Lilliput Children's Theatre presents "Lagahoo" at Queen's Hall

Trini folklore has it that to see "lagahoo", you have to take the "yampee" (the dried mucus that gathers in the corners of the eye) from a dog’s eye, put it in yours and look through a keyhole at midnight.

But Lilliput Theatre, one of the country's foremost performing arts training and performance groups in Trinidad for children and young people, is offering a glimpse of the mysterious lagahoo right in Queen's Hall.

Lilliput Theatre’s Lagahoo started as all their shows do, with a junior Carnival band designed by Merylle Mahabir. From the concept that sparked the costume design, ideas were hatched and nurtured and developed into a script by the drama class.

This year’s production investigates local folklore through one of our lesser-known, more elusive characters, using traditional and contemporary storytelling to ask questions that nobody seems to have answers for any more.

The lagahoo is best-known as a shape-shifter capable of wielding the dark arts, but the full range of its power is open to debate and speculation.

Artistic director, producer and choreographer Noble Douglas and director Wendell Manwarren of 3canal have led Lilliput Theatre on a journey to explore both the traditional folkloric lagahoo, as well as contemporary incarnations.

The cast and the audience will be left with some compelling questions: when nobody whispers about lagahoo in the dark of night anymore, when nobody tells the stories, can lagahoo continue to exist? Does the shape-shifter assume a new form in keeping with the times, no longer known as lagahoo but manifest as some new danger? What happens to folklore characters when nobody believes in them? Do they simply fade away or do they strike back?

Lilliput's Lagahoo goes up this Friday-Sunday 15-17 May at Queen's Hall. Tickets are $85 for adults, and $70 for children and are available from Crosby's Music Centre (St. James), the Queen's Hall Box Office (868-624-1284) and members of the cast.