Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

The Derek Walcott play Ti Jean and His Brothers will run from September 27 to 29 at Queen’s Hall, as part of the Derek Walcott Festival. The play is directed by Wendell Manwarren and features music by Andre Tanker.

The play is based on a St. Lucian folk tale about a Mother and her three sons, Gros Jean, Mi Jean and Ti Jean. The current production stars Renaldo “Red” Frederick, Karian Forde, Ayrid Chandler, Ateion Jones, Nickose Layne, Ronald “Rembunction” Yearwood, Samara Lallo, Arnold “Pinny” Goindhan, Cecilia Salazar, Nafilia McIntyre, Shermarke Thomas, Harmony Farrell, Jelae Stroude-Mitchell, Trevorn Cudjoe, Trevon Scott and Abeo Jackson. Manwarren said “the Devil issued a challenge to the mother via his agent in the form of a Bolom, which is a St. Lucian folk character which we don’t really have here, it’s an aborted foetus. The challenge says the Devil would like to feel human feelings, so whichever of the sons makes him angry he will reward them with gold, but if any of her sons gets angry he will eat them. The mother has to send the sons out in order of birth. Gros Jean believes everything is about strength and tries to outstrong the Devil, that fails and he’s eaten. Mi Jean is a fisherman but he really spends more time reading books, he thinks he can outsmart the Devil. Of course that fails and the Devil eats him. Ti Jean really does nothing for the first act of the play and then in Act Two we suddenly realise that this little boy who’s just sort of idle and dreamy is able to defeat the Devil through rank disobedience and what the Devil calls man-wit, common sense.  You have to come to the show and see how that happens.”

Manwarren said he considers it an honour and a privilege to direct the play, in which he played the roles of the Devil, the Old Man and the Planter during the 1995 production directed by John Isaacs. “Ironically, shortly after that I stopped acting officially and developed a musical career with 3 Canal, but Derek wouldn’t allow me to not act, and kept engaging me in projects, and I’d be flying to St. Lucia, the US, all sorts of different places exploring Ti Jean, so for me this is like coming full circle literally 24 years later, and I couldn’t have predicted this. It’s a joy, and I’m paying tribute to the old man, as I like to call him.”

Manwarren said the play was originally written by Walcott as a verse play and was reinterpreted with music by Andre Tanker in the 70s. “So you could do Ti Jean as a non-musical or you could do it as a musical but we chose to use the music from Andre Tanker because for me it’s iconic and that relationship between the music and the piece is indelible. Rather than interpret it with the sort of instrumentation that Andre would have done back in the 70s, we’re using technology that we have now to program the electronic beats, along with the guitar and keyboards to give that slightly harder edge, so that’s the only slight difference that people will be able to discern, other than that it’s the same melodies as written. From a design point of view we’re not treating it like it was set in the bush or the forest, we’re going to be a little more abstract, and we’re taking some stylistic risk that we hope will pay off in the end.”

Manwarren said the tale of the Three Brothers is “one of those enduring symbols, the triptych, the idea that at some point we all have to face the Devil, or the outside world in the form of the Old Man, and his job is to find out as they say, what’s your weakness? There are a lot of metaphors in the play which ask, how do you negotiate this life, are you trying to do it all on your own with brute strength or do you think you’re brighter than everybody or do you realise that I’m not that big, strong or bright, but if I converse with, relate to and work with people I just might be able to get through. There are lots of resonant metaphors in the piece and I think they’re very relatable and relevant to now, as is the nature with all classic work. I consider Walcott our Caribbean classic work, same as Shakespeare is the world classic.”

Tickets for Ti Jean and His Brothers cost $400 for the gala performance on September 27, and $250 on September 28 and 29. Shows begin at 7 pm on Friday and Saturday and 5:30 pm on Sunday. All school shows are sold out. Tickets are available at the Queen’s Hall Box Office, Paper Based Bookstore at the Normandie Hotel, St. Anns, and Medulla Art Gallery, Fitt Street, Woodbrook.