Richard Narine is a ‘Special Person’ with a passion for acting

Feb 14, 2010 News

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Talented, dedicated and a consummate professional!  For someone who has firmly established himself as one of Guyana’s premier actors and one who revels in the entertainment he provides when on stage, 54-year-old Richard Narine is surprisingly a very private person.
He prefers to stay out of the public’s eye when away from the Theatre.
The prolific actor, who has performed in over 60 local productions and numerous commercials, says that he wants to make a quiet contribution to his country through the performing Arts.
He insists that he is not interested in the fanfare usually associated with prominent public figures.
“I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference as an entertainer. My contribution to my country is to ease the tensions of the people with comedy and also showing them the tragic aspects of life in an entertaining way,” Narine said.

At present, he is one of the directors in the popular Mori J’von Comedy Jam.
“I just do my thing and try to be true to the character I play. That’s the most I can do; anything else is overacting. I enjoy what I do and always give my best. I don’t set out to make people write about me or remember me in a certain way,” Narine, the father of two disclosed.
The seventh of 10 siblings, Narine has received several awards for his contribution to Theatre. He says his most treasured one was a simple book he won at a Theatre workshop when he first got involved in acting in the 1970s.
“It was a prize for my dedication and application and I value that simple prize very much because at an early age I learnt the benefits of working hard and putting into practice what you are taught,” Narine said.
He is still full of energy. A hearty laugh lit up his face from under his gray beard when I asked if he still loves what he does and if he has ever considered pulling down the curtain on his illustrious career.
“Although the adrenaline does not flow as fast as it did when I was a young actor stepping on stage for the first time, I am still as passionate about acting as when I first began and I know I still have a lot to offer as an entertainer so I have no thoughts of retiring as long as I still enjoy what I do.”
He is now involved in directing and he said that even when he stops acting he intends to continue to contribute to local theatre from behind the scenes.
Narine was born in Georgetown on November 12, 1956 to the late David and Dora Narine. He moved to West Demerara as a pre-teen in 1968 before retuning to the city in 1984 when he got married to media personality, Bibi Narine.
“I always loved acting and first got involved in acting while attending the Malgre Tout Government School in West Demerara since our school had an active group. I then joined a Church group and later a group in the village I lived called the Pouderoyen Drama group.
An 18-year-old Narine then joined a Creative Workshop at the Department of Culture and learnt about the theoretical aspects of acting and stage craft.
“I always loved character acting…I loved to delve into the skins of different people,” he said.
While Narine has done plenty of comedies he prefers performing tragedies since he feels they bring out more of the human elements and serious aspects of living.
His first ‘big’ performance was during a school play written by now Regional Chairman of Region One, Norman Whittaker. The play was a political production about the take-over of DEMBA –the Demerara Bauxite Company.
The actor, who now resides in Alberttown, said that even before the advent of Satirical Reviews like the Link Show, his youth group had done ‘An evening of West Indian Crisis’ in the early 1970s when most of the cast members were still attending school.
Narine joined the Theatre Guild in 1981 and there learned about stage craft and full- length plays.
He said that it was around this time that he started seeing things differently and realised how much was expected in terms of preparation and presentation.
After getting married in 1984, Narine had to balance acting and family life. He said that it helped that his wife, who was a broadcaster at that time, was a very compatible partner and understood the responsibilities of improving a career.
“Theatre took away a lot of our quality family time since between 6 and 10 PM was usually rehearsals. At that time I had two young children. I always wanted to act even when things were not going so well.
“It was my way of making a living but more importantly it was what I loved and my contribution to my country. I enjoy entertaining my fellow Guyanese in a wholesome way,” Narine said.
“You know, it’s great to go on stage and not say anything and people just start laughing because of what you had done before. When people remember your previous performances, it is really fulfilling. It is still exciting because my energy level is still so high.”
He says that his most memorable performance is ‘Night Box’ since it was his first ‘big’ role at the National Cultural Centre.
He says that he prefers acting at the Theatre Guild because it’s more intimate and you don’t have to exaggerate your gestures and expressions.
“The people are very close to you and you could touch and tickle them at the Theatre Guild”, Narine said.
Although he has done a bit of writing, Narine says he is not inspired to write. His wife does the writing for most of the commercials he works in.
“I actually enjoy doing commercials and I think the Bakewell Ad was one of my better performances since I had about 60 seconds to tell a whole story. I think I did a good job. Every second counted and that commercial was all the work of my wife,” Narine disclosed, adding that his wife has always been creative.
He said his two sons (Nikel, 23, and Mikhel, 20) are not interested in acting. Although his wife performed once for a charity show, she is not into acting. Radio is her first love. “We are husband and wife and it is not hard to work together since this is also a major part of our lives,” he said.
Narine feels the standard of acting locally has improved a lot in the last few years although a lot of the older actors are no longer around.
“In the past we had many more productions but I guess many of the Writers and Producers have migrated,” he added.
Narine says that now the Mori J’Von production is here it is introducing new talent which would otherwise not been exposed or entertained.
“Ron (Morrison) has done a lot to lift the standard of costumes, talent and having the production shown on TV is very good also. I am sure the competition would force the standard of Productions to rise and this augurs well for Theatre in Guyana,” Narine said.
Narine informed that it was the late actor, Joel Fraser, who told him about Morrison and the Mori J’Von show and he has not regretted getting involved.
The veteran entertainer is happy that new writers and producers are coming forward and that big companies are showing their support for the industry.
He is however disappointed that the lack of togetherness and unity among performers continue to stifle the improvement of local Theatre and feels that this has always been a problem.
“Everyone has to be involved to really see the local industry rise.”
The actor advises those now coming through to do the hard work, read a lot and remember to practise hard when nobody is watching so that they can perform well when thousands are watching.

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