The Ministry of Education (MoE) has taken the initiative to film and distribute to schools, copies of Iere's Theatre Productions A Brighter Sun, adapted from the novel of noted West Indian author Samuel Selvon.
The play will reopen at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando, this weekend, starting with a school show today.
Unesco, the Ministries of Education, and Art and Multiculturalism, as well as the Integrity Commission have all bought into the production and will part sponsor school shows to be held at Queen's Hall, St Ann's on October 2 and 3.
Artistic director of the Princes Town-based theatre company, Victor Edwards said in an interview Unesco has acquired Selvon's collection, hence its reason for coming on board with the play.
Edwards said Selvon's book is on the school's curriculum and the MOE has taken the initiative to have the production, which had a previous run in June, properly filmed, edited and distributed to schools.
The play, scripted by Davindra Dookie and Pearl Eintou Springer, is set in Barataria during the World War II era. It tells the story of an emerging society as the author tries to bridge the racial and political barriers by bringing people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, from behind the bridge in Laventille and Chaguanas to Barataria, to live together and develop the nation.
It also zeroes in on gender issues with emphasis on breaking the acceptable convention of things considered masculine, such as alcohol and spousal abuse.
The story line emerges from the perspective of a poor, young Indo-Trinidadian man, Tiger and his young bride, Urmilla, through an arranged marriage, and his sojourn to independence and manhood.
"It is ironic, that today we have a political party which talks about the rising sun and back in 1962, Selvon was talking about the brighter sun, but 50-odd years later the sun is still not any brighter. We are still talking about the same issues Selvon dealt with in Brighter Sun, about agriculture, the building of roads, infrastructure," Edwards pointed out.
To draw a parallel between the two periods, then and now, Edwards has worked in excerpts of clips from appropriate calypsoes, such as Rum and Coca Cola, the war, as well as the recent destruction of pineapple farmers in Chaguanas and the controversy surrounding the Debe leg of the Point Fortin Highway to be projected on stage during the appropriate scenes.
Edwards said the original staging of the play back in June has opened many doors for the group.
"Since this production of Brighter Sun, I have been getting calls from let's say important people who know the cultural and educational value of the work of West Indian writers, with interesting offers"
He said on the invitation of Professor Ken Ramchand who is working on the Capildeo House Museum project, he has taken some of the excerpts from a novel written by VS Naipaul's father, Seepersad, which will be converted into a play for the launch of that museum.
He said he also received a call from a Toronto-based writer who wants Edwards to convert one of his novels into a film.
Today the school show will take place from noon at the Naparima Bowl and continues on September 14 at 8 pm and September 15 at 6 pm.