Guyana Prize-winning Play Requiem for the Living was a hit!

On Sunday December 15, 2024, Guyana Prize third place winner ‘Requiem for the Living’ was staged at the National Cultural Centre and was a hit with the audience. The play was a serious yet humorous thriller which delved into the lives of two sisters Beverly and Elizabeth, bitter enemies haunted by a harsh and unforgiving childhood. It explored themes of abuse, anger, love, lust, fear, and pain.

In the play Bev (Beverly) returns to her childhood home with her new boyfriend to confront her past and to find healing. Residing at the home is her sister Liz (Elizabeth) and family. The two sisters clash over the legacy of their parents, and the misconceptions of the source of their pain. The clashes are both verbal and physical and end in tragedy as both sisters lose their lives in a murder suicide. The play concluded with an emotional dance, artistically displayed by the Wright’s Temple Dancers.

This fascinating tale was written by Jamal La Rose and directed by Godfrey Naughton, actors included Feliz Roberston as Beverley Bowen, Jude Holder as her paramour, up-and-coming actress Latiefa Agard as Elizabeth, Frederick Minty as her husband Paul, Sheron Cadogan Taylor as Jay-jay the spicy neighbor, Akeila David as Liz’s son Joel and Kelly Asgill as the Police officer.

The production was staged under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s ‘Write to Stage’ support programme which started in 2023 has already seen the successful production of saw six prize-winning plays from the archives of the Guyana Prize for Literature. The prestigious Guyana Prize for Literature, at the coming to power of this government in 2020, was dormant since it had been discontinued by the previous Government. It was revived in 2022 after a six-year hiatus. The Write to Stage Support Programme gives life to the winning plays of the Prize and has revived local theatre and its appreciation. Only a few of the plays that won the Guyana Prize competition prior to this initiative had been staged.

Since the inception of the programme the following Guyana Prize plays have been performed: Sauda by Mosa Telford, directed by Ayanna Waddell for the National Drama Company;  Makantali by Harold Bascom, directed by Godfrey Naughton;  The Last of the Red Men by Michael Gilkes, directed by Henry Muttoo and Gem Madhoo-Nascimento for GEMS Theatre Productions;  Father of the Man by Paloma Mohamed, directed by Simone Dowding;  Children of Baby (2^nd Place winner) by Mosa Telford, directed by Nickose Layne for the National Drama Company;  and Requiem for the Living (3^rd Place winner) by Jamal La Rose, directed by Godfrey Naughton.

The Write to Stage Support Programme offers an authentic display of the creative art form which can be consumed by an audience that is interested in more than slapstick comedy. In light of the successes gained, Minister Ramson, at the end of the production, committed to the continued staging of the programme and indicated that patrons can look forward to a new menu of plays in 2025.