Laff-it-Off

Laff-it-Off was developed in September 1985 by Community Theatre Productions and was born out of the need to promote popular theatre in Barbados. Laff-it-Off was produced annually by Community Theatre Productions between 1985 and 1992.
 

In March 1993 Laff-it-Off Productions Inc. was incorporated with Cross, Estwick and Thompson as its original Directors. Cross directed most of the company's stage productions during the period 1985 to 1997 and Thompson was the senior actor in these performances. Cross resigned in 1997 to give full attention to his advertising business and was succeeded by his wife, Cecily Spencer-Cross, a qualified and regionally respected theatre artist. Spencer-Cross has also taken over the responsibility for directing the company's productions. Thompson resigned in 1999 as a Director to take up a career in broadcasting but continued to perform as a member of the cast until 2010. Estwick, who remains a Director, is the company's Producer and Manager.

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Laff-it-Off, originally staged annually in Barbados from December to March, is now presented during the period January to March. The show takes a satirical look at local and regional scenarios. The annual Laff-it-Off production was, until 2008, based on the art of improvisation. Hence the script was considered a working document as the production is altered from time to time to include any significant "late-breaking" developments on the local or regional scene. Scenes were (and some still are) conceived and developed by the cast and production team. Since 2009, Laff-it-Off has been a mixture of written script and improvisation and the tradition of including significant "late-breaking" developments still continues. Anything else will simply not be Laff-it-Off!

 

Laff-it-Off presentations are very flexible in that when performing in Barbados or to predominately Barbadian audiences outside of Barbados, the performance is dominated by Barbadian and regional political and social themes. Performances, however, to non-Barbadian audiences consist of side-splitting skits of a generic nature. Laff-it-Off has been performed either as a full-length stage presentation or as skits in St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, New York, Boston, Toronto and London.

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Laff-it-Off has also been performed in whole or in part for Barbadian corporations for various occasions from time to time.