Deborah Matthews directs modern version of The Ritual

Deborah Matthews has devoted over 20 years of her life to the culture and arts industry, and she does not appear to be slowing down any time soon.

On November 10, she is set to direct Omega's Ritual, a modern adaptation of educator and popular playwright Zeno Obi Constance's most performed play, The Ritual.

"His play is performed at festivals almost every year. In our version, there is a shift in perspective. The original play features five teenage girls who confront the challenges of being misunderstood and judged by each other and wider society. The girls were stereotyped because they attend a senior comprehensive school," Matthews told WMN.

"Here, the script is similar, but instead of teenagers going through the rituals, examining their lives, the cast features the girls' mothers, five women 40 – 45. These women go through the rituals examining their lives."

Matthews is a member of the Fyzabad Connection Theatre Company (FCTC), of which Constance is the artistic director.

She is not only the director, but also a cast member in the play, which will be performed at the Sundar Popo Auditorium at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) at 8 pm.

The event is part of the theatre company's festival that runs from September to November to celebrate Constance's 50 years in theatre.

The Ritual was first performed at the 1978 Secondary Schools Drama Festival. Constance, a former teacher at the Fyzabad Secondary School (formerly Fyzabad Composite) is also an author and cultural activist.

Matthews, of Fyzabad, said the modern version focuses on the girls' mothers who go through a process of taking an introspective look at their lives, and their relationships with their daughters. The play takes the format of the cast on Zoom waiting for a PTA meeting with teachers to start.

"I think that an examination of the lived experiences of women is especially timely now. It will spark much-needed conversations about the stories we tell ourselves and the strategies women use to understand ourselves and each other.

"We examine our present-day lives, ourselves at 16 years, the things we have learned, and how these have shaped the women we are today. It really is a conversation not only about identity but about relationships with other women, mother-daughter relationships, with oneself, and how all these things impact life."

Matthews is an adjunct English Literature lecturer at the UWI, St Augustine campus. She is also a writer and was shortlisted for the 2023 Commonwealth Short story Prize for her story Teef from Teef. She is the founder of the 1990 Project, which has a first-person narrative of the events of the 1990 attempted coup.

Matthews said each cast member has created a monologue based on her character and herself.

"This is another main difference between the original play and what other people have done with his play for the past 30-odd years. Here, the women are getting to speak for themselves," Matthews said.

"I am able to talk about the joys I find in my life. Someone else might talk about the grief they found in their life. So in the process of talking to each other and in the process of reflection, we look at how the characters lined up with ourselves."

Her sister, Elizabeth Matthews, an archivist, vocalist, and actress, is also part of the cast. Other members include teachers Tamara Da Breo and Maxine Archer, both of St Francois Girls' College, as well as coastal engineer Christianne Joseph, who lives in Hong Kong.

The stage manager is Jill Sampson, while the lighting designer is Gabriel Toussaint.

From the cast, she is the only member of the FCTC.

Matthews attended UWI with Da Breo and Sampson. She has never met Joseph in person.

Matthews met Archer for the first time in person this month. The five cast members, however, have been rehearsing, ironically on Zoom, for the past year.

Matthews said, "My sister has never met any other cast members. My sister has participated in several plays, like the Best Village competitions. She has performed with Ah We People Theatrical Horizons and Unlimited Praise Agency for the Performing Arts.

"This would be Christianne’s second foray into acting. I don't believe that Maxine has been on stage before. But Tarama, Jill, Gabriel, and I have extensive theatre experience."

Matthews has acted in Best Village and commercial plays. She worked with the NGO Arts in Action. She has been a cultural worker in theatre (acting, writing, directing), stage management, design, media management, and general consultancy.

She said she uses creative expression to cultivate conversations about resistance and kinaesthetic memory.

She has worked with many people, including Wendell Etienne, Errol Fabien and Curtis Ross.

The play is free to the public and runs for about 90 minutes, after which there will be a question-and-answer session. But Matthews said although admission is free, tickets are required.

Other festival events include Movie Nights, which started on September 17, and continues every Sunday at 9 pm until November 26. These, she said, showcase Constance's "most prolific, celebrated, and beloved productions," and is a collaboration with Gayelle the Channel, the Secondary Schools' Drama Association, and the FCTC.

Members of the public can pick up tickets (a maximum of two per person) at the SAPA Box office from October 30 to the night of the show.

To reserve tickets, send an email to omegas.ritual@gmail.com and pick up the tickets at the SAPA Box office on the night of the performance.