THEATRE practitioner and Spiritual Baptist/Orisa devotee Fabrice Barker’s love of theatre and performance should come as no surprise when you realise he grew up in a musical household. His father was Adrian Philbert, frontline vocalist for Charlie’s Roots, Second Imij and Blue Ventures.
Barker said while his grandfather and grandmother on his father’s side were Jehovah’s Witnesses, his father and grandfather could and did sing. His father’s job meant Barker grew up around the likes of David Rudder, Ella Andall and Singing Sandra.
“That is why everybody in the entertainment industry knows Fabrice. My mother used to tell me she knows half the world, and the other half knew her, and now I know what she was talking about. I used to hate walking down the road and so many people would stop to greet her, but now that is me. I don’t mind though, it helps keep me straight, make sure I’m not doing anything I’m not supposed to do.”
Barker said there were several people who contributed to his development as a performer. The first was the choir teacher at his primary school.
“I went to Rosary Boys RC School, and the choir teacher there from Standard Two was Mr Cadogan. I became head of the Rosary Boys choir there. It was there I found a love of performance at that time.
“From there I went to Tranquillity Government Secondary School, where I met the best music teacher in the word, Chesterton Ali, now deceased. He was the most brilliant devil ever. He is who really gave me a love for performance because it was a discipline. I started to mould my discipline at this time. I was part of the Drama Club, I did some acting but I was more of a vocalist, a tenor. I did Music Festival for a long time.”
After leaving high school, Barker moved out to live with his sister-in-law as his family did not agree with his acting ambitions.
“Because my father’s mother and father were Jehovah’s Witnesses, they felt performance shouldn’t be in the cards for me, but I was rebellious. When I finished school, I left home. At that time I was doing Best Village, working with Bon Bassa Productions from Barataria. It means good bacchanal. There I met comedian Dolores Alexander.
“Acting came natural to me. My parents always used to say ‘you’s a dramatist eh, you love drama.’ Then in 2010 NAPA was opening, and I got a call from Davlin Thomas out of nowhere to come to a rehearsal for Cerro Del Aripo. He explained the show etc. That’s where I met Margaret Gittens.
“I played King Candlefly, in a bodysuit and a pink tutu, he was flitting all over the place. People were rolling in the aisle.”
After the play, Gittens asked Barker if he had done formal training and when he said no, she advised him to go to actress Penelope Spencer at Necessary Arts on Dundonald Street in Port of Spain.
“It was a fantastic experience. I call her Aunty Penny, my theatre mother, because she’s the one who gave me my solid footing in proper theatre etiquette and training. We did all kinds of different shows, I played one of the wise men at Christmas time, a Dame Lo
