-WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
A scene from Basil Dawkins' play Feminine Justice, directed by Buddy Pouyatt.
Hartley Neita, Contributor
ARTISTS, WHETHER they are poets, authors or playwrights; and the image-builders - the advertising agents with their directors, photographers, musicians and singers - and the painters, actors and actresses, all play a dominant role in shaping our lives and the life of our society.
Governments over the years have recognised it and have created institutions and countless committees to promote their work, but with each political change the old is usually scrapped and it has been 'in with the new', if it is even merely changing names and faces.
DAWKINS' PORTRAYAL OF VIOLENCE
Basil Dawkins is one of our artists. A playwright, he has written and produced 20 successful plays during the past 20 years. His next play is Hot Spot, which is in production under the eyes of director, Buddy Pouyatt. The actors and actresses who have appeared in his plays include Dorothy Cunningham, Terri Salmon, Karen Harriott, Grace McGhie, Fae Ellington, Barbara McCalla, Angela Jarrett, Volier Johnson, Charles Hyatt, Munair Zacca, Ruth HoShing and Leonie Forbes. And the directors have been Pouyatt, Lloyd Reckord, Bobby Ghisays, Keith Noel and Jeff Anderson Gunter.
When asked how he persuaded the best of the best in these two areas of stage work, he chuckles, "People who own a Mercedes Benz will tell you that it does not make sense running it on kerosene oil; and you give it to an engineer to service and repair not a sidewalk mechanic!"
These plays have looked at issues confronting the society, mixed with a little humour to soften the impact of his messages and forcing audiences to face the realities of life. Three of these plays, No Dirty Money, Feminine Justice, What the Hell Is Happening to Us Dear?, and to a lesser extent, Champagne and Sky Juice, have examined the various aspects of violence which have plagued our society in recent years.
Dawkins says he does not shy away from having to deal with violence, as harsh and as frightening as it is portrayed in his plays. Audiences see in these plays facts they know of in their own or their families', or friends' lives and believe he has researched the problem.
"No," he says. "It is from absorbing information and listening keenly, especially to people who do not know they are being listened to. I hear things and put them together. Part of the job of a writer is being a keen observer of what is happening in the society, and partly too, it is due to my background in political science."
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
Dawkins does not separate mass violence from individual acts of rape and murder of women and children. He believes that violence of whatever sort is conceived in the same king-size bed.
"It seems to me that we have been evolving with our violence. It should have been nipped in the bud, but it was not. There now seems to be a nexus, a connection between political leadership which is inextricably linked with the perception of violence associated with elections, contracts, where you live, and the maintenance of authority. So you find that the society has become fractious and people look for more and more extreme ways of manifesting their hurt and pain and their concept of being 'dissed'.
"There is a concept in Jamaica if one is 'dissed', that in order to retaliate you have to find a way to return the 'dis'. Blocking the road is a form of 'dis' - 'dissing' the police, the MP, the councillor or a minister. And this leads to fire and mayhem. It is anti-social and anti-authority, but the belief is that the only thing the authorities seem to respond to is a violent manifestation, so that if you go somewhere and the customer service is poor, to correct it is to deal with it violently.
"We have also reached the stage," he continues, "where you not only glorify 'badness' but reward it. We do so in a number of ways. The baddest man gets away. The small thief will go to prison and the big one goes free because he has enough connections. So there is a perception that the legal system only deals with the poor."
HISTORY AND VIOLENCE
The playwright paints a broad picture of the role that history and society have played in creating the violence we are seeing and reading of every day. "Those who should have been setting roles for the society have abandoned that responsibility in pursuit of the almighty dollar. And this is right across the social sphere. If an underground person who is perceived to be a don can generate massive sales, I am not surprised that the private sector businessman will decide to work with him, irrespective of what other subliminal messages he is sending out. We just seem to have abandoned morals and principles of correctness."
TOO MUCH UNEMPLOYMENT
He also accuses politicians for contributing to the breakdown of social order. "They mobilise their followers to hang out of bus windows in political motorcades, and when they are elected and wearing suits, they try to put back order and discipline. That does not work. Those same people you used and smiled with to create excitement are going to turn to the other side. And the cycle continues turning."
The reality too, he acknowledges, is that there are too many healthy adults who are not working. This, he says, is not viable socially, culturally or economically. When factories close because of globalisation, the workers go home, but they still have to wake up every day. They have to eat, "and if there is no legal way to get food they will find illegal ways of getting it. I am not making excuses, but I understand it. For if you are hungry, you are fodder and you will be easily manipulated."
Dawkins feels that the ability of the society to stop things and show in an organised way that it will not be tolerated does not seem to exist anymore.
"So you rape big women and get away with it. Now it is children and nobody is stopping you. And we have the situation where the rapist might be arrested, but people in the community condemn the victim because the rapist is a singer.
"It is also sad to note that the women are out front in demonstrations. They are either placed there strategically, or they are there by choice, and this is just another example of the breakdown in culture. So there is now the total lack of respect for women, including even female teachers and nurses."
Dawkins recalls that when he came to Kingston some 30-odd years ago, women were untouchables. At that time, criminals protected women and children, and if a man assaulted a woman and was sent to prison, the prisoners in jail with him would beat him.
ART AND VIOLENCE
Is there a role for the artistic community to change what is taking place?
"Sure," he says. "The artistic community are the value-makers of the society. They determine style, the way people walk, the way they talk, the way they dress and the way they dance. They send out value messages and these messages are constantly changing and adapting to new influences. You cannot legislate it, or organise it. But the leaders, those with the responsibility for overall development, must influence it and try to mobilise people to buy into a national vision.
The artist, he says, will always reflect reality in a mirror and push it in your face although you may not want to look at it. And he will always show you the hope and the future. The synergy between showing the reality and showing where you can get to in a positive way, is where the artist can take us.
Dawkins feels we need to work towards a modicum of consensus in certain things. We cannot continue with some persons going right all the time and the others marching left all the time. "If a company was run the way the Jamaican political system is run, it would be bankrupt. Our political leaders must step back and realise that just as in a company, you are going to have areas where the directors disagree in principle and approach. In the end they come together and work towards the same goals. So, too, with a country."
Basil Dawkins frightens us when he shows captive audiences in the theatre, bedroom scenes of men beating women. And maybe, the next time we hear a woman screaming for help next door, we will remember what we saw on stage and do something to stop this abuse and violence. What he says to us in his plays is that if we could just see every child or man or woman "as part of me, an extension of myself", the rivers of blood may not flow in such abundance.
