Comedy show comes to Belmopan

It’s long been a common complaint that Belizeans have a limited number of entertainment options on a Friday night. One local group is hoping to change all that. Spearheaded by dramatist Curtis Gillett, Belizean comedians and storytellers are coming together to put on a series of shows for audiences around the country. The first production features master storyteller John Alexander Watler and his “Wapey’s Letter.”

John Alexander Watler, Storyteller

“It is a one hour monologue and it’s by the book. So to memorise that kind of work it takes a bit of while, and not only to memorise it, but to memorise it in a way that you can act it out. So I would say that I began to write Wapey’s Letter somewhere around ’88, ’89.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“From then until now it’s still relevant?”

John Alexander Watler

“Oh yeah, it’s very relevant because it touches the lives of people. A lot of people can relate to it, both young people, old people. You know, that craze to go to America is still there and people are still doing what one foot did, auctioned off his yard to go seek a green card.”

Curtis Gillett, Producer

“We want to first take this one to Belmopan hopefully to Stann Creek and Punta Gorda and then Belize City. And then after that we will start doing new shows, because this one it will be the same one that we will take to the district. And then after we’re finished with those, then we bring in new people to keep people entertained.”

Wapey’s Letter makes its debut at eight this Friday night at the Caribbean Paradise Restaurant and Bar on Constitution Drive in Belmopan.