Concern over theatre in Cayman, Drama Society and High School
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from January 1988.
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It seems that Mr. Osborne was not around several years ago when the chairman of the then government cultural committee suggested that the drama society refrain from building their own home and join with the government and other interested groups and build a theatre for all the people of the Cayman Islands. Had this suggestion been followed not only would the Drama Society not have wasted approximately $60,000. but they would also now have had their home. It is not suprising, colonialists always follow policies of imposition, exploitation and selfishness!
Futhermore we take exception at the inference that it is only now that there is raw talent being displayed at the high school. We have been actively involved in the development of the Caymaniantheatre for over ten years. Since our departure from the high school, we have witnessed a decline in committed Caymanians participating in the cultural development of these islands. When we were at school students were encouraged to base exain work on the activities of the then Inn Theatre Company, and many followed active secondment programmes with the company.
This is no longer seen as a priority. Furthermore we have seen a drastic change in the production policy of the high school drama department. Their recent production of a Midsummer's Night Dream would have been a credit to an English high school. Unfortunately we are not an English high school and if Shakespeare is to form a major element in the production philosophy of the Cayman Island's High School then it should be approached in a way that does not discriminate against local artists. We were pleased to hear that the society was proposing to produce their production of Fiddler on the Roof. Several years ago we both performed in a high school production of this musical and the cast was ninety per cent Caymanian. We hope that the Drama Society has been able to build on this support, and look forward to seeing many Caymanians in the cast.
If the Drama Society is sincere in its desire to train young Caymanians we trust that they will take note of our comments.
Esther McLean and Merta Day. Committed Caymanian theatre activists.
