April 11, 2018 issue
Authors' & Writers' Corner
Kamil Ali
He stood at the corner of the village market with long curly locks flowing from under his strange multi-colored beret. The matching long gown dragged on the wet mud. A brown damp stain ringed the lower hem. He seemed to float in the air without his feet touching the ground.
One dingy-white cotton gloved-hand rested on the top of his tall red-wood staff with a hook-shaped top. A thick ragged holy-book hung open at the middle pages from the other similarly gloved-hand.
No one had ever seen him come or go. He always appeared before the first market vendor arrived at dawn and disappeared after dark each night. He hovered over his spot all day and preached without pausing for breath or meals. Everyone stayed a safe distance away from the mysterious stranger in their midst.
They whispered his name to each other and formed search parties when a mother raised the alarm of her missing ten-year-old child who had accompanied her to the market earlier that day. Even though he’d never left his spot, Speakeasy became the target of rumors accusing him of Blackmagic and involvement in the child’s disappearance. No one dared to confront him.
Villagers’ worst fears turned their whispers into anguish when Speakeasy vanished on the day passersby discovered the child’s headless body floating in a canal.
A cloud of gloom hung over the village. Parents abandoned jobs to keep their children safe at home. They hid behind bolted doors and shuttered windows. They feared Speakeasy’s ability to make himself invisible and stalk their children without detection. Streets remained deserted and shop-fronts stayed shut. The village looked like a ghost town.
After a few days with no signs of Speakeasy, people trickled back onto the streets. The villagers’ return to normality did not last more than a week. Breaking news of another child’s disappearance in a neighboring community shattered their sense of comfort.
The circumstances and discovery of the second child’s headless body mirrored the first incident. Speakeasy’s presence at the market where the child had visited the day before and his vanishing on the day of the headless body’s sighting, made him the prime suspect.
A week later, the entire country panicked when news of a child’s abduction and murder from the capital city grabbed the headlines. The dead child’s mother related that she had seen Speakeasy when she and her deceased offspring visited the market on the day of her loss.
The child-murderer had left no evidence. The authorities began a nationwide manhunt and offered a large reward to anyone spotting the elusive Speakeasy.
A young girl came forward when a waterway floated a headless corpse under a bridge in another part of the country. The girl reported that she had witnessed the snatching of a fellow student from the roadway while on her way to school. She told investigators that a black full-sized car with dark tinted windows had pulled up beside the girl. The back door opened, and an arm in a long white sleeve reached out a white-gloved hand to grab the stunned child. The car had a diplomatic license plate.
The eyewitness’ description placed the image of Speakeasy at the scene of the live hostage-taking. Since all chauffeur-driven VIP luxury cars looked the same and had the identical license plate, every diplomat and politician came under scrutiny. The Police Chief hid behind his promise in the media to track down and arrest the perpetrators. He had not mentioned that diplomatic immunity might place the wrongdoers above the law.
When the eyewitness became the fifth victim, public outcry and political-opposition-led street protests forced the government to make a statement. They asked the populace to remain calm in the face of crisis. They had no explanation for the connection between Speakeasy and the diplomatic car but lied to buy time, by stating that they had Speakeasy in their sights.
Speakeasy created pandemonium when he appeared at the market in the village where the last two victims had resided. Angry villagers surrounded him. Some members of the growing mob hid behind the people ahead of them and lobbed missiles of bottles, sticks and rocks at him. The objects hit an invisible wall and fell to the ground. Speakeasy did not flinch.
When the police arrived, the barrier repelled their attempts to handcuff him. The commander in charge used a megaphone to control the crowd. He asked for silence.
Everyone gasped when the barrier allowed the commander to place the megaphone’s mike at Speakeasy’s lips.
“Anna Maria Gomes.” He spoke with a strange accent. “Be warned that today is marked.” Silence descended upon the crowd. “They’re coming to get your daughter, Stefanie Mildred Gomes.” A black crow cawed from a coconut tree. “Take her home and keep her there until dawn.” He stood as rigid as a statue. “Break the trend and stop the killings.” He uttered the words repeatedly.
Anna Maria grabbed her daughter’s hand and sped home on foot, followed by the protective crowd. She entered the house with her daughter and shut all windows and doors. The crowd surrounded the house. They kept vigil until the break of dawn.
Anna Maria and her husband opened the door the next morning holding the hands of Stefanie, who stood between them. The fatigue on their faces turned to smiling sobs of gratitude when the crowd roared with well wishing cheers.
As Speakeasy had predicted, the killings stopped, and he vanished forever.
Theories about a cover-up to hide the identities of the child-killers abounded when law enforcement failed to capture them.
They lamented not taking the time to pay heed to Speakeasy, instead of ridiculing him. They paid a heavy price for passing judgement without merit.
Many mysteries during that dark reign of terror remain unsolved.
Caribbean’s stage
By Romeo Kaseram
Freddie Kissoon was born in 1930 at 63 Mucurapo Road, St James in Trinidad in 1930 into a large family of 12 made up of his grandfather, grandmother, uncle, mother, father and six siblings. He grew up in Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley, then Jackson Place in East Dry River, and Camille Road in Boissiere Village, all in north Trinidad. He attended Nelson Street Boys’ RC School in Port-of-Spain and the Modern Secondary School in Woodbrook. Later, he attended the Government Teachers’ Training College, following which he traveled to England, where he studied at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, in London. In his career back in Trinidad, he taught for six years at Laventille Roman Catholic School, then later for 25 years at St James Government Secondary. As a drama teacher, Kissoon conducted classes for US students at the Ecumenical Centre and the Peace Corps in 1968 at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine. He taught acting classes at the Vacation School in the Arts at the University of the West Indies from 1966, in 1967, and in 1971. He also taught creative drama at the Teachers’ Training Colleges, at youth camps, and community centres throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Kissoon extended his teaching abroad in Grenada, St Vincent, St Kitts, and Curacao. Among his influences were Caribbean actors and writers Cecil Gray, Errol Hill, James King, John Ainsworth, Horace James, and Jean Sue Wing; in the world of film, Kissoon credits Laurence Olivier as an influence.
Kissoon first entered theatre and acting in 1951; in 1957 he founded The Strolling Players Theatre Company, which went on to enjoy the status as being one of Trinidad and Tobago’s longest operating drama groups. Throughout Kissoon’s career, The Strolling Players staged countless performances, among these over 139 theatre plays, more than 82 television plays, and numerous radio and TV commercials. Kissoon wrote over 70 plays, among these being the popular We Crucify Him, which continues to be performed annually in Trinidad and Tobago theatres during the Lenten season. He also wrote the perennial Calabash Alley – originally written as a radio play in 1970 – which grew in popularity, and was later adapted for the stage; it subsequently became a television series with the well-known actress, Shirley ‘Beulah’ King, in one of its lead roles.
Kissoon was well-known and respected throughout the Caribbean and beyond, with his plays performed on stages throughout the region in Barbados and Guyana, as well as in New York, Washington, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Montreal, London, and Nigeria. He also wrote the script for Trinidad and Tobago’s first full-length movie, The Right and The Wrong. While Kissoon directed over 100 plays, he also made over 200 stage appearances, acting in the plays from the wider Caribbean as Ping Pong, Sea at Dauphin, Drums and Colours, Man Better Man, the latter staged in London, Croydon, and Glasgow, and performed for the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965.
Speaking with Nasser Khan in the Trinidad Guardian in 2014, Kissoon recalled his major career challenges and achievements, saying, “As a director, the most challenging and memorable production was God and Uriah Butler, 1967. It took me about five months to write and three months to rehearse. As an actor, my best role was Judas in the story of the Passion, staged by the Catholic Evidence Guild in 1959 and again 1961 at the Botanical Gardens. I also enjoyed playing the title role in Ti-Jean and His Brothers by Derek Walcott and the leading male role of Arjune in the play Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore. Most of all, it was wonderful acting the role of Man-Man in my play Zingay. As a drama teacher, the most memorable experience was at the Mausica Teachers’ Training College where I had 150 students in the hall and about 15 lecturers in the balcony listening to what Creative Child Drama was all about. The principal, Harry Joseph, who saw most of the sessions, said, ‘Freddie, you have electrified the college’. As a playwright, my most popular play is Calabash Alley which was originally a radio serial of 78 15-minute episodes, commissioned by Radio Trinidad in 1970.”
Today, Calabash Alley remains key among Kissoon’s outstanding and lasting creative output, with its episodes available for download on the Trinidad and Tobago government’s Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts website. According to the website, the “local play explores the trials and love affairs within a Trinidadian community of yore – a barrack yard. The play is a humorous, yet touching dramatisation of the various relationships and ensuing rifts that occur as a result of living in close confines which offer no privacy, but instead acts as a stage for each neighbour’s personal life. However, despite the difficulties of life including poverty, drinking, gambling and quarrels that plague residents of the Calabash Alley, the neighbours demonstrate a strong sense of community”. Calabash Alley was commissioned by Radio Trinidad to compete with foreign radio soap operas. It went on to become a 78-episode radio drama, and was broadcast from November 1970 to February 1971. Calabash Alley “garnered much popularity among listeners and was eventually adapted as a televised soap opera and enjoyed successful staged performances throughout the Caribbean and beyond, including countries such as Guyana, Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts, Curacao and Canada”, the website adds.
In 1987 Kissoon was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s Silver Humming Bird Medal of Merit for his contribution to culture; he also won the ‘Icon of the Nation’ award. He also published a book on drama – 100 Exercises in Creative Drama. Kissoon was also a newspaper columnist. Following his passing in August 2016, actor, drama coach, and University of Trinidad and Tobago lecturer, Michael Cherrie said in tribute: “…There are a whole bunch of artistes who were born in 1930 who influenced theatre and the arts, and Freddie was one of them. Artistes like Clint Eastwood, Dereck Walcott, Harold Pinter, Sir Peter Hall, and Freddie Kissoon... Freddie really captured the voice of Trinidad and Tobago in his plays and writing. He really committed his role as a playwright and actor to Trinidad and Tobago – all of his entire professional life… The Strolling Players… is one of the longest running repertory theatre companies in the Caribbean, so he was truly committed. We have lost one of our greatest voices in theatre who really captured our stories.”
Sources for this exploration: Trinidad Guardian, Newsday, Trinidad Express, and the Trinidad and Tobago government website: http://www.culture.gov.tt/calabash-alley-podcasts/.