THEATRE lovers have been waiting for an opportunity to exhale since the onset of the pandemic closed creative spaces.
And what better way to do so than with a rib-tickling comedy/farce planned for this weekend, December 3-5, at the Little Carib Theatre.
That is when Better Than We? Wey! Productions makes its debut with the riotous comedy, Tom, Dick and Harry, under the direction of theatre stalwart Trevon C Jugmohan of First Instinct Productions.
The play, written by Ray Cooney and his son Michael, will also make its debut on a local stage.
[caption id="attachment_927637" align="alignnone" width="752"] Shevonne Metivire (Isabella) and Arnold “Pinny” Goindhan in the play Tom, Dick and Harry. -[/caption]
The talented cast includes Kearn Samuel, Nicholas Subero, Arnold “Pinny” Goindhan, Kevon S Brooks, Mark Nottingham, Kyle Hernandez, Cindy F Daniel, Shevonne Tricia Metivier and Paula Hamilton-Smith.
The technical team boasts of Rachel Elcock and Keshala Mahabir, and Rachel Bascombe-Walters as production manager.
Little Carib Theatre at White and Robert Streets, Woodbrook, is a safe zone and will only be able to accommodate 50 per cent of its regular audience. Jugmohan cautioned the 112 lucky patrons who get the opportunity to attend, “if you have asthma, walk with your inhaler. If you have bronchitis, walk with your medication. It is going to be non-stop laughter,” he promised.
“I have done many comedies before and this is one of the funniest. While that may sound like advertising of marketing, I genuinely mean this. The script is funny and allows us to adapt it to our region with some contemporary information snuck in to make a statement.
“Not because you are laughing means that a statement cannot resonate. After all, the stage is a reflection of life.”
He said in the new “fall-out-of your-seat-laughing” comedy, Tom and his wife are about to adopt a baby and convince the adoption agency that they will make good parents.
[caption id="attachment_927636" align="alignnone" width="768"] The cast of Tom, Dick and Harry. -[/caption]
It all seems pretty straightforward until Tom’s errant brothers get involved. Throw in alcohol, illegal immigrants and a corpse and patrons will be crying with laughter in this fast-paced farce.
Jugmohan said their licence to stage the play has given them the right to adapt, and so different aspects of life in Trinidad and Tobago, including the Venezuelan migrant situation, will be interjected to make it more relevant and identifiable.
He said the core members of the Better Than We? Wey! Productions team worked for years under the directorship of the late Raymond Choo Kong in comedic productions and in 2019, collaborated on the dramatic production Circle Mirror Transformation.
He said they have since made a commitment to honing their crafts together for the promotion and encouragement of theatre stagecraft, and the provision of opportunities for the enjoyment of dramatic arts through the regular staging of theatrical performance.
Nevertheless, he said the group
