As the curtains closed on the final day of the play, Mas and Melody, pupils from various schools showed their appreciation with a standing ovation for the work of secondary school teacher and lecturer Dellon Mathison’s production, which was tailored to raise funds for his place of employment, San Fernando Secondary School.
Apart from being the chief playwright of the production, Mathison also co-produced nine new songs with fifth-form Technical Studies pupil Jedon Beharry.
In September, Mathison will celebrate his fourth anniversary as a Theatre Arts teacher at the school, but he has been a teacher for the past seven years. Mathison said he realised the abundance of talent the students possess, and he wanted to do something meaningful for the children to see themselves as worthy and to feel appreciated.
More than 35 pupils who committed to the cause received spontaneous applause as scenes shifted and the character portrayals grew familiar in many communities in T&T culture.
The production, set in Barataria and Port of Spain in the late 1980s, showed Mathison’s synergy of scope and diversion of time, and how representation, when gelled together, told a story almost all Trinbagonians can identify with.
Mathison, a former pupil of St Benedict’s College, La Romain, is also a Theatre Arts teacher and acting head of the Visual and Performing Arts Department. He also lectures in the School of Education at the University of the West Indies. Mathison is involved in the Bachelor of Education programme within the Departments of Modern Languages and Logistics, Humanities and Education. His acting ability has earned him a spot in more than 30 major stage productions, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon in England in 2018. He is a member of the Reminiscence Cultural Group and an astute naturalist in oratory.
Mas and Melody was launched at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) on May 22 and concluded with a matinee show on June 2.
Whether for the school’s multi-purpose hall or to create a space for the school’s untapped talent, Mathison utilised every sector of the school’s resources, including the woodwork department and the Visual and Performing Arts Department, to cut expenditure.
Shumas and Melody, the names of two characters in the stage play, referred to as rhythm and colour, depict the indigenous celebration of Carnival, craftily constructed and packaged as a source of inspiration rather than to portray the usual “jam and wine” of Carnival.
Shumas is a prolific songwriter and singer, and Melody is blessed with the gift of stitching; twins, separated by birth but accidentally reunited through the turns and twists of life, drawn together by destiny.
However, haunted by the yin to the yang of Carnival, the evil forces once felt in the northern community resurface as the twins grow older and draw nearer to success in life.
Spells are cast, flambeaus and bucks roam the village, and equally adapted characters of influential friends, the village drunkard, a visually impaired friend, and the genuine friend — all synonymous with the superstitions of the time and passage. Mathison’s six-month, thought-provoking vision was woven into two months of pen, paper and rehearsals for a successful production.
He said, “We teach cultural forms and how to integrate them into a production. Our scope of study and what I teach for CSEC and Theatre Arts are all part of the package.”
Mathison systematically curtailed details of time “to create something that the pupils can see their school on stage.”
Acting as lighting designer, costume designer and marketing manager, Mathison’s formula mirrored the 1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which starred Whitney Houston and Brandy. The production showed a diverse mixed cast of characters, which, when unconventionally paired, fit their roles through casting.
To “immortalise” the production, Mathison, to the audience’s surprise, launched a paperback copy of the play to several schools, with each pupil’s name listed in the publication.
