Gilkes does it all in ‘Redmen’

The production will be presented at the Little Carib Theatre from May 11 - 14. The play enjoyed successful runs in Guyana and St Lucia in January and April this year.

The Last of the Redmen features Gilkes, who plays six roles.

The principal RAF (Roger) Redman is an 80-year-old man in a wheelchair, the last surviving member of a large, well known, middle class family famous for their contribution to the arts and culture. Through a cast of other characters and the use of sound and projected images, the stage becomes a kaleidoscope of people, events and experiences from the past when the world was a place of wonder and discovery to the mind of a Caribbean child.

Humour, wit and wordplay are used to transform the frustrated lonely life of the elderly protagonist into a creative experience suggesting the need to cherish our traditions of artistic excellence instead of relegating them to the dustbin of history. In the play a whole era is conjured up on stage and examined in a dramatic “post mortem” before judge, prosecution, defence and jury (the audience) to find out ‘who killed the middle class?’

The story and its cast of characters are based on a real life family (the Taitts) and their home “Woodbine,” the creative centre for artists, actors, dancers, poets and musicians, who gathered in the mid 20th century in Georgetown to debate the issues of the day and turn their lives into energised forces making music, dance, drama and art out of their Caribbean-ness. It was a glorious time when art and music and the creative imagination could open up whole new worlds of experience, knowledge and pleasure.

The racial, political, and economic convulsions of the 70’s and 80’s drove many of this middle class of ‘redmen’ out of Guyana and into the diaspora when their lives and limbs became threatened by the events of the day.

Some settled in Trinidad, Barbados, St Lucia and other islands as well as the North America’s continent and further afield. As rampant crime, corruption and official apathy dull the senses of people in the region today, the exodus continues through “brain drain” and the promise of more stimulating rewards in “foreign”.

The Last of the Redmen seeks to answer the question - why?… and what can the present generation do to reverse the negative trends and recapture some of the sterling qualities of a gentler place and time.

The opening gala is on Thursday at 7.15 p.m. and showtime is 8.30 pm. Part proceeds raised from the play will be donated to Rebirth House.

On Mother’s Day the show begins at 6.30 p.m.