Legendary Jamaican comedian Oliver Samuels is headed for the Bermuda stage. The 71-year-old, known as the King of Jamaican Comedy, will be performing in Lucky Money, a play being brought to the island by Wendell “Shine” Hayward of Danji Productions.

Mr Samuels told The Royal Gazette that growing up in St Mary’s, Jamaica, he wanted to become a teacher, until acting turned his head.

He was 8 when he saw his first film, a Tarzan flick. He was so caught up in it, that he became anxious when it started to rain in the movie. “I worried about how we were going to get home through all the mud,” he laughed.

After the movie, he was amazed that everything was still dry outside the theatre. His older brother rolled his eyes and called him an idiot, explaining that it was only raining in the film.

Mr Samuels was even more entranced. “I was captivated by that magic,” Mr Samuels said. “I wanted to be a part of it.”

Since then, he has performed in more than 70 plays, and has also appeared in films such as Great Moments in Aviation (1994), Almost Heaven (2005), and Out the Gate (2011).

“I am really enjoying being in Lucky Money,” Mr Samuels said. “It is a very exciting piece of theatre. We have been on the road with it since May of last year.

“Wherever we play, the audience just gets so involved in the whole thing. We are enjoying it. We are now currently back in Jamaica performing, and the reception has been just absolutely terrific.”

Mr Hayward is a longtime friend of Lucky Money’s director and producer Pablo Hoilett.

Mr Hayward met Mr Hoilett when he visited Jamaica in 1998, and attended one of his plays, Birthday Suite. He liked it so much he brought it to Bermuda, twice.

He met up with the director again last October when he visited Jamaica to celebrate his nephew’s 65th birthday.

“Of course, if I am in Jamaica, I am going to call on Pablo,” Mr Hayward said. “We hung out for a bit.”

Mr Hoilett told him about his latest production. Mr Hayward was impressed that Mr Samuels was the leading actor in it.

“I was thinking that with the combination of Oliver Samuels as the lead actor, and Pablo Hoilett as the director, you could not go wrong,” Mr Hayward said.

The story centres on two men, Walter Nelson (Tesfa Edwards) who is affluent and educated, and Anton DeSouza (Oliver Samuels), a streetwise, “little man”. Anton provides Walter with lottery numbers, and they promise to split the multimillion-dollar prize in half if they win.

When their numbers are called, Walter tries to swindle Anton. However, Anton has a few tricks up his sleeve.

“Justice prevails in the end,” Mr Hoilett said. “Lucky Money is a clean, fast-paced, slice-of-life comedy.”

He emphasised that there is no profanity in the play. It is family-friendly. It was initially written in the Sixties in Portuguese, for a Brazilian audience. Mr Hoilett brought it to Jamaica and reworked it for a Caribbean audience.

“We had to make it relevant for our culture,” he said. “We had to work it for our audience, so that they did not even realise that the original idea was from another country.”

Other actors in Lucky Money include Karen Harriott who has featured in a number of theatrical and television and film projects in Jamaica, and Tesfa Edwards, who has a popular YouTube series called The Bartender.

When in Jamaica, the play is based at the Little Theatre in Kingston. Mr Hoilett said the theatre scene in Jamaica is quite vibrant, with at least five different productions going on at one time. Lucky Money is one of the most successful ones running.

“We perform for the Caribbean diaspora,” Mr Hoilett said. “We opened in Canada on Mother’s Day weekend, where we did four performances.”

Other stops in the last year have included St Vincent, Antigua, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia and England.

After spending two months in the Untied States, they returned to Jamaica last December. They are now doing a six-week run in Jamaica, which will finish just before coming to Bermuda next week.

They have stage equipment, costumes and props that they travel with, but they also try to acquire things in the countries where they perform.

“We send a list of the things we will need ahead of time,” Mr Hoilett said. “We also send in our technical director early to sort things out.”

Mr Hayward was excited to be bringing the production to Bermuda. He said he has only seen snippets of Lucky Money. He does not want to see it in its entirety until it hits Bermuda.

“There have not been any real challenges bringing this to Bermuda,” he said. “It has just been about doing the necessary things, such as securing work permits, the venue, flights and so forth.”

• Lucky Money will be held at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium at CedarBridge Academy in Devonshire on February 28 and March 1 at 7pm. Regular tickets are $80 and patrons are $125, available at www.bdatix.bm