First TTT play

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, in a few minutes from now, you will see a play by a local writer, performed by local actors with all the technical work by our staff right here at our local station. This is no mean achievement for a television house that is not yet four years old. The experts will tell you that when you can produce a play live, you have arrived.

“We have to thank our programme director, Mr Barry Gordon, the director of our play — Farouk Muhammad and the writer, Freddie Kissoon. Please sit back, relax and enjoy the first play on TTT — Zingay.” His speech went something like that.

Farouk Muhammad was the main man in master control in Television House giving directions to camera men, “Camera 1: — Dolly in on ‘Doris’; Camera 2: Stand by for a wide angle shot to cover all characters; Sound: follow ‘Millie’ with the boom mike; Camera 1: Close-up of the door, ‘Man Man’ is about to enter.” And so, it went on for the half an hour programme.

I was sitting next to Farouk. My job was more or less finished at that point in time. The Strolling Players had rehearsed the play over and over again under my direction three times a week for months. When we arrived in the studio, the TV director became the man calling the shots — deciding what the viewers would see.

In those days, television was in black and white. We had only one boom mike which was kept about 14 inches over the actor’s head as he moved along. As the play was televisied live, it meant that the actors had to be word perfect and if anything went wrong, they simply had to cover up the best they could and press on. There was no question of coming out of character and relaxing for a few minutes to check the script or fix something on the costume etcetera. Even if part of the set had fallen, the players had to pretend it was part of the play.

Several months before, I had written a letter to Mr Gordon suggesting that it was about time, TTT televise a local play. He called me to his office to discuss the project. He wanted to be quite sure that the actors would know their lines and moves and everything would go smoothly without hitches. We had one dress rehearsal in the studio before the actual performance.

For that memorable occasion, Joan Telemaque played the mother — “Doris;” Cynthia Cambridge —the Barbadian neighbour — “Millie”; Wayne Richards — the boy “Sonny”; Peter O’Neill — the father ‘Paul’ and Nigel Waithe — the obeah man “Man-Man.” The last character was my role for five years but I passed it on to Nigel because for television Farouk wanted me to tell him what was the actor’s next move. Also I had to apply make-up to the players and check out facial expressions on the monitor. No one has the power of bilocation so I had to give up my role.

As I sat in master control, my mind flashed back to when I wrote Zingay. My maternal grandmother used to relate all those old folklore stories about soucouyant, La diablesse, mama G’leau, Papa Bois, douens, loupe garous, phantom and many more. I thought I would make up a story of a boy who was phantom and many more. I thought I would make up a story of a boy who was supposedly bitten by a soucouyant. The idea grew like a seed planted in fertile soil. I wrote and re-wrote until I was fully satisfied that I had given my best.

“Zingay” has been performed all over Trinidad, Tobago, Guyana, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia, Antigua, Anguilla, Jamaica, New York, Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, London, Nigeria and Holland.

Mr Dexter Lyndersay was the moving force behind the performances in Ibadan and Calabar in Nigeria where he taught at the University of Ibadan for a number of years. He arranged to have the play televisied to millions on Nigerian television. Dexter also staged it at Laren in the Netherlands — Holland.

Several drama groups have presented “Zingay,” notably The Siparia Village Council which won the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy under the leadership of Andrew Worrell. He told me that when the Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams saw the play, he laughed until he cried. Here is a verse from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to give us pause:- “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we may.”