Father Ho Lung’s Sugar Cain set to stir hearts and minds

IT’S as if Hugh Douse had been anticipating the question: ‘Why should people attend Father Richard Ho Lung and Friends’ upcoming musical?’ “Oh Lord. The first reason is, even if they can’t make it, they must buy a ticket, because it’s going to help the poor — that’s the first reason. And anybody who helps the poor is lending to God,” was his swift response. “But this story is a very important story. If people are going to come and probably think that it is only about now, the story is, in a sense, timeless,” added Douse, director of the production Sugar Cain, scheduled to run over two weekends — October 3-4 and October 10-11 at the National Arena in St Andrew. Stating that he didn’t want to “give away too much” about the story, Douse said while there is a reference to the biblical brothers Cain and Abel, it’s not necessarily the story the production will deliver.

Hugh Douse, director of Father Ho Lung and Friends’ upcoming musical Sugar Cain, talks about the production with the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday.

“It’s a story that is probably even fuller than the story they think they’re going to get,” he told the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday evening, just before the start of rehearsals. “What is important about the story is [that it speaks] about how do we give to God? How do we give to people, which is a story between Cain and Abel. “But when you look at what is it that motivates us to do what we do for God, is it everything that we think is right? Does it honour God? How do we treat our community? How do we, when we get ahead, treat the members of our community?” he shared.

Cast members of Father Ho Lung and Friends’ upcoming musical Sugar Cain practise their moves during rehearsal last Wednesday. From left are: Martina Hall, Amanda Taylor, Jevon Ferril, Audrene Edwards, and Sheri-Ann Ferguson. (Photos: Naphtali Junior)

“And again, I don’t want to go too much into it, but people are going to come, and I promise you, people are going to leave the production arguing with one another in a good way. People are going to think about particular characters who are people we know — all of these people are people we know. And we’re going to make some judgements or come to some realisations that might make us uncomfortable, but just so that God can be served in a better way,” Douse explained. Against that background Douse, a captain in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), is convinced that the production will help change human behaviour. “It’s going to, as we would say, ‘drape up’ some people. Some people are going to feel like, why dem a pick on me? Who tell dem bout me? But not necessarily in an over-judgemental way. So it’s not going to rain down — not all the way — a little fire and brimstone... but people are going to think about their lives and their perspectives on certain things. And that challenge, we are sure, will move people closer to reviewing their walk with God and how we give to God and His cause,” he told the Observer. Douse shared that he joined Ho Lung’s group in 2000 when the Missionaries of the Poor founder staged the production, Jesus 2000.

Cast members of Father Ho Lung and Friends’ upcoming musical Sugar Cain in rehearsal last Wednesday for the show set for October 3-4 and October 10-11 at the National Arena in St Andrew.

“I started as a stagehand. I told Father I didn’t want to be on stage, I just wanted to work backstage. That was my first production, and since then I’ve been involved as an actor with the group,” he explained. “I started being assistant director to Greg Thames maybe about six or seven years ago, and I did work on productions like Moses, Isaiah, and a few others. I was also an actor in those productions, but this is the first time that I’m leading as director,” added Douse whose orientation in the arts started early as his mother was a music teacher. His credits in the field include founding the award-winning Nexus Performing Arts Company in 2001, acting roles in stage and film productions, and lecturing in cultural studies at The University of the West Indies “for quite some time”.

Cast members rehearse for Father Ho Lung and Friends’ upcoming musical Sugar Cain last Wednesday. The production will be staged October 3-4 and October 10-11 at the National Arena in St Andrew.

Additionally, Douse said he was “director of culture and education at the Ministry of Education” and currently lectures at the Caribbean Military Academy School of Music. During the interview Douse expressed gratitude to JDF Chief of Defence Staff Vice Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman for granting him leave to direct the upcoming production, which has a cast of about 60 people. Asked if he had a difficulty directing that many people for a production of this size, Douse said: “There’s always going to be an element of difficulty. What works for us, though, is that the cause is what unites our focus. That is, doing all we can to support the work of the Missionaries of the Poor... in some productions you’ll get a lot of ego bouncing around, but not with this group of persons. We all know that we’re doing this for Christ and for His people... so there is a humility that allows us to get much more out of our performance.” He acknowledged that one challenge of mounting a new production is ensuring that it connects with the audience. “Because, yes, we’re serving God, we’re serving the poor, but the production serves an audience and we really need to make sure that we’re hitting the right notes, no pun intended, to resonate with people so they will go and say to others ‘You need to come and see this, because that is our way to support.’ ”