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Chapter 8 - Caribbean Drama and Performance

from Part I - Literary and Generic Transitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2020

By
Justine McConnell
Edited by
Ronald Cummings  and
Alison Donnell
Ronald Cummings
Affiliation:
Brock University, Ontario
Alison Donnell
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

This essay examines significant trends in Caribbean drama and performance since 1970. From Errol Hill’s vision of a Caribbean national theatre rooted in the traditions of carnival, to Derek Walcott’s engagement with the conditions of colonialism, syncretism is key. Folk and popular culture have assumed a prominent place within Caribbean theatre as part of the process of artistic decolonization. The essay examines plays by Patrick Chamoiseau and Patricia Cumper, which engage in ‘canonical counter-discourse’, before turning to works which explore Afrocentrism and an independent Caribbean identity (seen in the dramas of Hill and Walcott). Performances committed to the consideration of domestic political contexts, foregrounding issues of gender and class, are explored in the work of the Sistren Theatre Collective and Grupo Teatro Escambray, while their legacies are seen in the queer theatre work of Caribbean diaspora artists such as d’bi.young anitafrika and Staceyann Chin.

Keywords

d’bi.young anitafrikacarnivalPatrick ChamoiseauStaceyann ChinPatricia CumperErrol HillTrevor RhoneSimone Schwarz-BartSyncretismDerek Walcott
Type
Chapter
Information
Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 , pp. 132 - 147
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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