Both the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) and the National Gallery (NG) clearly delight in presenting new artistic talent to the public. Recently, the two organisations, separately, turned the spotlight on creative writer, Rohan Facey...
After a three-weekend run in the tiny Blue Room in the Phoenix Theatre complex on Haining Road, the intriguing, energetic gospel drama, Behind the Pulpit, is to be shown to larger audiences than can hold in the 80-seat theatre. Discussions are also...
Shakespeare’s much-quoted admonition “To thine own self be true” was a dominant theme of stage and television actress Michael Hyatt’s talk at the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) recently. While addressing the advertised topic, “Actualizing an...
On a recent, culture-packed day at the National Gallery of Jamaica, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange announced plans to further enhance the institution’s cultural potency. The gallery should have “a thrilling...
After receiving high merits and distinctions in all of the graded Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) piano exams, two talented Jamaican teenage pianists are booked to fly off to the USA shortly for further studies. Sixteen-year-...
The first couple of scenes of the roots play Money Moves (written and directed by Garfield Reid), now on at 6 Cargill Avenue, very efficiently reveal what the rest of the play will be like. The mood will be amorous and the tone comical and there...
For its ‘last Sunday’ event in June, the National Gallery treated its audience to a performance by one of the most influential personalities in Jamaican popular music, Winston ‘Sparrow’ Martin. Leading a quartet called the Skasonics, Martin...
When the Edna Manley College’s School of Drama graduate, Lemar Archer, started teaching, he sensed deep distress among many of his students. In the theatre arts and drama classes he taught at Edith Dalton James High School in St Andrew, he...
The academic year drawing to a close at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA) of the UWI, Mona campus has been an eventful one for acting head Michael Holgate. Opened in 1968, the centre technically marked its 50th year in 2018,...
“Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” is a statement often misattributed to Shakespeare, but it is an early line from a play by another English poet and playwright – William Congreve. He lived in Jamaica for some years. Also a politician...
There was a definite focus on youth at this year’s Talking Trees Literary Fiesta in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth. Dr Christine Marrett, conceptualiser of the event and owner of Two Seasons Guest House, where it was held, told me that her intention...
In just six hours, a surprisingly varied performance package was offered at the Talking Trees Literary Fiesta in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, last Saturday. It was the sixth fiesta, presented by the Two Seasons Guest House in collaboration with...
S eville and di Bone Tribunal, a musical now playing at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Performing Arts (PSCPA), is the third in a series of writer-director Michael Holgate’s Caribbean Mythery plays. His earlier ones were Riot Act and Garvey The...
In an imaginative production currently running at the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), the ancient art of storytelling is being used as a vehicle for both education and entertainment. Audiences in the institute’s auditorium today and next Wednesday will...
After seeing the beautiful artwork and the excellent singing, dancing and acting from the girls of the Convent of Mercy Academy (popularly called ‘Alpha’) on Saturday afternoon, patrons of the school’s Evening of the Arts would surely have...
“It’s been 10 years since we began,” said Greg Simms, founder and principal director of the Jamaica Youth Chorale, as he acknowledged the audience’s enthusiastic cheers and applause for the group at the University Chapel, Mona, on Sunday. “We must...
The three-character comedy Face the Truth is written and produced by Angela Jarrett, who also acts in the production. Now playing at the Pantry Theatre in New Kingston, the story surrounds a mother, Dorothy Morton (played by Rosemary Murray), who...
The Jamaica Musical Theatre Company (JMTC) mounted their Easter concert last Sunday – a whole two weeks early. Perhaps not unrelated to the premature staging, there were challenges, but as the famous show biz saying goes, “The show must go on.”...
The current exhibition mounted at the National Gallery is proof of the continued international growth of Jamaica’s fame and, specifically, the popularity of our music. Figures tell the story. displayed in the exhibition, which comprises entries in...
There seems to have been a communication failure among the three performing arts schools at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, with all three having overlapping productions last weekend. And the Buju Banton concert just down...
“The world is changing, and what students want out of a university education is changing as well,” said Dr Rachel Moseley-Wood, head of the Department of Literatures in English. She was speaking of the non-traditional courses and programmes her...
Because March has been designated Literatures in English Month at the University of the West Indies, Mona, numerous activities have been taking place. One was a book launch by performance poet Richard ‘Dingo’ Dingwall on Sunday in the Neville hall...
Two of the events that I attended during February – Reggae Month – offered, like the month (as a whole), both entertainment and occasions for introspection. The more thought-provoking event was the Jamaica Music Museum’s Grounation two-part panel...
Television Jamaica (TVJ) is not only offering greater support for locally produced television fare, but looking to overseas markets for same. In the words of the station’s general manager, it is “preparing a foundation for the popular global...
Season two of the teen drama Real Friends premieres on Television Jamaica (TVJ) tomorrow night, highlighting the company’s support of local drama. A move that will benefit practitioners of the art, and the a host of drama lovers. In email...
