Behind the scenes

Yes, it was the first and last Commonwealth Arts Festival in which thousands of artistes from twenty-two English speaking countries performed in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

As part of the Trinidad Theatre Company presenting Man Better Man written and directed by Errol Hill, I was paying my second visit to the former "Mother Country." We staged the play in the Scala Theatre in London, King’s Theatre in Glasgow-Scotland and the very modern Peggy Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon.

In Glasgow, at Kelvin Hall, our steelband captured the hearts of the Scots instantaneously when they rendered the unofficial anthem of the Highlanders. It was said that if you wanted to be on good terms with the people just say these magic words, "Down with ‘God save the Queen.’ Up with the ‘Gay Gordon,’" — which many Scots considered to be their national anthem.

I had been to Scotland twice before, spending weekends in Edinburgh and Ayrshire — that’s where their greatest poet, Robert Burns was born.

He becomes the world’s favourite composer every New Year’s Eve with the traditional singing of his "Auld Lang Syne" which is a revised version of an old folk song.

Jean Sue Wing, Winston Gaye, George Williams, Errol Jones, Marina Maxwell, Joy Ryan, Molly Ahyee, Russel Winston, Ronald Williams, Dexter Lyndersay, Hugh Bonterre and Peter Pitts were some of the participants in Man Better Man.

In London, Errol Hill reminded me, "Freddie, you’re the understudy for Ronnie Williams. He is stuck in New York and may not make it in time for the performance tomorrow. Hope you are ready." I replied, "Errol, you know Freddie is always ready," and we laughed.

But the truth is, I really was not. I knew the moves but I never bothered to learn the cues and the dialogue.

I stayed up the whole night working on the lines and even did the dress rehearsal without the script.

I was ready to play two roles — my part of ‘Pogo’ and Ronnie’s as ‘Coolie’ for opening night but he showed up just in time to do his role.

When we arrived in London, Peter Pitts, who passed away recently, was plagued with pains but still rehearsing lying on a stretcher in the orchestra pit.

As a seasoned actor, he soldiered on and did an excellent performance in the evening.

Travelling by coach, as we moved from the hotel to the theatre, Lennox Lake who played ‘Hannibal’ the calypsonian would sing ex-tempo on members of the cast.

In Scotland, I saw the representatives from the Sierra Leone team bow before their leader every morning as he sat like a king in an armchair and touched each one on the forehead.

We saw some artistes from an African troupe being beaten before they performed on stage. The director said if they were not flogged they would not perform — it was part of their culture. No licks, no performance.

Again, some female representatives, completely topless had no problems chatting with the guys. But most of us had problems, as we did not know where to look when talking to bare bosom women.

This one is a true joke. Two students, an English girl and a West Indian guy were in the tube when the girl said, "Wait here. I’m going to spend a penny."

He replied, "I will go with you..." She came in quickly, "No you can’t; That’s the loo." He was only a week in London and asked, "What’s that and what’s the penny for?"

She was amused and explained, "The penny is to put in the slot to open the door to the ladies’ toilet."