UWI arts students stage soca musical

The production is the result of a challenge issued to students of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) by their lecturer Louis McWilliams who is also director of the play. McWilliams challenged students to dissect and creatively analyse the lyrical content of soca music to explore the possibilities of combining the art form with theatre.

The play is set in the 1990s in a village called Vwa Dey Memwa or Memory Lane in Toco and in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York. The characters experience many emotions –envy, rage, love and tabanca– all vividly illustrated through soca music.

“The soca music in the play is not limited to any specific era – current selections are also explored and help to tell the story of Stick-ey Desires,” McWilliams states in a media release.

His aim is to have the audience sing-along to a nostalgic theatrical performance, and inspire a greater appreciation for soca as an art form in the Caribbean, the release said.

The theatre Arts students were immersed in all of the production elements of the play and challenged to assist in the development of the script, all of which constitute the assessment process for the programme.

The play will run from March 31 to April 2 and April 7 to 9. Showtimes are 8 pm daily, and 6 pm on Sundays.

Tickets cost $100 but tertiary students with student ID pay $75 and secondary students pay $50.

Tickets are available at the DCFA, Agostini Street, St Augustine.

For more info: 663- 2222, 645-1955 or email dcfa@ sta.uwi.edu.