Merundoi hits streets of Bartica

Nov 18, 2008 News

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A member of the audience shares her views with the actors.

By Rustom Seegopaul

 

 

With a stunning display of drama and performance, the organisers of the popular radio drama Merundoi launched its street theatre production in Bartica on Friday. The launching was a prelude to the National Week of Testing in Bartica, which began yesterday.

The week of testing in Bartica will continue with street theatre activities and performances in Bartica to November 21.

At Friday’s launch of the street theatre, at noon, the Merundoi personalities treated persons that gathered at the Kool Breeze Parking Lot in Bartica to a visual demonstration of a few of the scenes from the radio drama.

A key aspect of the street theatre, explained one of the senior scriptwriters at Merundoi, Kojo McPherson, is forum theatre.

“It’s more interactive,” he said, “They do one of the scenes where someone is being oppressed by one of the other characters, and they stop the scene at a pivotal point, and they ask the members of the audience, ‘What should I do here?’ “

In this manner, he said, the experience for the audience was a lot more interactive as part of the reinforcement. “You get them (audience) more engaged, and they help the characters come up with solutions,” he said.

Street theatre is an approach to theatre in which the actors openly engage and interact with the audience. In this way, the audience becomes involved to adapt, change or correct a situation, an attitude or a behaviour that is developed during the show.

Street theatre, explained McPherson, is part of the reinforcement of the radio serial drama.

Merundoi, he said, has two parts — the radio serial drama, and the reinforcement. The reinforcement is where the concepts and messages that are brought up in the drama are reinforced through group discussions or by way of the street theatre.

Executive Director of Merundoi, Mrs Margaret Lawrence, said that she was satisfied with the launch of the street theatre. She noted that the turnout was “encouraging.” She added that the launch would not have been possible without the assistance of the Hope Foundation, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) with which Merundoi had partnered to launch the street theatre in Bartica.

She added that Bartica was chosen for the launch of the street theatre largely due to the enthusiasm of the Hope Foundation. She said that there was no coincidence that it was timed for the National Week of Testing in Bartica.

“The street theatre will be with the Hope Foundation in the week coming up,” she explained, “And we are going into the riverain areas.” The presence of the street theatre, it is hoped, will help encourage persons to get tested and live healthier lifestyles.

Executive Director of the Hope Foundation, Ivor Melville, was also at the launch.

He said that the street theatre was good, since it provided visual stimulus, and in doing so brought home the real impact of the situation to the issues described in the radio drama.

He added that, by seeing the radio drama acted out, persons would better identify with the need to live healthier lifestyles. He also encouraged all of the residents of Region Seven to go and get tested during the Week of Testing, so that they could know their HIV status.

Some of the members of the audience found the drama both entertaining and educational. Many of them echoed similar thoughts that it clearly sent out a good message to people, especially youth.

The street theatre and the radio serial drama would help persons make smarter decisions concerning HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), they added.

Also among the audience were the Drama Group from the Bartica Secondary School Annex, accompanied by their drama teachers, Youth Challenge Guyana volunteers Gwyn Anderson and Laura Harris.

Anderson said that they had brought the students to see the street theatre because it was good for them (students) to see live theatre in action. They noted that there was not a lot of theatre-based activities in Bartica at the moment.

Harris added that it was also good for the students to see young adults (like the cast of the street theatre) performing. She also highlighted that the street theatre was doing a good job in helping to educate people about HIV/AIDS.

Merundoi staff members and media operatives took the opportunity to visit the community of Karrau Creek on the Essequibo River, where, as part of the Merundio reinforcement activities, the Karrau Creek community held a weekly Listening and Discussion Group (LDG), where community members would listen to an episode of the Merundoi radio drama and have discussions on the episode and the messages it brought up.

“Even though Karrau is a remote area, the people living here still face many of the problems that people living in urban areas face, like HIV/AIDS, peer pressure, abuse and unfaithfulness,” explained the Merundoi Reinforcement Manager, Wayne Lewis.

Merundoi is a radio serial drama which started in May, 2006. It is used as a behavioural change tool, using mass media to model behavioural change in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also integrates a wide range of interpersonal reinforcement activities at the community level.

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