The Coup (Matura)

December (Browne)

Dream on Monkey Mountain (Walcott)

The Fallen Angels (Groundwork Collective)

The Harder They Come (Film)

Independence (Matura)

Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (John)

One of Our Sons is Missing (Sealy)

Pantomime (Walcott)

Play Mas (Matura)

Smile Orange (Rhone)

The Tropical Breeze Hotel (Condee)

Two Can Play (Rhone)

Maryse Conde

Female Caribbean Writers

Jamaica

Characters:

Sophie: The matriarch, mother of Esther and wife of Charlie.  She is the disapproving mother concerning Mavis, but protective towards Rosa. 

Ephraim: Also referred to as "Eph" is respectable and well liked.  He has a so so job and is determined to make a better life for himself.  He has had a few personal problems in the past, such as neglecting his grandmother who raised him.  He thinks that the people in the yard don't understand him but he has to do what he's got to do.  When Rosa reveals that she wants him to stay because she is pregnant, he makes a difficult choice. 

Rosa: She is in her early twenties, works for Old Mack and is in love with Eph.  She is naive and innocent in the begining of the play but becomes stronger and more wordly as it progresses.  In the end she is left to fend for herself and her child with the support of the yard.

Esther: She is the hope of the future.  She is young, talented and very intelligent.  She qualifies for a scholarship but cannot afford a uniform.  She is mature for her age and displays "street smarts".

Mavis:  Earns her living by selling sex to Yankee soldiers and sailors.  She has found a way to survive.  The other members of the yard may disaprove but they accept her.  Prince is in love with her and gives her an engagement ring.  She is proud of herself for keeping her head above water.

Prince: Introduced as the young man who is interested in Mavis. He is a flashy dressed character who wears nice shirts and jewelry. He dislikes the soldiers and sailors but will wear their airforce hats and carries American cigarettes.

Charlie: Sophie's husband and Esther's father. He is weak and is an alcoholic who cares about his daughter. Charlie precipitates a crisis in the play when he robs Old Mack's store. He did it to get money for Esther's education.

Dream on Monkey Mountain

Plot summary and analysis

Makak is in jail. Tigre and Souris are with him (Tiger and Mouse). The scene suggests the figure of Christ with the two thieves next to him on the cross (alluded to p.216). He was arrested for being "drunk and he mash up Alicindor’s café" (p. 215). Corporal Lestrade is the official in charge. He always invokes Roman Law ("English, English! For we are observing the principles and precepts of Roman Law, and Roman Law is English law" p. 219.) Therefore, we associate him with the white man’s culture (imperialism, colonialism). He is a mulatto and a "straddler" between black and white culture and identity. It is as if he is a lackey, but he does experience an inner conflict later in the play after he is attacked by Makak in jail. The conflict is over his identification with African culture as opposed to his ingrained, learned beliefs from the colonizers.

Who is Makak? He is a charbonnier, a charcoal maker.  He sells it at the marketplace  This is one of the lowest jobs in society.  His job forces him to strip the natural resources in order to make a living.  Many of the islands in the Caribbean (Haiti, for instance) have felt the effects of the charcoal industry as forests are denuded and the resulting erosion pollutes and kills the fish and other sea life that is vital for existence.  Makak is disabled as is Moustique who says "You black, ugly, poor, so you worse than nothing.  You like me.  Small, ugly, with a foot like an "S."  Man together two of us is minus one." Moustique is his Sancho Panza to Makak's Don Quixote, is he also Judas to Makak’s Christ? His name Makak means monkey in Caribbean patois (also macaque- a new world monkey).

The apparition  described as a " white mist in the mind like a cloth from the dress of a woman, rises from the earth like the breath of the dead on resurrection morning" appears to Makak in a dream (p.227). The figure in the dream is a woman "the loveliest thing I see on the earth, like the moon walking along her own road…like the moon had climbed down the steps of heaven and was standing in front of me."(p. 227) He becomes a warrior "I am god’s warrior ... the old black warrior."(pp. 226 and 228) Walcott mentions Kabuki and Japanese film in his interview with Dennis Scott (Caribbean Reader). The frenzied moment of Makak’s dream reminds us of the "mie" of Kabuki performance. Building to a peak moment in the action and then holding it for emphasis, like a dramatic exclamation point. On page 235, Makak relates the story of the apparition to Moustique in the identical words, but in a narrative conversational form rather than the poetic form of the dream sequence in the jail. He relates that the temptress in the apparition told him that he comes from a family of lions and kings. Moustique is upset because the apparition is white and maybe a diablesse.

What is the conflict or struggle in the play?

The struggle is about identity. Makak is a lowly, downtrodden member of society, he calls himself "ugly as sin" (p. 227) and is called monkey repeatedly by Corporal Lestrade (p. 223). He tells about his dream and the cages are lifted out of sight in the first part of the play. The dream has a liberating power. Without his dream he is just an ugly old man, now he has something he can believe in, even if it is just a dream. Through the dream he experiences an awakening and gets in touch with his ancestral memories, fantasies about being the Lion of Judah, an African King. His social status is low, but he gains recognition as a god-like, shamanistic figure. Makak and Moustique wander off and encounter a sick man in a village. He has been bitten by a snake. Makak magically heals him.  At the end of the first part he has become "empowered" through the dream and his belief in it - a kind of redemption although the first part ends on page 274 with the death of Moustique.

Basil appears, he is a cabinet maker, carpenter, figure of death (assumes Moustique's "charcoal seller" later) a "grim reaper" figure who is involved in the deaths of Moustique and Tigre.

The image of the spider is a bad sign. Moustique hates spiders (p. 238), later there is a foreshadowing when Basil says "we’ll meet again" and Moustique responds "at the sign of the spider." Where Makak sees power, Moustique sees money. But the spider does him in, Corporal Lestrade points out "a man who will bring you deliverance is afraid of a spider?"

Why does Moustique die? He comes down from the mountain impersonating Makak. Basil exposes him (figure of death) and he is beaten by the mob. Moustique "sold out" belief, his faith and loyalty,  for a few pieces of silver. Is this what happens to poor desperate people?

The dream of Makak and the way the dream structure overarches the play is very important.  The play begins with a ritualistic sequence prior to the scene revealing that Makak is in jail.  How much of the play is Makak's dream? There is some ambiguity in when Makak's dream begins. At first it seems that the scene in the jail is real when the Corporal drags him in and interrogates him in front of the other prisoners.   It suggests a kind of dream state in the way it begins. The Prologue and the Epilogue both take place in the jail, but the Dream seems to begin at the point where the Corporal wears the counsel's wig and gown and gives towels to the other prisoners so they can be judges.  The gong, the chorus, the drumroll, miming of "see no evil, hear no evil" all culminate in the dream image of the cage being lifted.  During the Epilogue, the cell bars descend and the Corporal asks Makak his name.  He answers "Felix Hobain."

What is the significance of the mask? When the Corporal empties Makak's bag he finds a half-empty bottle of rum and a white mask with long black sisal hair.  On page 239 Moustique finds the mask under a bench and on page 231 we see Makak after the jail cages are flown out with the mask lying next to him.  The mask is used in rituals, ceremonies and performance, such as in Carnival or in the African rituals that were lost, but there is still the need to get in touch with the African heritage and the spiritual values that are embedded in the ceremonies.  The mask is a means of "becoming" something else, a way to connect the visible with the invisible, intangible, mystical presence that has disappeared in the mudslide of colonial culture, a kind of brainwashing that says abandon your beliefs and follow marble law (Roman Law ~ English Law).  The Corporal holds up the mask says in the Epilogue "Now what is this? Everybody round here have one.  Why you must keep it, cut it, talk to it."   For Makak, the mask is not just a Carnival accessory.  As a matter of fact, at one point masks were forbidden in Carnival.  But this mask is not a costume, it is a core element in Makak's ritualistic dream. 

The Ending.  Despite the vision of his dream, Makak's life stays the same.   He goes off with Moustique and the donkey, Moustique says "let me take him where he belong. He belong right here." In the end, Makak gets his name back (Felix Hobain), but there is no true freedom.   The Garden of Eden still has original sin, the Corporal's last lines say "our life is a prison."  Makak's spiritual self "lives where he has always lived, in the dream of his people."

1.     In “Man of the Theatre” Derek Walcott says he was influenced by Kabuki and Noh theatre.  List elements in Dream and and describe their similarities to Japanese dramatic forms?  How could the staging of the play reflect this idea?

2.     There are many problems associated with building a cohesive, independent self-confident nation after a history of exploitation, inequality and dependence.   How does Corporal Lestrade react to the responsibility of reshaping the “post-colonial” society?

3.     The tension between dream and reality becomes a vehicle that forces the ritualistic resolution.  Describe the structure of Dream on Monkey Mountain in terms of the dream itself.  Which parts of the play are Makak’s dream and when is he not dreaming?  What is the reality that he faces? What is the significance of the dream?

4.     How does Walcott’s emphasis on preserving customs derived from recollection of ancestral African heritage in Dream on Monkey Mountain serve to manifest community ethos (values and structures)?  Be sure to describe the features and characteristics of this value system.

5.     In Scars of Conquest / Masks of Resistance Tejumola Olaniyan mentions three disparate discourses: Eurocentric (hegemonic, colonialist); Afrocentric (counter hegemonic, anticolonialist) and emerging post-Afrocentric.  The dominant Eurocentric discourse on black drama tended towards “inferiorization.”  On the other hand, the early Afrocentric discourse valorized folk culture and condemned the pretentious standardized culture.  Like Corporal Lestrade,  post-Afrocentric discourses may “straddle” both realms. We might consider how the plays establish cultural identities through the interaction of European and African discourses.  Using examples from the plays, write an essay that answers the following questions: 

            a.      What is the difference between the post-Afrocentric discourse and its predecessors?

b.     Do you think that you can make a case for the idea that West Indian drama contributes towards the formation of a post-Afrocentric model?

c.      What textual and performative evidence would you use to support your argument?

Introduction to Theatre

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to develop a basic understanding of theatre as an art. As the student progresses through the readings, a main objective is to consider the essential aspects of theatre for the performer, director, designer, critic or audience member. We will also become familiar with factors in the evolution of the culturally diverse theatre of today. The student will learn about the idea of theatre through the plays, essays and readings in the textbooks along with meaningful class discussion and individual presentations. The course is organized into four parts, each one consisting of six to eight class periods. Part One provides the student with a basic understanding of what to expect when you go to the theatre from the perspective of an audience member. In Part Two the student will consider theatre spaces and theatre artists - the playwright, actor, director and designer. Part Three focuses on the origin and nature of theatre with an emphasis on the history and culture of world theatre. In Part Four the student will consider contemporary theatre and the theatre of the future.

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