Marriott show to honour icons

The May 20 premiere of Louis Marriott's updated 1980s one-man show, Over The Years, will be dedicated to Jamaican cultural icons over the age of 70.

Marriott said that this gesture was prompted by the recent rapid succession of deaths of icons straddling all areas of the visual and performing arts and his desire to bring together those who remain to celebrate life and pay tribute to their contributions.

Marriott said he has identified more than 40 visual and performing artistes whom he has invited to be special guests at the May 20 show at The Theatre Place in New Kingston, starting at 8 p.m.

The actor/writer, who first appeared onstage in early 1938 at the age of two, will perform Over The Years to mark the 75th anniversary of his birth, on May 22. The show comprises 22 items, including short stories, poems, skits, excerpts from plays, songs and a radio programme, all authored by Marriott. The music was composed by Grub Cooper and recorded by Fab 5's keyboard artiste and synthesist, Sidney Thorpe. While the oldest piece was written in 1953, some of the items reflect Jamaican life more than two centuries ago. Most, however, especially the comic episodes, were lived and/or observed by the author, and much of it is contemporary.

When Marriott first performed Over The Years at the age of 50, to a packed auditorium at the Institute of Jamaica in 1985, the response was overwhelming.

Gleaner critic Michael Reckord, reviewing a 1988 revival, wrote: "Few other persons in Jamaica - if any - have written plays, songs, poems, short stories and prose for performance at the professional level Marriott has. Like a decathlon champion, Marriott is probably not the best in any single area of theatrical endeavour; but the package of his talents is well nigh unbeatable."