Derek Walcott and West Indian Drama by Bruce King (review)

Book Reviews BRUCE KING. Derek Walcott and West Indian Drama. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1995. pp. 410, illustrated. $67.50. When I asked Derek Walcott years ago what aspect of his work he would like to have rece.ive more critical attention, he immediately replied, "the plays." Since then others and I have written a number of reviews and occasional articles on his drama. Now Bruce King has woven together a narrative that brings to light the mutual acts of endurance and will-power that have brought international fame to this Nobel Prize-winning poet and his Trinidad Theatre Workshop. King is widely and thoroughly read in stagecraft and he has invested painstaking scholarship not only in examining obscure archives but in obtaining the first-hand reflections of key principals involved in the creation of an authentic regional form of drama. The otherwise mundane information regarding times, venues, casts, finances, and the details of maintenance for a company that has·struggled to survive for over thirty-five years (beginning in 1959) acquires interest because it is the record of perseverance against staggering odds. In the West Indies as for all parts of the Third World, the decades since the '940Shave been tumultuous, exciting times. As King notes, ethnomusicology has forged ahead of literary and other fields of cultural study so thatliule data is available on colonial and poslcoloniaitheatrical activity. In light of the immediate relationship between public performance and communal audiences, that is an unfortunate fact. King traces the dual history of Walcott and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop from the Arts Guild in S1. Lucia in the late 1940S through various permutations in Jamaica and Trinidad until the company finally gained a modicum ofofficial recognition in 1992. Public performance requires strong egos and when talented individuals are forced to pool their resources over an extended period of time, there are inevitable personal and artistic clashes. King does not avoid the divisive issues that boiled to the surface and often threatened the very existence of the Workshop, but he is commendably evenhanded in accounting for the factional strife within the company. The Workshop was inspired and maintained by Walcott, but the playwright, in tum, was nurtured by and dependent upon the suppon of his faithful actors and technicians. While his evolving cast of talented amateurs had to juggle day jobs and families against the demands of rehearsals, study, performances, and tours, Walcott had a hand in nearly every facet of stage management: writing plays; casting parts; hiring and training technicians, musicians, dancers and singers; advertising; raising money; meeting payrolls; designing costumes and sets; arranging calendars; renting halls and equipment ; and booking foreign tours. At the same time he steadily published poetry, wrote articles for the Trinidad Guardian, offered workshops, taught classes, and lived on grants, royalties and his wife's salary. One of the constant" themes throughout Walcou 's career is the need for official recognition and a decent hall for performances. As King notes, Walcott's ambitions for himself and his Workshop raised his troupe to international fame and simultaneously drove a wedge between him and his supporters. He demanded performance standards equal to the expectations of critics and audiences Book Reviews 24[ in London"and New York. While members of his multi-ethnic troupe met the challenge and perfected their skills, they had to resist the demands of national ists for folk and racial alignments. Although Walcott had always sought a unique blend of foreign and local influences, tensions only increased as the Workshop's reputation spread. As in any stormy love affair, it is often beneficial for all parties involved (0 explore separate paths. By 1976, it was necessary for Walcott to pursue his own career and for key members of ~e Workshop to carry on without his direct involvement. I;>espite sincere effort on both sides, reconciliation did not occur until the early 19905. The SlOry of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop involves a list of prominent influences in modem theatrical history that extends well beyond West Indian boundaries: Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Joseph Papp, Galt MacDermot, Akira Kurosawa, the Royal Shakespeare Company, to mention only a few. Nevertheless, this small band of thoroughly committed artists remained true to...