Jamaican cultural icon Oliver Samuels is returning to the stage with his new work, ‘Oliver Back a Yaad’.
The show is a reboot of his hit series Oliver at Large, which catapulted him to international fame as a one-of-a-kind comic talent.
The actor, director, producer and playwright told JIS News in an interview that the series is a legacy project to celebrate his 50 years in theatre.
“Since the success of Oliver at Large, which was largely written by Patrick Brown, the desire and expressed views of the Jamaican population was for something like this again, or the desire that it could have continued,” he said.
More than 20 years since its debut in the early 1990s, the original comedy series is widely regarded as a Jamaican cultural classic.
Again written by Brown, the reboot of the popular sitcom was his and Samuels’ idea.
“We got Patrick Brown, who is the leading comedy writer in Jamaica, to agree to write some of the scripts. And so our first four ‘Oliver Back a Yaad’ scripts were written by Patrick Brown. Hopefully people will just be drawn to it and be nostalgic and go online and buy them,” Samuels said.
He added that the release of the production during Jamaica’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations is significant, as it represents his contribution to the development of local theatre.
“I want this to permeate the millennials and give them a sense of pride, a sense of belonging and a sense that they are Jamaican. All the material is pure fun, but with expressions in it, with proverbs in it, and real Jamaican musical language. Throughout the diaspora, I want these episodes to continue to teach those people who are long gone from here and are still very proud of Jamaica and proud of their culture, to continue to use this material to teach their children who were born (elsewhere) to have a sense of our language,” said Samuels.
Other notable Jamaican cast members are Glen ‘Titus’ Campbell, Sharee McDonald-Russell, Courtney Wilson and Deon Silvera. The sitcom consists of 10 episodes.
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The project has been approved by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports and is being developed by First In Line Plus Production Company Limited.
Oliver Back A Yaad began filming in Kingston in December 2021, with the first four episodes completed in six months.
The reboot is streaming exclusively on www.firstinlineplus.online for US$9.99 for a one-month subscription.
Born in St Mary, Samuels is one of Jamaican theatre’s most recognized and respected talents.
He appeared in several other productions, including Ras Noah and the Hawk, Cinderella and DJ Prince, River Bottom, Assistant Thief, Puppy Love, Smile Orange, Countryman and The Mighty Quinn, starring Denzel Washington.
