Visual Arts 03: Theatre Arts

Table of Contents

1.  History of theatre in the Caribbean
2.  Caribbean theatre performances and performers
3.  Impact of extra-regional countries on Caribbean theatre arts

Visual Arts refers to art forms and works produced by drawing, painting, sculpting, design & crafts, photography, video, literature and theatre. These are classed as performing, conceptual, or textile arts.

Visual Arts navigation: 00 Extra-regional Impact| 01 Drawing & Painting| 02 Pottery & Sculpting| 03 Theatre 

History of theatre in the Caribbean

To understand how theatre in the Caribbean has developed over the centuries, as well as the form of theater that is now evolving in the region, it is important to understand the history of the Caribbean. The experience of colonization and the type of slavery that existed there have left an ineradicable mark on the creative impulses of Caribbean people. Theater in the Caribbean, therefore, must be seen as having various stages of development. These stages are defined by historical periods, beginning with the meeting of African and European cultures, then the period after Emancipation, followed by a more classical form of theater, and finally a period of ritualistic and popular expression. In the early theatrical presentations, slaves took the opportunity to ridicule their oppressors, and to console themselves. They also sought relief in entertainment through drumming and dancing. This entertainment took place on days when they were free from work, such as Sundays, Christmas, and Easter, as well as on certain work-related holidays, such as the end of the sugarcane harvest. This occurred during the colonial era where people would often take to the streets during festivals and celebrations. In the independence era freedom and voting rights gave the masses the opportunity to question what they had to consider as theater and the opportunity to create a form of theater that expressed their own aspirations. This would require that they ignore the theatrical fare given to them by the plantocracy. The independence era brought the themes of decolonization, liberation, and nationhood and also saw the incorporation of a wide variety of Caribbean cultural forms. The relationship with extra-regional countries was also a common theme in productions of indigenous theatre. Theatre arts were not only a form of entertainment but also a serious attempt to confront Caribbean people with the issues and problems to confront Caribbean people and their issues and problems of their society and culture.  Theatre arts in the Caribbean have grown into a creative adaptation of western styles and genres. 

Caribbean theatre performers and performances

Examples of Caribbean theatre plays & skits

The first National Hero of Jamaica, Marcus Garvey, was the first promoter of black pride in black culture, and between 1930 and 1932 he produced four plays with large casts. Unfortunately, these plays have been lost to posterity. In 1941, Greta and Henry Fowler founded the Little Theatre Movement and introduced the Pantomime, based on the traditional English Pantomime. The Jamaica National Pantomime remains faithful to the structure of the traditional English Pantomime, presenting the same type of traditional characters and a pervading theme of good overcoming evil. Louise Bennett, the grande dame of Jamaican theater, was the leading Pantomime figure for many years. She played alongside Ranny Williams, and these two actors remain unforgettable icons of the Jamaica Pantomime. 

Examples of famous Caribbean directors, writers and actors/actresses

Earl Lovelace

Earl Lovelace is an award-winning Trinidadian novelist, journalist, playwright, and short story writer

Born: July 13, 1935 (age 81), Toco, Trinidad and Tobago

Education: Johns Hopkins University (1974), Howard University

Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, Latin America & Caribbean

Derek Walcott

Sir Derek Alton Walcott is a Saint Lucia poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was Professor of Poetry at the University of Essex from 2010 to 2013.

Born: January 23, 1930 (age 86), Castries, Saint Lucia

Plays: Dream on Monkey Mountain, The Capeman

Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature, T. S. Eliot Prize

Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua, which is part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

Born: May 25, 1949 (age 67), St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda

Spouse: Allen Shawn (m. 1979–2002)

Parents: Roderick Potter, Annie Richardson

Movies: Life and Debt

Awards: American Book Awards, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

Esther Anderson

Esther Anderson is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer and actress, sometimes listed in credits as Ester Anderson.

Born: August 4, 1946 (age 70), Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica

Awards: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

V.S. Naipaul

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, TC, is a Trinidadian Nobel Prize-winning British writer of Indian origin known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad and Tobago, his bleaker later novels of the wider world, and his autobiographical chronicles of life and travels.

Born: August 17, 1932 (age 84), Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago

Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature, Man Booker Prize, Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society

Movies: The Mystic Masseur

Rex Nettleford

Choreographer

Ralston Milton "Rex" Nettleford, OM, FIJ, OCC, was a Jamaican scholar, social critic, choreographer, and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies, the leading research university in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Wikipedia

Born: February 3, 1933, Falmouth, Jamaica

Died: February 2, 2010, Washington, D.C., United States

Education: University of the West Indies

Impact of extra-regional countries on Caribbean theatre arts

The diverse ways Caribbean people express themselves in festivals, music, theatre arts, etc; reflect their own creations as well as influences from abroad.  US penetration of the region means that its influence is expanding through the contact of particularly the youth to its music fashions and festivals. Theatre arts include drama, dance and stagecraft, as well as, traditional dances, folk singing and storytelling.  In colonial times Caribbean theatre arts were relegated to the village communities while the ‘high culture of the British was given pre-eminence.  The development of theatre arts since independence reflects the influence of extra-regional countries in respect of:

• Divisions as to the appropriate language i.e. patios/dialect versus Standard English, to convey the arts
• Many of the themes in presentations mirrored the relationship of the Caribbean to extra regional countries – issues of identity, race, colour and class, etc.
• The migration of many artistes to receive greater appreciation and rewards for their talents, e.g. V.S.Niapaul, Dereck Walcott, Jamaica Kincaid.

Language was a major issue in the conveying of the arts. This was because many people felt that the native patois and dialects were too difficult for other people who were not familiar with the language to comprehend and that this would cause the art form to not develop. Others felt that to be truly expressive and genuine of Caribbean life, Standard English would need to be neglected and the native languages be used to convey the art form.

The relationships with extra-regional countries were a common theme used in the productions of indigenous theatre. These themes were unavoidable as during an era of decolonization and conflicts and tensions over issues of identity, discrimination based on race, colour and class along with interrelationships being formed between diverse groups. Writers such as Rex Nettleford and Derek Walcott along with many others wrote to show the concern of Caribbean people on a pursuit for identity. They used different ways to convey how the white man`s world of colonialism could prove comfortable for a people who have only small portions of their own past and culture on which there suppose to build a new identity. 

Awards such as the Nobel Prize and American book awards heightened the interests of many Caribbean writers. These awards are seen as very prestigious and come with a great deal of appreciation. Many of the Caribbean writers migrated from their homes to explore these extra regional countries to seek opportunity to attain such awards and greater appreciation. This influenced the development of the arts as many of the famous writers who experienced the eras of colonization and colonialism were not there to past the knowledge down to a younger generation and thus many of the stories were lost to time.

Section by Schiavo Liburd