Mashup Pon Di Road is a 'bashment circus variety show' bringing joy to Little Jamaica on a big truck

Black Light is a column by Governor General Award-winning writer Amanda Parris that spotlights, champions and challenges art and popular culture that is created by Black people and/or centres Black people.

The first time I saw Bahia Watson and Liza Paul share the stage, I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and tears came to my eyes. It was well over a decade ago and they were performing an early version of their first critically acclaimed and globally celebrated production pomme is french for apple. The two are back this week with Mashup Pon Di Road, a meeting ground between the circus, Caribbean carnival culture and vaudeville traditions that all takes place on a massive truck. 

As individuals, they are formidable artists. Watson is one of the most critically acclaimed and in-demand actors working today (you may have seen her in Star Trek: Discovery or The Handmaid's Tale) and Paul is the Associate Artistic Director at The Theatre Centre, one of the most boundary-pushing theatrical institutions in the city. However, when they join forces, they are in a league entirely their own — crafting out a space of innovation, comedy and fun that is simultaneously politically subversive and powerfully uplifting. 

I met Watson and Paul back in 2008 through an artist residency program created by legendary dub poet and monodramatist d'bi young. (Full disclosure: Watson has also starred in a short film and a workshop production of a theatre play that I wrote.) We were all early students of a set of principles that young was developing around dub: the S.O.R.P.L.U.S.I. method.

The acronym stands for self-knowledge, orality, rhythm, political content and context, language, urgency, sacredness and integrity. Those principles became a foundation for the partnership between Watson and Paul, who share a common desire to tell stories rooted in their Caribbean heritage. They employ music, comedy and colourful visual tapestries to call out serious (and not so serious) issues while having a ton of fun. 

I spoke with Watson and Paul last week about the complicated history of the circus, the need for fun and play while living in our contemporary reality and the importance of staging this "bashment circus variety show" in Little Jamaica.

Amanda Parris: What is a bashment circus variety show?

Bahia Watson: The bashment and the circus — and carnival spirit, really — collide around the feeling of freedom. Freedom of being outside of the box, of being outsiders and of wanting to have fun and wanting to entertain and wanting to make a spectacle, offer some visual delights, some spiritual delights.

In our case, for Mashup Pon Di Road, it's an event and it's a show. So we are creating a kind of immersive experience as much as we can to give people an escape.  

What is the origin story for this particular idea? 

Bahia Watson: The "pon di road" part is because of the pandemic. If the pandemic didn't happen, it might not have ended up on a truck outside. The truck element was the response to the conditions of the pandemic.

And then from that staging idea, I started to write the show to fill that space. It's a much larger stage and it's outdoor, so it requires a different size of show to fill that space and reach the people. We've got to make it bigger and make it more visual and use the space.

That's such a fascinating exercise to go through because as artists, we're so often asked to make things smaller due to budget constraints or whatever. But you were tasked to scale up, which is rare. What did that feel like?

Liza Paul: It was kind of an interesting exercise on the funding side. We're going to put it outside, take it to where the people are, bring it to places where it might not ordinarily get to go — and that is, like, a granting sweet spot.

It was not intended as such, but it was really like, "Oh, yeah, this is great. Take all the money. As much as you ask for. Have it. Yes, we love it. Take more." So that was very exciting. Now we have some money to make that imagination come true.

Bahia Watson: To put it outside and in the world takes a lot of resources also. All the little things like fencing and things you don't think about — permits, all that stuff to actually be in the city of Toronto. You know, Toronto being the city that it is. (sings) "Rules, rules and regulations!"

But it was really fun to write bigger. Being outlandish, animated, circus, there's so much room to go big. I mean, it could have gone bigger. I had even bigger ideas that were bigger than even that stage. 

I wanted to talk specifically about the circus because it has such a complicated history when it comes to Black folks. Can you talk a little bit about this idea of reappropriating the circus from what was once — a place where Black folks were used as spectacle — and what it means to reclaim that space?

Liza Paul: When Bahia and I first worked on Mashup, when we did it at the Feminist Fuck It Fest, we were very interested in the idea of the freak, the sideshow, and kind of turning that on its head to be like, you know, this is an absurd way of looking at things. And if you look at it from the other side, you'll see really exactly how absurd it is. You know, the Black woman with no bum like, "Ooh, how could it ever be? A Black woman with no bum?" And then boops, "I don't have no bumpsy. And I'm still Black."

[We were] turning that idea of the freak show on its head so that people can see it's fine, everything is fine, we're good and we don't need this gaze to tell us about who we are [or] how we need to be in the world. 

Bahia Watson: A lot of the show is that. There is that secret work we're doing around reclaiming those spaces. We always try to be very subtle with that, because also it's about fun, right? A playful space for adults, reclaiming a playfulness. We're allowed an escape. I guess we were always thinking of those deeper things, but then they became so fun that I kind of forgot (laughs).

Liza Paul: [It's] fun and games on the surface, but I think why the material works is because there is something always real at the root of it to plug in to. But we try to steer away from beating people over the head with any kind of message. We all know we're living in a dumpster fire. It's cool. But here's a much more fun way to look at it and let's carry on having fun.

I feel like people need fun. We need a moment to breathe and just laugh and feel taken care of. Both the circus carnival in the circus world and Carnival in the jump up world are about freedom. No one's there to do their taxes.

Bahia Watson: Even now, the circus world, it still is very white. And so in terms of how much bigger the show can grow, we are interested in continuing to create space for people like us to have a circus that is delightful to us and is full of things that make us happy and make us feel at home.

Can you talk a little bit about staging this on Eglinton West?

Bahia Watson: It's Little Jamaica. Where else?

That's the perfect place in the city. That was our most important stop that we wanted to make. We wanted to make a lot of stops in the city, and some spaces were much harder to figure out the logistics. The York-Eglinton B.I.A., they were just so welcoming. And it just felt like a perfect match.

We wanted to be obviously in a Caribbean community — to bring the show there, to bring the fun there. Also, you know, with that construction, the construction is trying to ruin the neighborhood. And so we were like, hopefully people can come and enjoy it and, you know, smile and lime.

Liza Paul: [It's also about] the economics of it, too. The show will finish. You'll maybe want something more to eat. Go right next door, spend your money here. Maybe want a drink? Just go down the road and spend your money there. Keep it here.

Where's the theatre for the people? It has to go to the people. It's born of our heritage, right? It's born of this Caribbean sensibility that belongs there.

I've seen the two of you perform together, I don't even know when the first time was. It has to be over a decade now, maybe a little more than that? But I don't know if I've ever asked about the beginning of what I feel like is this beautiful, creative, love story between the two of you. So can you talk a little bit about the origin story of the two of you and how this all began?

Bahia Watson: It began in one of d'bi's storytelling residencies. So in the first round I kind of came in halfway through that and that's where we met. We were both writing and felt like, ok, we both like making people laugh and, you know, caught a vibe.

Liza Paul: Bahia being the Forever Hustler she is, when it was done, she's like, "You want to keep writing?" And I was like, "Ok, sure."

Bahia Watson: I remember that we were writing and, like, cracking ourselves up and having no idea. Like, are people going to think this is funny? We think it's funny. And then just going out and doing it and then it was like, ok, it works. The people get it.

And then from there we're like, "Let's do it again." It just evolved and evolved. 

Liza Paul: And the thing that's been the most affirming is always people [saying] at the end of those performances, "Oh, my face hurts from laughing. I didn't know how much I needed that." And that's affirming. Like, it's fun to do the work, but it's also work. And so to know that the intention of what we're offering is landing is so important and so gratifying.

Bahia and I, if we wanted, could just make each other laugh. Like, you don't have to do all of this. And so to know that people are enjoying themselves, that's what we want. That's always what we've wanted — to know that people can come back and still always get the same quality of experience. It might be out there, but you'll feel safe. You're going to laugh, but no one's laughing at you. It's going to be this thing that you can bring your niece, your auntie, your mom, your best friend, your boy. It does have a very specific point of view, always. But everyone can come and get the joke.

Well, of course, it wouldn't be, because it's still rooted in those SORPLUSI principles right? 

Liza Paul: Yeah. The one thing that always comes back to me in terms of what d'bi would drill into us was: "Why here? Why do you need to stand up here and take up space on this stage? What is the reason for this?" And if you don't have a good answer to that question, then you should probably back up a little bit and reconsider what it is you're trying to do.

I think because fun and joy and lightness has always been at the centre of the offering, it makes it really clear. There's always a clear path forward and a good metric against which to measure the work. 

Bahia Watson: I will also say that I do have a dramatic side of work that I do, but with Liza, she pulls me into leaning into the joy. So the creation work is manifesting, also, what I need in my life — to have more joy in my life, to not be "sad clown." So that's certainly, in this relationship, a big inspiration for me. To find the fun, find the delight, find the joy.

Mashup Pon Di Road performances will take place in Toronto on July 21-23 in The Heart of Little Jamaica (Green P Lot, 1531 Eglinton Ave West) and July 27, 2022 at The Bentway (250 Fort York Blvd).

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.