Call time for a J’Ouvert philosopher

Culture Matters

EPISODE OF Gayelle 1985; extract of closing dialogue between Tony Hall and Errol Sitahal, delivered in exaggerated West African and East Indian accents with much laughter:

Errol – Many Africans here

Tony – Also many Indians in this country

Errol – Also many Portuguese

Tony – Chinese

Errol – A melting pot

Tony – A coming together

Errol – Very good, very good, yes a coming together

Errol (to camera) – Good night

Tony (to camera) – Good night

Tony (to Errol) – You know, let us go and philosophise some more...

Tony Hall would suddenly appear in the middle of a performance of Kambule by Eintou Springer with a posey (or chamber pot) on his head. His appearance would be accompanied by a mischievous grin as he worked the street in the early hours of Carnival Friday, belting out stickfight chants and engaging in the performance. In many ways, it was his right to make sudden appearances.

Hall, John Cupid and Norvan Fullerton were the original creators of the Re-enactment of the Canboulay Riots held on Duke Street in front of All Stars panyard. In fact, Hall was actually able to interview a witness to the 1881 events before she passed; typical of his foresight.

As a child, I knew him as Uncle Tony, one of an extended network of uncles and aunties who impacted my life. In the 80s, I went to work with him and other pioneers at Banyan, literally involved in the production of Gayelle and other ground-breaking works.

To me, it was extremely cool to create television with my rather odd uncles. At the time, I did not realise I was participating in history. At the time, I could not see it for what it was; a movement, a rebellion even.

Growing up in south Trinidad, Hall was inspired by theatre practitioner James Lee Wah. In Canada, he began to realise his purpose – using theatre to unlock responses to the challenges of vulnerable populations. “... I discovered something called popular theatre...based on the popular culture of the particular place.”

His life in Trinidad, punctuated by Beryl McBurnie, calypso, Dimanche Gras and J’Ouvert would open a portal to the theatre technique he eventually created, the J’Ouvert Process. “What I was excited by, and what I was always searching for, was how could I discover and understand the mysteries of the universe by simply looking here, at my own culture, at how I have lived, or the situation I have come out of.”

J’Ouvert was a spiritual experience for him. Going to the early morning ritual as a child deeply impacted him. He describes how, in the midst of the mud, noise and press of human flesh, everything would go still and he would become aware of the puny nature of man in the presence of the universe. As he put it, “The person disappears and what comes forward is the essence of being.”

The Jamette Consciousness perhaps emanated from this realisation. He understood the jamette to be more than a prostitute. He saw their complex levels of existence, with the TT Carnival being a vehicle for this complexity. “In the Carnival, we have created traditional characters. You need to teach something maybe about gender politics; we’ve created the baby doll. The baby doll has a specific theatre, demanding sustenance from renegade fathers for their babies.”

Hall recognised that these characters existed through language, movement and specific attitudes; they allow the actor to analyse culture in relation to the transformation of society.

In the old days, stickfighters would put poseys on their heads to protect from “buss head.” Hall was one of the creators of Gayelle, named for the arena where stickfighters practise their ancient craft. Indeed, the first clip in the Gayelle opening montage was from an actual stickfight. It is therefore no coincidence that Anthony Michael Hall was a cultural warrior, playwright, jouvayist, actor, jamette, teacher, visionary, film-maker, parent and changer-of-lives, amongst other titles.

He would probably deny it, but he was also a philosopher. In 2010 after the global economy crashed, he told Christopher Laird, “...the planet is either going to get rid of us as human beings because we don’t know what we’re doing or we’re going to change.”

With the world currently in crisis, I can almost see him with his mischievous grin and posey on his head, watching to see what we do next. Rest in peace Tony, the universe of theatre will not be the same without you.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist, communications specialist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN