Some Carnival Messiah cast members, myself included, read at the launch of Anne Fridal's book of poetry at the Trinidad & Tobago High Commission in London on October 2nd. The Trinidad Guardian had a write-up of it and some photos, and my friend Danielle posted a video of me reading on her blog! Click here …
Category: theatre and performance
On Masters and PhDs
So I'm three years out of my undergrad and I keep getting asked if I have done or will soon be doing my Masters or PhD. One of my beloved aunties, who's like my grandmother, even went so far as to say she wanted to see me get my PhD before she died. She's 90. …
Ella Andall’s Earth Music | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2007 It’s Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day in Trinidad, but instead of taking a day off, Ella Andall is doing what she always does—singing. It’s a 90-minute drive from her home in Arima to the southern town of Rio Claro, where Andall is slated to sing. She’s …
Songs of freedom | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2007 This September, Geraldine Connor’s epic musical Carnival Messiah will be presented in a rather unusual setting. The mammoth production will be staged under a 1,000-seat big top on the lawn of the sprawling Harewood House, home of the Queen’s cousin the Earl of Harewood, and an estate …
Cherrie blossoms | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2007 If you’ve been to Trinidad, you might have shared a taxi with Michael Cherrie, or passed him on the streets of Port of Spain or Trincity en route to a class, a rehearsal, a show, or a shoot. You might not have known that this …
"We Must Not Discommode the Patrons"
I sat on my bleacher at Viey La Cou yesterday with a joy and relief and excitement to be near some of the roots of Trinidad Carnival, but an intense ambivalence about where Trinidad Carnival and its global offspring are today. It's not a unique ambivalence. A lot of people are concerned, or horrified, or …
Ready for action | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine, in 2007 There’s a small arts revolution taking place in Trinidad and Tobago, with roots in the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (CCFA) at the University of the West Indies, and branches reaching as far as Europe, Africa, and North America. Officially launched in 1994, Arts-in-Action (AiA) …
“Prestige School” Ponderings
I have a kind of psychic claustrophobia. A fear of anything that confines me to a prescribed amount of space in the world. Labels, check-boxes, baggage, stuff like that. I'm so averse to it I wrote a one-woman play (soap box) about it called, appropriately, Pack Light. Trinidad is so small that no matter what school you went to, …
Caroline Taylor 