CLEAR WATER TO RUN
IN LONDON
By Franka Philip
Sunday Express
Section 2
January 9, 2000
Pages 30 and 34
Less than two years after leaving Trinidad to become
writer-in-residence at the Oval House Theatre, Christopher Rodriguez's play Clear
Water will be staged at London's Barbican Theatre as part of the Bite
Festival in August.
The
Barbican is the London home of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Clear
Water will
be the first Caribbean work to be featured in The Bite Festival.
It
seems that everyone else has grasped the magnitude of that achievement except
Rodriguez himself.
"People
have been calling to congratulate me and everybody telling me the same thing,
'you playing at the Barbican, boy like you reach?' he said, laughing.
"I
know it's a tremendous opportunity, but it will probably hit me when the play
starts running. For a young writer I
couldn't ask for more because it validates all the hard work and I am really
quite numb, because I feel overblown by it."
Clear
Water, a
drama that explores the tension that results as a family struggles to accept
its African roots, was well received in its first run at the Central Bank
Auditorium in June 1998. It was
directed by Wendell Manwarren and Dr. Helmer Hilwig and the cast included
Melanie Hudson-La Barrie, Mairoon Ali, Nicholai La Barrie, Errol Jones, John
Isaacs, Patti Ann Ali-Clarke, Rhoma Spencer and Aaron Schneider.
One
of those who saw the play was Oval House artistic director Paul Everitt who
read the play several months before it was staged.
"When
I read the script, I thought Chris was an extraordinary writer and I was
interested in having him work for the Oval House," Everitt said. "At first, people at the Oval House
weren't too supportive but nothing could have stopped me from going to Trinidad
to see Clear Water, so I took my own money and paid for the trip."
So
impressed was Everitt, he immediately offered Rodriguez the position of
writer-in-residence at the Oval House and decided to look for a way to stage Clear
Water in London.
"We
haven't had a play like that in England in years," said Everitt. "It is good for England now, especially
as we're struggling with our place in the world and looking at the good and bad
things in our history. It will help us
to look ourselves, slavery and the effects of slavery."
The
first hurdle they had to overcome was that of funding. "Because there are ten actors and three
musicians, it will be an expensive play to put on," said Everitt.
"Eventually
we got some funding from the London Arts Board, the British Council and the
Arts Council of London and we are still looking for private sponsorship."
With
some help from BWIA, Rodriguez and Everitt will be in Trinidad this week to do
casting for the play.
"We
can't imagine doing it without people like Melanie, Nicholai and Mairoon but it
also depends on their availability because they will have to be in London from
July to September."
Also
on board for this production will be Wendell Manwarren who will share the
directing with Femi Elufowoju.
Currently,
the 35-year-old from Santa Cruz is busy writing another script for a play about
the life of the slave Equiano Olaudah.
This
play is set to open in January 2001 and will be staged in theatres throughout
England.
He is
also looking forward to the March staging of Independence Day at the Oval
House in London.
The
auditions for the London run of Clear Water will take place at the Little
Carib Theatre from 10 a.m. on January 15 and 16. Interested actors just have to turn up and give it their best
shot.