Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Jean Small - photo by Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

Recently, members of the University Dramatic Arts Society got a dramatic visit from three persons who were heavily involved in theatre at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus in much earlier eras.

Amina Blackwood-Meeks, Keith Noel and Jean Small related their experiences to the current crop of budding thespians in the round at the Philip Sherlock Centre, for the Creative Arts, giving not only a sense of history from a time when there was no Philip Sherlock Centre, but also some advice.

And as a major part of that advice, they all stressed teamwork. All three also addressed Dennis Scott's Echo in the Bone, Blackwood-Meeks and Noel from the perspective of the initial staging, and Small as director of the revived version.

Blackwood-Meeks said that when she came to UWI, she did not know she was an actress, as "it was just something I did". She won two 'Best Actress' and one 'Outstanding Actress' award for Irvine Hall in the annual 'Tallawah' competition.

"We learnt it by happenstance," Blackwood-Meeks said of theatre on the campus then. "And we are still learning it through retrospect, looking at the Philip Sherlock Centre and what it has done for us."

She emphasised teamwork, saying, "There is no such thing as a one-person show", this coming from a woman who often presents stories alone. She pointed out that there is a whole unseen team behind solo presentations.

Blackwood-Meeks mentioned Carol Dawes and Jim Nelson as two of the many influential persons then.

Good at props

Noel said that when he was in school, he did not think of himself as an actor, as he was good at props and pulling curtains. But then he got a "couple parts and the acting bug bit me".

"I came to UWI and one day Homer Heron said to me, 'you are the man. You have the right look'," Noel said. The part he had 'the right look' for was in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl and he went on to do MacBeth. The Ruins were used, as the Philip Sherlock Centre had not yet been built.

"One of the things we learnt very early in our lives as theatre people is the importance of teamwork," Noel said.

He said that when Carol Dawes directed Echo in the Bone, it was a "perfect choice of director, as she was going through an experimental phase". As such, she said all the cloth on the stage was wrong and removed it to present a spare setting.

"It was an exciting experience. Every now and then Dennis Scott would come in and make a comment," Noel said. It would be somewhat cryptic at the time it was made, but then, a few days later, it would sink in and the meaning would become clear.

Noel remembered Noel Vaz and Cecil Gray's input in drama on the campus.

"My story is going to be very different," Small said. And it was, as she said, "I always did theatre as a teenager in Guyana, so when I came to the university in 1954, I naturally got involved in drama early on the campus here.

"I was very active as an actress and co-director. I also did make-up."

She said it was at a time when Errol Hill, Slade Hopkinson, Derrick Walcott and Marcia Ascott were on the campus and plays were staged in what is now the Old Dramatic Theatre, as the centre had not yet been built. Among her roles was one in Antigone, which led to her getting that nickname for many years.

It was a time when the campus was very safe and populated mostly by more mature persons who were accessing higher education. Also, the campus had firm links with persons off campus, so she met trumpeter Sony Bradshaw through the Jazz Club and, as a table tennis champion, was trained by someone from the YMCA.

Brute

Small spoke of going back to Guyana and living in Africa and Australia after graduating, then teaching at Immaculate Conception High for 20 years before again going back to Guyana.

As for being directed, Small remembered Walcott telling her "open your blasted mouth" and Dennis Scott saying "Jean, you are not giving your fellow actors anything". Going home that evening she pledged to "bring him to his knees", and duly did so, his written comment after her performance being "wow!".

"I said 'brute'," Small said to laughter.

She pointed out the limitations in restaging Echo in the Bone, not only in terms of time and personnel (there was one month to do it with inexperienced people) but also physical resources. In the end "we had a production. It was not great. It can't be compared to Carol Dawes'".

Interaction with the students followed, as there was an extensive question-and-answer session.