CELEBRATE
Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Drama, Pierre Lemaire, it featured (with two exceptions) graduates or students of the school. The exceptions were Marvin George and Jean-Paul Menou, both lecturers at the school.
Michael Nicholson played two characters – Cervantes and Don Quixote, the knight errant hero of the author’s most famous novel, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. The text of the reading was as much about the activities of the lovable, halfcrazy idealist Don Quixote as it was about the life of his creator. In fact, the text highlights many parallels between their lives.
George’s main role was as Sancho Panza, the don’s squire. Menou played several parts, including the lawyer prosecuting Cervantes over a tax issue. Evone Walters played Antonia, Cervantes’ niece and the wife of one of Menou’s characters. Leisha Francis played Aldonza – a servant in an inn – with whom Don Quixote falls passionately in love, and Nicholas Amore played the innkeeper, among other roles. Other actors and actresses also played several roles in this amusing, Creolelaced play. Michael Nicholson (left) and some members of the Cervantes Celebration cast share a laugh during the reading at Redbones Blues Cafe, New Kingston, last Thursday.
In introducing the audience to Cervantes Chargee d’Affaires of the Embassy of Spain, Carmen Rives, said to the Spanish Don Quixote was a sort of national hero. She invited listeners to ask why Cervantes choose “a mad person, a dreamer” to be the hero of his novel.
The answer came during the reading, which showed how important the imagination was to Cervantes. It was more precious than gold, he said during his trial, and with it he created Don Quixote, who wants to right all the world’s wrongs. Who but a madman of a dreamer, the audience would have asked, would take on such a task?
BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES
To Aldonza “life stinks like a rotten fish”, but to Quixote “facts are the enemy of truth”. In many beautiful passages, he speaks of his fight against the dull of mind and unimaginative.
Ambiguously, as he dies at the end of the play, Quixote declares “the (k)night has triumphed.” Is the audience supposed to hear “knight,” meaning Quixote, or “night,” meaning darkness and ignorance?
Rives stated: “Cervantes is not only Spanish; he is Latin American and he is
universal. He has been able to reach children and adults from different eras and cultures. His works reveal the mysteries of the human soul – love, impossible dreams, lost causes, success and defeat.”
She also referred to the Broadway musical I, Don Quixote, based on the Cervantes novel, and its hit song To Dream The Impossible Dream. It was sung by one of the actresses, Samantha Thompson, to close the show.
Rives reminded me of the relationship that the Embassy of Spain has with the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Two years ago, the embassy invited a clown company to conduct workshops at the School of Drama and, in November 2015, a saxophonist to lecture on contemporary music.
Additionally, in April, the embassy facilitated a workshop at the School of Drama by actors from Sociedad Actoral Hispanomericana, a Miamibased theatre group linked to the Cultural Centre of Spain in the US city. There is good news for those who missed the reading. Lemaire mentioned to the audience that a series of staged readings of plays will begin early in the year in the School of Drama’s tiny After Dark Theatre and he told me, subsequently, that Cervantes Celebration was on his list of probable choices.
Another bit of good news for the audience was that Spanish wine from Quixote’s La Mancha region of Spain, which was recently introduced into Jamaica, was available for tasting and for purchase at a special price. Merritone selectors Richie Clarke from left, Monte Blake, Mikey Thompson and Craig Ross. Nazareth Past Students Sports Day is at the Nazareth All-Age School, Manchester. Events include needle and thread, egg and spoon, potato races, relays, and more. Prizes will be awarded to winners.
Hillz Jamboree is at Maidstone Square, Performances by Sizzla Kalonji, Turbulence, Lion Man and Abajoni Kush. Music by St Bess Most Wanted, Iceberg Million, Jacks International, Sonic 71 and Black Venom. Gate prize: 50 chickens and a bag of feed. Pauline, as ‘Sister P’, presents her Birthday Party at the corner of Love and Manning Steets, Jones Town. Music by popular disco. Food on the house. Jamaica Family Fest is at Portmore Mall Park, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Featuring performances by Lieutenant Stitchie, Alaine, Joan Flemmings, Marlon Young, Jermaine Gordon, Dunamis, Lucas Musiq, and Levy’s Heritage. Attractions include mechanical bull, bungee, trampoline, bounce-a-bouts, Ferris wheels and face painting. Adm: free.