“Laff ‘Till Yuh Belly Bust 6” Invigorated the Audience with his Brand of Comedy Elixir

Mahadeo Shivraj’s production, “Laff ‘Till Yuh Belly Bust 6” was played to a capacity audience on Saturday night at the Richmond Hill High School Auditorium.

There was an encore performance the following day, Sunday December 13, 2009 at 6:00pm, when, despite inclement weather, the turnout was still solid. The audience had a rollicking time, savoring typical West Indian-style humor and satire. The occasion also offered them (audience) an opportunity to unshackle their hassles for at least a few hours in a less stressful universe.

The utilitarian value of jokes (humor) has been well established. These tend to relax our muscles and allow our organs to synchronize better. Laughter “decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection fighting antibodies, thus improving one’s resistance to disease. In addition, laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals, and can even temporarily relieve pain.” It has been reported, for example, that a man who had terminal cancer, was eventually cured of this malady by just laughing. Comedy, like music, soothes our mind; harmonizes our feelings; and casts us into a higher level of existence where the mundane is temporarily obliterated.

The “Laff ‘Till Yuh Belly Bust 6” show opened with a chorus line that captured the spirit of the upcoming Christmas season, with the actors adorning themselves with Christmas costumes and dancing joyfully on stage to ethnically-derived music. A series of comedy skits followed, and these not only generated much humor, but also, poked fun at our community and its leaders. And while the skits were, for the most part, ethnically- based, there was one with a western format where a single man (bachelor) was trying to win the heart of a woman to be his future married partner. However, the questions were culture-based and the bachelor (played by Mahadeo Shivraj) discovered in the end that one of the women was his former wife. Because of conflicting considerations, he decided not to choose any of them. Instead, the male moderator (played by David Margulis), who dressed in female attire, proceeded to sit besides the bachelor and tried to woo him and even threw his head upon his right shoulder, much to the delightof the audience.

Kishore Sieunarine introduced a series of community happenings over the past year. These skits were designed not only to generate fun, but also, satire. For example, Trevolta Karran beautifully mimicked Tony Safiek, the Richmond Hill Mortgage Doctor, with his aggressive marketing pitch, while the popular singer and West Indian Music TV hostess, Geeta Bisram, was skillfully portrayed by the young Shana Persaud. “I am Geeta Bisram and the first song on today’s program will be by me, Geeta Bisram…..and the next song will be by me, Geeta Bisram.” A friend sitting nearby observed: “when satire is blended with innocence, it becomes authentic.” In the bachelor skit alludedto before, the Pandit (played by Ramesh Deochand) was called for advice on some planetary matter (horoscope) by one of the women. During his deliberations the (Pandit) was interrupted by a call from a devotee who was waiting on him to perform a pooja. The Pandit assured the devotee that the pooja will be done on time and to ease her concern, the Pandit will begin the pooja now by chanting mantras on his cell phone while he travels to the home of the devotee. One message here is that, when in difficulty, our people like to consult the good “books.” Another message is that Pandits are usually late for poojas and are often too influenced by materialism.

The audience liked the joke where a young man claimed to have loved one young lady and then another, only to be chided by his “father” (played by Paul Sanders) that he couldn’t marry either of them because they happened to be his half sisters. The distraught young man (played by Trevolta) ran to his Mom (played by Radhica Olarte) for comfort. She enquired what had happened and he cried out that his father had refused to give him consent to marry either of the girls because they are his half-sisters. The Mom disparagingly replied: “Don’t worry with him son, you can marry either of them, because he is not your father.” Shiv says that the response to “Laff…….” has caused him to reverse his prior belief that the Indo-Caribbean community was not ready yet for comedy of this nature. Indeed, he is now thinking about “Laff…..” production 7. And why not? Everyone with whom we spoke, was loud in their praise of the show, though they had different favorites. The curtains were drawn after a most hilarious act, that is, a fashion show comprising men who were all dressed as females and smarting high heel shoes. They were later joined by the entire crew of “Laff…….,” and together in this finale, they danced, once more, into the hearts of the audience, who left the auditorium feeling invigorated with this surfeit of comedy elixir.

Shiv expressed special thanks to Holly Persaud who served as Stage Hand and for helping out with logistics. In addition, his gratitude goes out to photographer Buddy Singh who has donated photographs for this article, as well as, to the lighting and sound crews. The entire talented crew of “Laff ‘Til Yuh Belly Bust 6” (Mahadeo Shivraj, Kishore Sieunarine, Ramesh Deochand, Radhica Olarte, Raynor Reddy, Parbatty TejSingh, David Margulis, Lakshmee Singh, Paul Sanders, Shana Persaud, and Trevolta Karran), must be commended for a magnificent production.

BY DR. TARA SINGH