Oliver Samuels: Undisputed King of Comedy

OLIVER TALKS ROOTS THEATRE AND MAKING IT IN THE BIZ 

BY CECELIA CAMPBELL-LIVINGSTON 
JAMAICA OBSERVER
Friday, August 13, 2010


THE minute he walks into the room he has the attention of everyone. One look in his face and you can already feel a smile forming at the corners of your mouth.

Such is the effect of Jamaica’s king of comedy, Oliver Samuels.

Picture of Oliver Samuels taken from the Jamaica Observer

“I have gotten used to that kind of effect I have on people,” he said with laughter everyone has gotten accustomed to throughout one production or another.

The actor, who has appeared in at least 50 hit theatrical productions to date, including 13 LTM pantomimes, appearing alongside theatre icons, Louise Bennett-Coverly and Ranny Williams — Miss Lou and Mass Ran, is arguably Jamaica’s most compelling theatre voice with a colourful mastery for the Jamaican style.

Over the years theatre has evolved with play lovers gravitating to a number of roots plays. Samuels weighed in on the issue, in his own inimitable fashion.

“I don’t know what is roots play. Roots to me says the beginning. That is certainly not the beginning,” Samuels quipped, adding, “If we should look at what we call roots in comparison to that of street or market theatre, ours seem to be quite different. Ours tends to be based on vulgarity in its broadest sense, to me it’s a phenomenon rather than roots,” Samuels stated when quizzed about the evolution of theatre in Jamaica.

Samuels has the ability to effortlessly engage his audience in whatever character he happens to be playing. That ability, Samuels says, is something that is not attained overnight. It takes “getting to know the character you are playing and literally transforming into it,” the experienced actor shared.

“There are aspects of theatre that you can’t escape. But no matter how good you are as an actor you still need a good director,” he stressed.

The comedic actor has appeared in productions, such as Oliver, Oliver at Large and Oliver Large and in Charge. He has also appeared in the soap opera Royal Palm Estate produced by Lennie Little-White as Son-Son.

Born Oliver Adolphus Samuels in Harmony Hall, St Mary, his involvement in drama began in his childhood. At the age of seven, he and the other children on the plantation would sing and recite poetry on Friday nights.

Samuels went to the Salvation Army School, Rose Bank Primary and then attended the high school in Highgate, afterwhich he went to the Dinthill Technical High School. He said that his time at Dinthill offered no scope for the development of his innate dramatic creativity.

After school he worked as a storekeeper at the Orange River Agricultural Station and then moved to Kingston on the encouragement of his friends. He landed a clerical job at the National Water Commission and then took a job proofreading at the Gleaner Company, where he stayed for only one day.

After failing in his attempt to contact well-known theatre personalities, he enrolled in the Jamaica Theatre School from 1971 to 1973. During these years, participated in various productions.

The comedic actor has played many roles in his 40 years in theatre, but there is still one that he has not played yet, and it is something he would like to try. “I haven’t played a serious or a tragic role. Hopefully it would be so strong it would move people to tears,” said the man who tends to have his audience laughing uncontrollably.

Responding to the question if people would really gravitate towards him in that kind of a role, Samuels quickly responds, “that’s the power of acting.”

With his inspiration being the late Miss Lou, Samuels says being a great actor has to do with two elements — talent and passion.

From where he stands Samuels says there is great hope for the theatre movement with actors like Glen ‘Titus’ Campbell, Aston Cooke and his group and other aspiring dramatic artistes.

His one wish though is that they will not “start to believe their own hype.”

“They are exciting talent and I only hope they don’t get star struck, we tend not to sustain things — I believe we don't have a passion for it. Some of us see it as the hype so there’s no real heart in it,” he said.

Presently Samuels plays the role of Dick in the play Puppy Love. Commenting on his character Samuels says, “I am so enjoying the character of Dick. Some audience members hate me, some love me, some are not sympathetic, but they are all very vocal — I enjoy it. It is a role that has its highs and lows, the audience has been so generous,” he told Splash.

What’s next for this actor? Although he has no details to share about his upcoming Christmas show, Oliver is promising it will be entertaining and something worth coming out to see.

His words of wisdom to upcoming players in the theatre are simple: “Be humble, humility can take you anywhere.”

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Oliver-talks-roots-theatre-and-making-it-in-the-biz#ixzz1edtwlNcG

Oliver Samuels in a scene from his 1970's television series 

'Oliver at Large'

TAKEN FROM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n--QPAH4Prw

Oliver Samuels in Patrick Brown's 2006 'Class of 73' 

TAKEN FROM- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCi4AkpyghY&feature

Jamaica Theatre And Arts

By: Jamaicaculture.com

Glen 'Titus' Campbell (left) and Camille Davis (right) in a scene from Patrick Brown's play
 'Love Games'.

Jamaica has a rich history in the theatre; it was believed that the earliest one was established in the year 1682. In the 1700’s and 1800’s much more were opened on the island and they attracted performances from amateurs to touring professional companies.

During this time in Jamaica there were other venues that other performances would be held in. The Jamaican people love their art and almost anyplace that could house an audience they would have their performances, they utilize places such as stores, houses, outdoor spaces and court houses. Throughout this time they use to enjoy Shakespeare plays as they were the ones that were frequently produced.

But this changed as the Jamaicans, after slavery was abolished, stepped up their theatre performances. Persons started to fuse the humor, the music and the dance which resulting in the public getting some of their own performances theatrically. However this did not gain much recognition at first, in fact it took several years to develop the true styles of the Jamaican and then eventually grow to be more widespread on the island than the works from Europe.

Pantomime is classified as a musical, comedy and theatrical production that can be found usually in Jamaica, Great Britain, South African and numerous other countries. At Christmas and New Year celebrations you will normally find performances of pantomime. The pantomime traditions can be enjoyed by the entire family.

The pantomime started in the 40’s, which later went on to be the largest part of Jamaica’s theatrical. It was not purely Jamaican though, it was Jamaican folklore fused with the English pantomime. But it did not take long to develop another style that was more Jamaican and in 1960’s and 1970’s, “roots” theatre was born. This was a big favorite then and still is today, the people gravitated to this one like magnet, it provide lewd and uncontrolled tales full of jokes and sexual references usually held in outdoor theatres.

Many talented Jamaicans are involved in roots play, one that was involved in earlier times was a writer called Winsome (code name). She brought the plays out Kingston to other rural areas in Jamaica because of her controversial materials. Her topics explore money, sex and power and how it related to people’s everyday life. She wrote and produced her own root plays and in 1997, she had one called “ruff rider”.

However, there are other prominent figures involved with roots play include Ginger Knight, Ralph Holness, Balfour Anderson, Ian Reid, Michael Denton, Paul Beil, Buddy Pouyat, Everton Dawkins and Hyacinth Brown.

The film industry in Jamaica has grown steadily and numerous movies are known far and wide. There are films such as “Shottas”, “The harder they come”, “One love”, “Dancehall Queen” and “Third world Cop”. Some famous movie even use the places in Jamaica to film their movies which are popular in America, movies such as “Cocktail”, “The Blue Lagoon” and the very popular one by James Bond “Live and Let Die.

The writing of literature is also apart of Jamaica’s culture Louis Simpson and Claude McKay are two of significant writers of literature. Persons who wrote plays in the Jamaican patois or English is Andrew Salkey, Louise Bennett-Coverly and Mikey Smith, they play an important role in the writing of the patois.

The authors in Jamaica had some problems in writing the materials that could be read by everyone across the world. The works that included the Jamaican patios had much difficulty in reaching the wider audience, sometimes even in films or documentary; they had to do sub-title to be shown on the overseas market. The popular film, “The Harder they come” had this disadvantage on the world market. It is believed, that the widely use of the Jamaican patois has really limited the Jamaican writers potential of making a greater impact in audiences worldwide.

Jamaican art is also influenced by the ancestral heritage, the African, European and American art forms, but the Jamaicans managed to establish a style for themselves. Some of the most famous artist includes painter and sculptor, Edna Manley; the artist Kapo, who was taught himself the craft and the painter, Albert Huie.

LINK: http://www.jamaicanculture.com.jm/theater-arts.htm

 SCENE FROM PATRICK BROWN'S 'LOVE GAMES'

VIA YOUTUBE: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF7YnT6AQUw&feature=BFa&list=PL84EB1F714F1443A9&lf=results_main

Jamaican theatre alive and well - Comedies prove most popular

BY RICHARD JOHNSON Coordinator, Entertainment Desk johnsonr@jamaicaobserver.com

André Morris, playing Richard and Antonio (left) chokes Dahlia Harris, who plays Sasha in Judgement

ALTHOUGH the results of the recent Actor Boy Awards may have been swept by the musical White Witch, the Jamaican theatre scene is indeed buoyant.

In delivering the judges report at the Actor Boy Awards, adjudicator Tony Patel revealed that for the year under review — 2010 — a total of 33 theatrical productions were offered to the public.

These 33 productions were broken down into 17 comedies, six musicals, six dramas, and four revues. The total number of productions in 2010 was the same as the previous year.

Patel noted that the acting in the productions was of a reasonably high quality, as were the costumes, lighting, set design, and construction as well as the original music used.

Last year’s offerings also reflected a diversity in the origin and subject matter. The University Players production of Moliére’s Tartuffe was one such example. The comedy, which was written in 1664, enjoyed a good run at the Phillip Sherlock Centre at UWI, despite not being of Jamaican origin.

He noted that this year also saw the emergence of a few new writers, producers and directors.

One such newbie was Dahlia Harris. Known for her acting skills, this broadcaster and marketer widened her reach in 2010 when she penned, produced, directed, and starred in her project Judgement. The play, which opened in December of 2010 ,received five Actor Boy nominations but went home empty-handed. Speaking to the Sunday Observer, Harris noted that she was pleased with the success of her maiden project, which closed in Kingston last Sunday. “I really cannot complain, Judgement had a great run at the Pantry Playhouse in New Kingston and right now I am focussing my attention on the ‘country run’ and overseas engagements. We have been getting calls from the Diaspora — Florida, New York, Toronto, and London,” Harris noted. Judgement is set for the Coral Springs Centre for the Arts in Florida tonight.

In analyzing the dynamism of the local theatre scene, Patel added: “Sociologists might seek to find an explanation for the facts that comedies continue to dominate the offerings... maybe it is good therapy to be able to laugh and in so doing, forget temporarily some of the pressures we face daily.”

This point was underscored by head of Stages Productions, Garfield Reid.

More popularly known as Bad Boy Trevor, Reid — who spoke to the Sunday Observer from St Mary where his play Ova Mi Dead Body was scheduled to take the stage last night — said the majority of Jamaicans see the theatre as a great please for release. “People just really love the things we are doing and so they come out to watch the plays and have a good laugh.”

He, however, added that with the brand that Stages Productions has developed and characters such as Maxwell ‘Maama Man’ Grant, Bad Boy Trevor, Delcita, Jucky Jam and of course, Shebada, many promoters are seeing theatre as a more viable financial venture, as opposed to holding stage shows and dances, and this, he notes, has added to the popularity of local theatre.

The popularity of the production in Jamaican communities overseas has added another dimension to the dynamism of the industry. Reid noted that when his productions travel to the Jamaican pockets in Florida and New York, they are wellreceived by Jamaicans, who see it as a piece of home.

Theatre lovers can choose from a number of productions either on stage or scheduled to open soon. The National Pantomime, Blinga Linga, continues its run at the Little Theatre; Patrick Brown’s Midnight at Puss Creek with Oliver Samuels is on at Centerstage and David Tulloch’s Confessions is into its second weekend at the Theatre Place.

Following its overseas run, Judgement returns to Kingston and then heads to St Thomas this coming weekend, while Ova Mi Dead Body continues its rural run. The School of Drama at the Edna Manley College is not being left out. The school’s production, The Button Hole Bandit, runs for two weekends, closing on April 17.


As one production closes, another opens. Coming soon are Stages Productions’ Double Dose with Shebada and the crew, Big Tree Small Axe starring Volier Johnson and Deon Silvera and Lukington Productions’ Star Bwoy, which opens on April 22.

     DAHLIA HARRIS PERFORMS IN JAMAICA TO RAHTID