Jherad “Lord Zenn” Alleyne is back on stage for his playwriting debut, Scam-Uh-Life, presented by the National Cultural Foundation.
From Saturday, December 13, to Sunday, December 21, 2025, the comedic stage play will take place on Saturdays and Sundays at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed.
This Barbadian stage play is written and directed by Jherad “Lord Zenn” Alleyne, and features a dynamic cast (in order of appearance): Shakira Forde, Alleyne, Kraigg Carrington, Yolanda Holder, Philip Eno and Janine White.
The synopsis of the play is that the main character, Kenroy, has big dreams to break the cycle of barely getting by – if he can get to his last day of training.
Somewhere between a comedy show and a romantic drama with the fast pace of an action film, this genre-bending production dives into the complexity and humour of staying afloat amid the rising cost of living, unexpected interruptions, and nosy neighbours in Barbados.
This isn’t Alleyne’s first foray into independent production. In 2017, he produced, co-directed, and starred in Good Looking, which was written and co-directed by Annette Alleyne. He and his team sold out seven shows at the Barbados Community College Liberal Arts Theatre, affirming Alleyne’s ability to produce high-quality, culturally resonant theatre.
In addition to his training and performances, Alleyne’s foundation in theatre and performance began at
NIFCA as a 2006-2008 Alfred Pragnell Shield for Acting awardee, and continued with his time as a Laff-It-Off cast member in 2009.
In 2023, Alleyne was accepted into the “Writing for Performance” project by the Royal Court Theatre in London in partnership with Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts; The Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados; and the British Council. This year-long programme worked with emerging writers in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Alleyne used this time to develop and submit Scam-Uh-Life for a staged reading at the Edna Manley College in Kingston. It was met with a positive reception and led to the Royal Court Theatre selecting the play to represent the Caribbean cohort in the New Plays: International Series in January 2024.
In her review of the London performance for The Rendition, Melody Adebisi wrote: “[Alleyne’s script is] riotous, and each character adds a different nuance to the reality of life as an everyday person in Barbados . . . Alleyne’s play tackles debates concerning the morality of capitalism in the global south, masculinity, infidelity, generational differences and mental health in Barbados all whilst remaining sensationally dramatic and comical.”
Alleyne is a Barbadian artiste with a robust background in dramatic arts, comedy, social media content creation, radio broadcasting, live event production, and music. His 16 years of training include a bachelor of arts in acting from Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, United Kingdom, and the Comedy Writing & Performance Programme at Humber College in Toronto, Canada.
Alleyne is known best for his social media content creation under the alias Lord Zenn, where he has captured the pulse of Barbadian and Caribbean culture in dozens of online videos since 2015.
His work has found resonance with an intergenerational Barbadian and broader Caribbean audience in large part due to his ability to adapt his artistry to the times. (PR)
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