[UPDATED] Minshall shows Power of Love with Carnival King, Queen

Mas icon Peter Minshall is back once again and the first public showing of Kinetic Mas’ Mas Pieta took place on Thursday night at the Senior Kings and Queens of Carnival competition.

There, at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Minshall presented his queen, portrayed by Sevel Nicholls, and king, portrayed by the 2018 King of Carnival, Earl Thompson. Both were titled The Power of Love and were well received by the audience at the Grand Stand.

The simply-made mas was anything but simple due to the performances.

Nicholls was a black and gold moko jumbie with a large golden heart over her chest. The headpiece was that of a bird and her sleeves the wings. However, she did not just prance across the stage. She moved like a bird. Her head and body jerked, her chest protruded to accentuate the heart printed there, and her ‘wings’ moved fluidly and continuously through the air.

Thompson was the operator of a large puppet in a black pants and top, and a red cape. With smooths glides, one movement flowed into the next, he made the puppet dance.

Both moved to music with wordless vocalisation that set a dignified tone and almost mesmerised the audience.

There were several other stand-out costumes including the reigning King and Queen of Carnival, Joseph Lewis and Shynel Brizan respectively.

Brizan, Queen of Moko Somoko, portrayed Ruth, Queen of the Oceans of Humanity. She wore neither stilts, nor backpack and she did not need wheels. She wore a dress of red, gold and green, with flower- and leaf-covered tulle, and a 50-foot train. In her hand was a dagger and on her head was a funeral, crocodile barge which carried her child. Brizan is also pregnant, which accentuated Ruth’s embodiment of “a mother’s will for freedom and life.”

The opposite of Brizan, Lewis’ costume was one of the largest of the night at 38 feet high. He portrayed Zharvakko - The Vodun King of Death, a massive, shouting man with leaves stuck into the base of the costume and wings from its sides.

Also of note were Roland Barney Blaize’s Man in the Universe - The Quantum Leap, Dr Nadine Roberts’ portrayal of Bishop Monica Bling Arises from the Collection Plate of Silver, and Adrian Young’s Daddy Jumbie / Papa Jumbie: Protector of the Folklore and Waker of the Sleeping Spirits of Mas.

Blaize’s costume was gold, blue, gold, white and silver. And at the centre of planets and swirls of the cosmos, was a man outlined in white.

Roberts’ costume was a large puppet of a Midnight Robber with a Bishop’s hat atop the Robber’s wide brim. Dressed mostly in black and silver the Robber told people, “Give me your silver and I will show you the way to heaven.”

On stilts, Young represented Papa Jumbie who cried for the douens. His tears invoked the Spirit of Folklore and the Spirit of Trinidad mas, represented by the Pierrot and King Sailor puppets in front and behind him respectively. The spirits walked and danced in tandem across the stage dressed in gold, silver, white, red and black.

All this was after the rain delayed the start of the show for over an hour. Not only did it delay pre-show judging where judges take a closer look at the materials and technical aspects of the costumes, but it also delayed the assembling of costumes by masqueraders.

This story was originally published with the title "Minshall shows Power of Love with Carnival King, Queen" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Mas icon Peter Minshall is back again and the first public showing of Kinetic Mas’ Mas Pieta took place on Thursday night at the Senior Kings and Queens of Carnival competition.

There at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Minshall presented his queen, portrayed by Sevel Nicholls, and king, portrayed by the 2018 King of Carnival, Earl Thompson. Both were titled The Power of Love and were well received by the audience at the Grand Stand.

The simply-made mas was anything but simple due to the performances.

Nicholls was a black and moko jumbie with a large golden heart over her chest. The headpiece was that of a bird and her sleeves the wings. However, she did not just prance across the stage. She moved like a bird. Her head and body jerked, her chest protruded to accentuate the heart printed there, and her ‘wings’ moved fluidly and continuously through the air.

Thompson was the operator of a large puppet in a black pants and top, and a red cape. With smooths glides, one movement flowed into the next, he made the puppet dance.

Both moved to music with wordless vocalisation that set a dignified tone and almost mesmerised the audience.