The Brown Cotton Theatre's production, Play Mas With Shakespeare – A Carnival Rebellion, will be featured in the Toronto Fringe Festival and the theatre is trying to raise funds to cover production costs.

The Toronto Fringe Festival is the largest theatre festival in Ontario. The Digital Fringe runs from July 21-31 online at fringetoronto.com and features on-demand Fringe content, live digital events, watch parties, digital lobby gatherings and a virtual patio.

[caption id="attachment_899969" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Leslie Ann Lavine as Pierrot in Play Mas With Shakespeare – A Carnival Rebellion produced by Brown Cotton Theatre.i - Courtesy Wayne Lee-Sing[/caption]

In Play Mas. "Jab Molassie, Jab Jab, Midnight robber, Pierrot Grenade and Jamette spout Shakespeare and sing calypsoes as they wreak havoc on the world in this post-colonial, post-modern satirical comedy that defines its own theatrical genre, said a media release.

Produced by Louris Martin Lee-Sing for Brown Cotton Theatre, arm of the not-for-profit NGO Brown Cotton Outreach (BCO), Play Mas is an original script written by Wayne Lee-Sing and theatre icon Ellen O’Malley Camps who directed the staged play.

[caption id="attachment_899967" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Play Mas King Jab Jab: Play Mas With Shakespeare – A Carnival Rebellion features Jab Molassie, Jab Jab, Midnight Robber, Pierrot Grenade and Jamette spouting Shakespeare and singing calypsoes. The film will be featured in the Toronto Fringe Festival. - Courtesy Wayne Lee-Sing[/caption]

The show was performed live earlier this year at The Little Carib Theatre, Woodbrook, for Carnival, and for International Women’s Day in March. It is based on Camps’ original concept of a Theatre of Carnival as a pillar of her own Camps Carnival Theatre Technique (CCTT), the release said.

Louris, who plays Midnight Robber, was thrilled that the show was selected for the Fringe from a large pool of international applicants, the release said. This meant that Play Mas had to be shot and edited as a short film, which was no small feat in a strict lockdown and curfew measures due to the covid19 pandemic. To accomplish the mission, Louris transformed her living room into a film studio, and under strict covid protocols, the actors came one at a time to film their parts. She was assisted by husband, Wayne, who is a writer, photographer, videographer, actor, general theatre practitioner and cook.

With borrowed microphone and smartphone video camera, Louris and Wayne made a theatre video which was edited by the Canadians who were assigned to them through the largesse of the Fringe, the release said.

[caption id="attachment_899966" align="alignnone" width="768"] Wayne Lee-Sing as Jamette in the production Play Mas With Shakespeare – A Carnival Rebellion. The Brown Cotton Theatre is trying to raise funds to cover production costs. The film will be featured in the Toronto Fringe Festival. - Courtesy Wayne Lee-Sing[/caption]

The cast and crew of Play Mas are Afi Ford Hopson as Jab Molassie; Dr