'Play Mas'

It therefore makes absolute sense to for the National Theatre Arts Company to produce the two-act play Play Mas by Mustapha Matura, to be performed on February 3 and 4 at the Naparima Bowl in San Fernando, and then hopefully in Port-of-Spain later in the season.

Matura, originally from Belmont, moved to London in 1962. He became a significant playwright in regards to the West Indian experience and, in 1974, Play Mas premi?red at the Royal Court, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. There was also a major revival of the play in the United Kingdom in March 2015.

Belinda Barnes, artistic director of the National Theatre Arts Company, explained that while Play Mas was written in the 1960s, it is still pertinent today because of the issues highlighted in the play, including the relationships between the country’s Indian and African descendants, and what Carnival does for the country.

“In the play a delegation comes to ask the Commissionerof Police to lift the State of Emergency so people

could play mas, and everything would be all right. It’ What he is really saying is that, as a people, despite what is going on in the country, all we want to do is play mas,” explained Barnes.

“It moves from a realistic style in the first act and then it becomes very absurd. But in that absurdity there is a lot of truth, a reality that really makes us look at ourselves and question how Carnival affects us,” she continued.

Roxanne Brathwaite, corporate services co-ordinator of the national performing arts entities under the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts --- the National Theatre Arts Company, National Steel Symphony Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra --- noted the company has recently been performing the works of local playwrights.

She pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago too had classics as well as classical works in several fields in the arts.

She said Matura created several of these classics, as he was able to reveal a lot about who we were in the past, and who we are now as a people.

“The beauty of a classical piece is that it is able to transcend time and generations.

And so these stories are relevant to this contemporary period.

The stories are about life and people and how people interact,” said Brathwaite.

“Personally, I think it’s very important that our community gets to know our stories and our playwrights before we embark on the works of people of other countries,” interjected Barnes.

Tickets to the performances are available free of charge to the public. Brathwaite explained that the ministry established national performing arts entities in order to influence the performing arts sector positively by showcasing its possibilities, not only its operations through a high standard of work and professionalism, but to highlight the opportunities available for persons interested in the field.

She also stated the ministry decided to offer many performances to the public free of charge in order to “encourage inclusion and participation to as wide a cross section of the population as possible.” “It’s giving the widest cross section of TT as possible access to the arts, getting the taste for it to encourage them to patronise the arts.

Mas continues on We have to nurture that desire because theatre can not exist unless we make new audiences of younger people,” added Barnes.

She said the return on investments was not always financial when it comes to the arts.

The returns could also be social as the arts had the potential to change a life as it could take people out of their situations, and give people more options for entertainment as well as professions.

Barnes said through the years there were limited opportunities to become involved in the arts and young people were discouraged from pursuing professions in the field. However, with the creation of the performing arts bodies, the existence of the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), and the focus of the ministry to develop the arts, TT was catching up with other countries.

According to Brathwaite, the ministry recognised that the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT ), the University of the West Indies (UWI), the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COST AATT ), and the University of Southern Caribbean (USC) provided tertiary training in the performing arts, on and off the stage, and these were actual professions.

“We recognise that if you are creating programmes and graduating young people, there needs to be a robust sector that can absorb them, that can hire them instead of them leaving the country, just teaching, or giving up after being trained in this skill,” she said.

The three entities, she said, would provide consistency and predictability in performances on stage, grooming the players, musicians, and other members, to become the best. She also noted it was attractive for people to be able to work at what they were trained to do in their own country, especially as it was no longer as easy as it was in years gone by to go abroad and find work in these fields because of the world’s economic situation.

Brathwaite noted the company is working on a production in collaboration with one of the universities offering performing arts programmes, in order to provide a bridge between the students and the professionals.

In addition, all three entities would soon be able to be hired out to the private sector for events and recordings.

The company was introduced in 2009 with a one-off production for the opening of NAPA. However, it was established in 2014 with 13 players on a one-year contract. After a one-year break, the company resumed work in 2016.

At the moment, there are only six players in the company - Syntyche Bishop, Lalonde Ochoa, Marvin Dowridge, Adam Pascall, Shivonne Churche-Isaacs, and Fabrice Barker.

Brathwaite said the small number of players influences the type of plays chosen to be performed, and there were also financial and administrative limitations.

However, she stated the ministry already had auditions and is working on increasing the number of members, as well as administrative and technical staff including a stage manager, costume designer, and more. Some of these, she said who would work with all three entities. In the meantime, Brathwaite described the challenges as predictable so that internal adjustments were often made. For example, she said they engage persons from outside the company for technical and artistic support, first looking to persons within the Division of Culture, then to the wider ministry, and lastly by buying services. s the relationships between the country’s Indian and African descendants, and what Carnival does for the country.

“In the play a delegation comes to ask the Commissioner of Police to lift the State of Emergency so people