‘Man Talk’ deserved larger audience

THE EDITOR: Man Talk is a powerful piece of theatre that should be seen and contemplated by a much larger audience than I suspect it had during its recent run at Queen’s Hall. Man Talk forces the squeamish and others with ostrich-like tendencies to face the harsh realities of 21st century society.  The issues raised are not peculiar to TT nor indeed to the Caribbean from whose perspective the work was created — Earl Warner, the Caribbean Man! All countries, developed, developing and under-developed face similar problems, albeit manifested differently. The issues relate to socialisation or lack thereof and the consequent de-evolution of mankind resulting in the diminished family infrastructure.

Groping as we are for our place in the global village, resource and talent-rich but lacking the recipe that would combine the Caribbean elements of intellectual and other capital into a sustaining nutritious cook up — a yet undisclosed recipe drenched in a delicious all encompassing sauce highlighting the individual flavours of each ingredient. Man Talk, replete with island expressions, examines the constituency of Caribbean Man in many of his guises and disguises: businessman, politician, homosexual, homophobe, labourer, gangster, rapist, absentee father - largely stemming from his upbringing. Startling, brutal, real, smooth, probing and necessarily-offensive come to mind as descriptive prose upon reflection of the many vignettes. The exceptional pieces were the rapist’s and incestuous old man’s monologues which were intense, heavy and simply put, some powerful theatre.

The examination of this painful behaviour was graphic and gripping, compelling one to see, as perhaps a psychologist would, the innards of the perpetrator; certainly useful insight to all of us. It is a risky adventure to invite the untrained eyes and ears which may be fooled by these convincing portrayals that appear to justify and defend such harmful and destructive acts. The cast is rich with both new and proven talent. It was very pleasing to see the relatively new actors confront some difficult but meaningful work, balanced in some respects by the street-corner crotch-grabbing, girl-sooting —easy fare for any Caribbean Man, but inimical Man Talk all the same.

Congratulations to Mervyn de Goeas, MSJ Productions and Mermade Theatre. The engagement of those willing members of the audience with the help of psychologist Frank Dolly and the cast at the end is a welcome foray into audience participation, particularly with themes so relevant to us all; themes with which most of us need help. This work hopefully will open doors of self exploration and recognition that we all need to do something to help ourselves and our neighbours. If not, we will continue on the path of dysfunction in all aspects of life.

MIGUEL PINHEIRO
Port-of-Spain