‘Wah Sweet Nanny Goat’ hits the spot
WITH A string of successful productions under his belt, writer and director Fabian Barracks has lived up to his reputation in the 2017 Barracks Entertainment production, Wah Sweet Nanny Goat.
As usual, the curtain raised with a series of school performances running from May 9-19. On Wednesday, May 10, scores of students from The Queen’s School arrived at the Theatre Place on Haining Road in anticipation of the production, and Youthlink was there to share all the highlights.
The Plot
After the playing of the national anthem, the tone for Wah Sweet Nanny Goat was set via a distinct voice recording from Dr Donna Hope, senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies. Herself a victim of teen pregnancy, Dr Hope informed the teenagers sitting in the darkened theatre that the son she bore at age 15 is now 34 years old and a university graduate.
As the lights slowly came on, Janet is seen. She is the poised and polished mother of 15-year-old Angel, whose character in the first part of the show is far from angelic. She is in a relationship with the scammer Tyrone, who floods the infatuated teen with gifts and gestures of affection, much to the envy of her best friend Prada.
As the plot unfolds, Angel becomes pregnant by Tyrone, who responds by abandoning the relationship. With the encouragement of her tell-it-like-is sister Dainty, Janet comes to terms with her own past as a victim of teenage pregnancy and eventually embraces Angel, even after she performed the ‘ultimate sin’. Angel’s struggles as an expectant mother sitting her CXCs and enduring taunts and teases by former peers becomes apparent, but she eventually triumphs over her adversities.
Delivery
Though the theme of teen pregnancy is often labelled a cliché, Barracks Entertainment’s production is anything but. As Fabian Barracks told Youthlink, “It’s not the typical story. It’s not just saying, ‘Oh, because this happened your life is ending’. It’s almost life after teen pregnancy; you actually see the struggles of the pregnant teen and her life going on after the event.”
Each character seems carefully and intimately developed, perhaps due to the extensive research into the subject by Barracks. With a superb cast, some with years of experience in theatre, the story finds its own way of setting itself apart from what is generally the norm in the teenage-pregnancy scenario.
Hit or miss? Despite the fact that the facilitation of this article seemed compromised at times, as the writer was too often taken over with bellyfuls of laughter, there is no denying that Wah Sweet Nanny Goat deserves its standing ovation. Youthlink is proud to partner with Barracks Entertainment Company for another successful staging.