Champagne reception launches play
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 May 1987.
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A gala champagne reception Wednesday night marked the opening of the Cayman Drama Society's benefit production of Girl in a Wheelchair -- a "Caribbean mystery thriller" from the pen of the man CDS calls its "good friend and staunch supporter," Colin Wilson.
His Excellency the Governor, Mr. G. Peter Lloyd and Mrs. Lloyd were among the dignitaries present at the Harquail Theatre when Drama Society Chairman Tony Osborn declared the production officially under way. Announcing the details of a recently established CDS scholarship trust fund, the Chairman further dedicated the proceeds of the Society's 1987 season of plays to the training of up-and-coming local dramatists.
Throughout the seventeen years of the Society's existence, Mr. Osborn explained, members "have been keen to encourage newcomers to the stage." This encouragement has taken several forms, he said, including a series of "mutual learning workshops," currently running at the High School, to which "everyone is invited free of charge."
To mark this seventeenth anniversary, Mr. Osborn continued, "we felt we would like to do something new and of deeper commitment to drama on the island."
"Recognising that real progress must depend on resident enthusiasm and expertise," Mr. Osborn said, the Society has arranged for Cayman International Trust Company -- CITCO -- to be trustees of a Drama Training Fund, "the principal purpose of which is to finance training in drama via scholarships, and the meeting of expenses that otherwise would be an insurmountable block to a would-be professional actor, stage technician or drama teacher."
Though this fund will be managed independent of CDS, and although trustees may accept contributions from any source, the Drama Society has pledged to fulfill what the Chairman termed its "prime responsibility" by donating the proceeds of this season's major productions to the Drama Training Fund.
The recent run of CDS's comedy, Move Over Mrs. Markham, netted $861 for the fund, said Mr. Osborn, adding that "hopefully, Girl in a Wheelchair will do even better."
The Cayman Drama Society "has presented plays, musicals, operettas and pantomimes in a wide variety of halls and auditoria," Mr. Osborn remarked, expressing members' thanks to Mrs. Helen Harquail for making it possible for this and other groups to perform for the first time in a "purpose-built theatre."
Mr. Osborn further expressed thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd for taking time out from what "must be the grand-daddy of all busy schedules" to attend the premiere performance. Presenting the "first couple" a lush bouquet of native flowers and "a small token of (the Society's) affection" -- in the form of a Royal Doutlon figurine -- the Chairman wished the Lloyds every happiness in their up-coming retirement to Bermuda.
Of this current undertaking, writer/director/performer Colin Wilson comments in his programme notes that Girl in a Wheelchair is "a compilation of...'B' movie plots" -- which he confesses to having a major affection for in his youth -- "shaken, but not stirred, and transported to the Caribbean."
A tropical "who-dunnit", the plot of the mystery thriller twists about the equally twisted Davenport family and the greed-driven deceptions they perpetrate on one another in their ancestral island home, high above the Caribbean Sea. Cliff-hangers -- literal and figurative make up the action of the play's two acts, which feature staunch Drama Society regulars and few new faces as well.
Gwen Diaz -- lately of fame in another premiere, the Harquail Theatre's inaugural production of The Sound of Music for CNTC -- takes another starring role as Girl's girl in a wheelchair. She is joined by Mr. Wilson, along with Grahame and Rhona Howells, Deborah Walker, Lisa Merren, LeRoy Holness, Tony Rowlands, Kingsley Donalds and Stuart Hurst.
While offering lavish praise for his long list of stagehands and supporters, Mr. Wilson remarks in his "Director's and Writer's Notes" that the pure entertainment value of theatre is often overlooked in favour of the loftier values of culture and education.
"If I cannot be entertained at theatre, I won't go, and if I feel I am not entertaining you at theatre, I will stop performing and writing," he says. "Culture and education do have a place...but not at the expense of entertainment."
Audiences will take up Mr. Wilson's challenge to be entertained at performances continuing tonight and Saturday (22 and 23 May) and on from 27 through 30 May. According to the programme, Girl in a Wheelchair's run has already been "extended by public demand" for a further week, 3 - 6 June.
Tickets at $8 for unreserved seats, $12 for reserved -- are available from the box office at the Harquail Theatre and JEC Building Consultants, located above Cayman Optical in the McTaggart Building on Edward Street.
