the Devil Concubine, a collective creation by Groundwork Theatre Company of Jamaica, starring local actresses Rita Estevanovich and Lesley-Ann Bernard, will be staged 4-6 December.
This dramedy is about two very different women who are very much the same in their maddening desire for a family, acceptance and a place to call home.
Tickets for the first three theatrical productions are on sale now at Foster’s (The Strand), Funky Tang’s, Health Care Pharmacy (Grand Harbour) and CNCF offices.
Special anniversary packages are available through CNCF for anyone purchasing tickets for all three productions, and group rates are also available.
A calendar of 30th anniversary events is available on CNCF’s website. For more information on tickets call 949-5477 or email the CNCF.
Category: Performing Arts
