The growing dilemma of two drama companies
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1980.
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The Cayman Drama Society's production of "Don't just lie there, say something" opens at the Town Hall in George Town on Thursday, 13 March.
That sounds strange, but it's true - printed right there on the tickets. It is almost sinister that two theatre companies could be premiering productions on the same night in a small town. It is obviously the next chapter in the ridiculous stand-off between the Inn Theatre and the Drama Society. In the end, of course, it's the poor theatregoer who is shortchanged.
Most real theatre lovers are perennial first-nighters. They want to be there when that curtain rise for the first time, revealing the set. They want to be there when the first actor mouths his lines, regardless of how lousy the play may be. They want it to be slightly chilly so they can dress up, or throw an elegant wrap about their shoulders. There's no night like a first night.
That neither the Drama Society nor the Inn Theatre seems to appreciate those sentiments is regrettable, since they are theatrical groups. It is wicked to deprive firstnighters of the opportunity of being at the premieres of both productions.
At some point some sanity must prevail in Cayman's theatrical circles. Unless it does real theatre lovers will go sour, and will start turning up at productions only if they have nothing else to do. Both companies are appealing to the general public for financial support - not only through the purchase of tickets, but as direct monetary contributions. It cannot be right to assault that same public by doing what is going to happen next Thursday evening. What it all means is that nobody's talking to anybody. Nobody's getting on the telephone and disucssing the situation and coming up with a meaningful compromise. Nobody's willing to swallow a little false pride or the sake of the paying public. That grown people should carry on like schoolboys in a marble game is a poor reflection on somebody.
Even on Broadway or London's West End, the big professionals avoid such self-defeating conflicts. They do so for good, sound reasons reasons Cayman's two local companies somehow feel they cansafely defy. Well, they may well feel that way, but the public feels otherwise. The public is, frankly, fed up with the foolish and petty bickering which always manifests itself in something like the calamity of next Thursday. Grow up, fellas.
