The Magical Storybook, an Anna Adamira production opening over the Independence weekend, will be seeking to raise funds for the Barbados Cancer Society.
The funds will go specifically to aid children who have been diagnosed with cancer, children whose lives have been compromised financially and socially because their parents are ill with cancer or have died from cancer, and families that need help and support.
Producer, writer and director Adamira said the audience could expect quality that would rival that of a Broadway show, with stunning costumes and theatrics.
“It is not something that we just threw together . . . . Two years of serious planning, organizing and groundwork went into the production,” she said.
Even though the production is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the script is written for the Caribbean, Adamira said.
She added that the audience could look forward to a lot of comedy and there was something for younger children, teenagers and adults.
The production centres on the famous mischievous elf Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and his two friends Cobweb and Mustardseed. In the story, Puck carries a bag full of magical fairy dust, which he uses throughout the show.
Puck, who has been forbidden by the fairy queens from opening The Magical Storybook, does so, unleashing a series of events, both bad and good.
Well known fairy tale characters such as Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Glinda The Good Witch from The Wizard Of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel, the Three Little Pigs, among others, also feature in the production.
The theme of the three-hour show is Children Helping Children. The cast is made up of 475 children who have all volunteered their time freely.
The crew has been rehearsing on Saturdays and Sundays from January, taking only a one-month break in August.
Adamira said schools were offered a special price but many of them had not responded. However, corporate Barbados had been “phenomenal” in its support for the production, she said.
Adamira called on Barbadians to support the Barbados Cancer Society by viewing the production on Independence Day or one of three other shows being held at the beginning of December.
Honorary secretary of the Cancer Society, Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson, said that children stricken with cancer needed resources beyond their means.
Acute leukaemia required a bone marrow transplant costing $900 000, she said, while some lymphoma medications could cost over $40 000 per child. A bone marrow request was already twice the cost of the organization’s goal of $250 000.
The funds raised will assist with medical treatment, specialized drugs, overseas accommodation, financial assistance and continued care.
“All too often Barbadians suffering with cancer, with few resources, have to seek the mercy of the community. They have to beg for help to cope with drug costs, pay their grocery bills and provide their families with basic dignities.”
The production would give the Cancer Society an opportunity to do something positive, she said. (LK)
