From left: Lynier Hines, Donald Anderson, Sherando Farrell and Owen 'Blacka' Ellis, the cast of 'Tings A Gwaan'.
-Contributed photo'As the Jamaican economy continues to flat line, it certainly is a good time for us to laugh, at ourselves or anything else
that we can find'
Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
"HUMOUR OFTEN reminds us of our own absurdity and stupidity and forces us to laugh at ourselves. Comedy cuts us down to size," says Owen Ellis in the Director's Note to Tings A Gwaan, the musical comedy revue currently playing at the Centrestage Theatre in New Kingston.
Tings A Gwaan takes a look at present day Jamaica, while winking and poking us in the ribs. It's easy for us to get the joke. We know exactly what's going on. Indeed, the joke is really on us, but we are laughing along so it really doesn't matter.
Anyway, it's just a joke. Or
is it?
Tings A Gwaan features 29 sketches and songs that deal with a wide range of issues, including sexuality, sanity, pollution, employment, tourism and a hodgepodge of others. The revue first opened in Montego Bay, St. James, and was then called What A Gwaan. During that incarnation, some songs dealt directly with Montego Bay.
Interestingly, the new name has given the play a new dimension. Tings a Gwaan puts a positive spin on the play's humour, as in 'tings a gwaan fi yuh'. Most of the production is extremely light-hearted, but there are a few sketches that are extremely funny though they are quite
serious.
LAUGHTER CURES
As the Jamaican economy continues to flat line, it certainly is a good time for us to laugh, at ourselves or anything else that we can find. A few years ago, revues were the most popular form in commercial theatre. It was argued that their popularity was fertilised by the lowest common denominator money. People love to laugh and laughter is always easier to provide.
So, not surprisingly, revues such as Yard'99, Year 2000, 8 o'Clock Jamaica Time, A Pack of Jokers,Children, Children and Kiss Me Neck have all
been a part of Jamaica's theatre history.
Additionally, researchers have begun to assert that the saying 'laughter is the best medicine'
is nothing to chuckle at. In the
article, 'A Dose of Laughter Medicine', Robert Holden looks at the therapeutic value of laughter. These supposedly range from giving all 400 of your muscles a light work-out with a good belly-laugh to momentarily lowering your blood pressure. Anyone who has suddenly been delighted, got a hearty laugh, and felt better after a stressful day would probably be inclined to agree.
Interestingly, despite today's depressing economic clime, the
current theatre scene has few comedy revues and indeed boasts its share of dramas. As theatre continues to reflect the society, it is important that it not just pander to the need for a quick, though hearty, belly laugh. Dramas help us to tackle deep social or psychological issues.
The idea that laughter means light, however, is not always true of comedy, even when it isn't dark comedy. Laughter points it's laser beam of accuracy on those things that are ridiculous but true; that is a large part of what makes a revue so funny. It pokes fun at something that we all identify with and sometimes it makes us laugh at those things that are just too serious to be taken seriously.
Comedy revues do this very well. Louis Marriott, who has penned the revues A Pack of Jokers, The New Jokers and Life in Jamaica, notes that comedy revues are about more than making people laugh. Marriott points out that while comedy revues are easier to do than a straight play, a good revue should look "critically at important issues".
Amidst all the light-hearted humour featured in Tings A Gwaan there is the constant sense that what it is dealing with is 'serious tings'.
MAKING A POINT
Three of the sketches in the production quite efficiently strike the balance between creating belly laughs and making a point. 'John Crow', written by Joan Andrea Hutchinson, is one such. Hutchinson is one of those persons who has been named Miss Lou's successors and poems like 'John Crow' show why. The poem looks at noise, air and water pollution in Kingston. It takes the most detested scavenger, the John Crow, to lament that Kingston is too dirty for him. It's a stinging indictment, one that would hurt greatly were it not so elaborately coated in humour.
'First Forms' by Tony Hendriks and Ellis' 'Father' are quite similar. In 'First Forms' children are learning to fill out their visa application forms, the most important form they can
learn about.
The sketch, therefore, points to the huge migration rate of the country, while its reference to the 'bail application form' poke fun at the crime rate.
Additionally, Ellis strikes a blow against the education system. The sketch depicts a classroom situation in which the children are un-cooperative and the teacher is uncaring. One student has no idea what is happening, but simply yells along with the others so it won't be realised that she does not know the answer to the question.
'Father' is not nearly as funny as 'John Crow' or 'First Forms', but it is far more disturbing. The children are on break and while they play they talk about how many fathers they have, which leads to talk about death. The disturbing thing is that when one child asserts that her grandmother died of natural causes the others would not believe her. They argued that nobody can die without being shot or stabbed or some such thing.
With today's crime rate, how could one argue with that?
In today's world, where massive destruction takes place to find mythical weapons of mass destruction, it is probably wonderful that one is able to 'take bad tings mek laugh' because nothing is more laughable than the horrific.
