From
SWEET TALK
by Michael Abbensetts
Sweet Talk by Michael Abbensetts was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in London on 31 July 1973, directed by Stephen Frears, with the following cast; Allister Bain (Tony), Mona Hammond (Rita), Don Warrington (Dennis), Sally Watts (Sandra), Joan-Ann Maynard (Yvonne) and Lee Davis (Oscar).
Michael is renowned for giving a voice to Caribbeans by writing about the Black Caribbean experience and Sweet Talk is no exception. The play is set in a small bedsit occupied by a married couple, Tony and Rita, and their five-year-old child Binkie. Their cramped living conditions are a constant annoyance to lead character Tony, who dreams of living in a bigger centrally heated house. When his wife is hospitalised after having complications with her pregnancy, Tony’s gambling addiction gets out of control. Things go from bad to worse when his wife returns home to discover that Tony has gambled all her life savings.
About the Playwright
Michael Abbensetts was born in Guyana, and came to England in the 1960s. Michael set out to be an author, first writing short stories, but after watching Look Back in Anger, he decided to pursue playwriting. Abbensetts began his playwriting career with his first play, Sweet Talk. He won the George Devine Award for Sweet Talk in 1973. Sweet Talk is his most performed play – in London and internationally. Abbensetts’ other plays includes; Alterations, In the Mood and El Dorado.
Summary (Extract)
Exasperated by their poor living conditions, lead character TONY, a 26 year old West-Indian man, talks to his wife Rita about his plans to achieve a better standard of living.
TONY
TONY is a very raffish looking young man. He is wearing a dark suit and an overcoat but no tie. He has been in England longer than his wife has so has less of a West Indian accent than she has.
(A cry.) It’s not a dream, Loopy Loo...! (Pause.) As an accountant I could make fifteen, maybe twenty thousan’ a year. Twenty thousan’, Loopy Loo! Wit’ that kind of money we could buy a little house, ‘invest in a property’. A place where we could have room to invite frien’s. Not like this – storeroom. (Pause.) You couldn’t even invite the Thin Man here. Even if he went on a diet. (Pause.) Girl, we could really start to live, if only we had our own place. No more goin’ out in a cold, cold passage jus’ to do toilet. We’ll have a toilet nex’ to the bedroom. A centrally heated toilet! Gorgeous! The whole place could be centrally heated. Ow, Loops...! Happiness is a house with central heatin’ – from top to bottom! (Pause.) Think of it, once we could afford it, we need never freeze in Englan’ again. This country would be a different place all-together! Imagine it – imagine bein’ so warm you gotta turn down the heat. BEAU-TI-FUL! (Pause.) Twenty thousan’. It’s not like wantin’ a million. There are guys who pay that much in TAX! (Pause.) Some women spend more than that on a neck-liss. One neck-liss. Then they leave it lying aroun’ so any and everybody could steal it! (Pause. Bitter laugh.) You gotta laugh. The whole pattern is so unfair, it’s almost funny. Man. (Pause.) Ole God, eh, Sweet Pea. He really got it in fo’ black people. No doubt about it. He rather see all of us freezin’ in a room in Shepherd’s Bush – wrap up in a overcoat like a cocoon – than see us wrap up in central heatin’, warm as a butterfly. (Pause.) No lie, Rita. There just gotta be a God. (Another private laugh.) I mean the black man been put down fo’ so long – that can’t be jus’ coincidence. (His jaundiced laughter trails away. Pause.) They even talk to you diff’rent when you makin’ that kinduh money. White people. You done have to take as much crap from them. If only ’cos they know with that money you can afford a good lawyer! An’ in any white court havin’ a good lawyer is better than being innocent! (He laughs, boyishly. Pause.) Four, five years. That’s all it’ll take to be a Certified Accountant. Four, maybe five years. (Dismissing even the thought of failure with a wave of his hand.) I should do that easy. Easy, easy. It’s simply a matteruh retaining the right facts. Anybody could do it. Once they apply themselves. (Pause.) Then after I get m’degree I’m in business. Loopy Loo! I’m laughin’! (Pause.) I’ll only work fo’ Jews. An’ they got to be rich Jews or I’ll practise anti-semitism. (Laughs a he he he laugh. Pause. Then.) Jews an’ nobody else! I got respect fo’ Jews. Jews know. An’ what they know is how to survive. Copy the Jews. That’s all I gotta say to West Indians. (Pause.) Strictly fo’ Jews. No Wasps. You got to draw the line somewhere, Loopy. (He gives another soft, jaundiced laugh. Pause.) Twenty thousan’. Nothin’ fantastic. (Pause.) A little house with nice central heatin’ ...Binkie could have his own room...you could buy y’self some good clothes, Rita. (Pause.) Twenty thousan’. Compared to what some people want from life that’s sweet F.A. It would do me, though. (Snickering.) I’d make do with twenty thousan’ a year any day.
From
11 JOSEPHINE HOUSE
By Alfred Fagon
11 Josephine House was first produced by Inter-Action at the Almost Free Theatre in London on 22 November 1972, directed by Ronald Rees, with the following cast: Oscar James (George), Alfred Fagon (Castan), T-bone Wilson (David), Mona Hammond (Gloria), Horace James (Harry) and Ursula Mohan (Julie).
11 Josephine House is a kitchen sink drama, packed with comedy moments. The play explores the importance of Christianity in a Jamaican household, set in Bristol in 1971. Alfred Fagon creates a dysfunctional household which is controlled by Brother George, a deacon and old friend of the family, who uses his relationship with God to chastise the ‘sinners’ in the house who have a weakness for gambling, alcohol, sex and music. Brother George is highly respected by the family due to his thirty years of unyielding commitment to God, compared to the other members in the family who fail to commit to God for longer than a month. David returns to the family home with his white girlfriend Julie, after failing to make a successful singer career in London. Julie struggles to understand the family dynamic, especially their high regard for Brother George. But when she sets up a trap that leaves Brother George caught with his pants down, the family household is turned upside down, with George’s reputation and position in the family destroyed.
About the Playwright
Alfred Fagon was born in Clarendon, Jamaica on 24 June 1937. Fagon came to Britain in 1955. His first job was for British Rail in Nottingham. Fagon turned his hand to many different jobs before relocating to Bristol to pursue a career in writing and acting.
Alfred Fagon became one of the most notable Black British playwrights of the 1970s and 1980s. At the peak of his writing career, Fagon died from a fatal heart attack in 1986 at age 49. The Alfred Fagon Award was set up in his memory in 1996 to celebrate the work of black playwrights of African and Caribbean descent in the UK. The award is supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation, Talawa Theatre Company and the Royal Court Theatre. To celebrate his work and residency in Bristol a statue of Alfred Fagon was built in his honour.
Other published plays by Alfred Fagon include: 11 Josephine House, Death of a Black Man and Lonely Cowboy.
Summary (Extract)
GEORGE, a deacon aged 39–40 (described in the cast breakdown as 5’ 10” inches or over), walks in on Gloria, Harry and Castan drinking alcohol and dancing in the living room. His love interest, Gloria dances closely with Castan, who he believes has always wanted to have intercourse with her. Horrified by this scene of blasphemy, he acts out in anger by slapping Gloria and punching Castan. Stricken with guilt he decides to redeem himself, and redress the balance in the home, by confessing to a sinful act which led him closer to God.
GEORGE
Forgive me, Jesus, yes the devil have been testing out faith but we must not weaken. Yes the last months have been great trials for all of us. First David went away, then Sister Gloria start having headache, and although I’m about to take over my new church and I am a man of God, Lord forgive us all for tonight. Here we are, black men all the way from Jamaica fighting each other. I wonder if the cross I have to carry will give message from God. It is many years now since th
e Lord call me to the cross and I kneel at the altar and He send me out to save sinners. Yes Lord, that was a glorious day, the most perfect day of my whole life. I can remember it as if it was today. It was many years ago. My poor father had ten shillings to feed us and he had not another penny in the world. Mother was very ill. He did not know where he was going to get the next penny from. Yes, I was a wicked sinner until then. I took the 10 shilling, forgive me Jesus; and went gambling. Jesus I remember when I lost the last sixpence and I look up to the heavens and I was not thinking about the beating my father was going to give me. But yes Lord, I was only thinking of my poor sick mother. Yes, hallelujah, and I could feel a change coming over me. Suddenly the tears start coming down my eyes and I was crying to the heavens, and I could feel as if a voice was saying to me ‘Don’t cry,’ and suddenly flashes went across my face, lightning and thunder start striking in front of my eyes, and I was blinded, and then a voice said to me, it was so gentle and sweet (He starts crying.) and then the voice said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid, lamb of God, you are strong now, you have come to God,’ and it was like the voice was far, far away and yet so very close, and the angel said to me, ‘Your sins have been forgiven’ and then the voice said, Your road will be heavy and long, but you must go out and preach the word of the Lord to the rich and the poor. Your place will be at God’s side in heaven.’ The voice said, ‘Arise’ and I arise. I went home to Mother. I went straight in her room. There was two people with her. She looked peaceful laying on her bed. And then she said, ‘Son, I forgive you. Yes I know the Lord would call you one day. Yes only last night I had a dream and I know then. Son, the road will be hard, there will be lots of trials. May the Lord bless you, my son.’ She close her eyes. She never open them again. I left the house that day with the guardian angel. That guardian angel is still with me, and now I shall pray very hard tonight. I am sorry I hit you, Brother Castan. Harry, please let us be friends again.
From
PANTOMIME
By Derek Walcott
Pantomime was first performed in London at the Keskidee Arts Centre in 1978, directed by Henry Mutto, with the following cast: Lloyd Anderson (Jackson Philip) and Eric Richard (Harry Trewe). The play was later produced by Michael Fredericks at the Grove Theatre in Hammersmith, directed by Yvonne Brewster in 1985, who directed the play again in 1997 with the support of the Welsh Arts Council which toured to all the major cities in Wales. The latest production of Pantomime was initiated through Carib Theatre, directed by Yvonne Brewster, and the tour included performances at the Old Red Lion, Islington, as well as many theatres in south-east England and Europe.
Pantomime is a satire in which two expatriates, Trinidadian Jackson Phillip and Englishman Harry Trewe explore the idea of a role reversal re-interpretation of the Robinson Crusoe story for the hotel’s entertainment. Set in a broken-down guesthouse on the Island of Tobago during a temporary closure for maintenance repairs, hotel manager Harry Trewe hopes to overcome his boredom by producing a play in anticipation of the hotel re-opening. Harry convinces his only employee Jackson (a waiter at the hotel) to partake in an improvised race-reversal version of the Robinson Crusoe story; Harry nominates himself to play Friday, a black cannibal, while Jackson takes on the lead role of Robinson Crusoe, an educated shipwrecked Englishman, for added humour. During the rehearsal process, Harry begins to realise that his intention of creating a light-humoured pantomime is not achievable with the story he has chosen. Instead the rehearsal process triggers a heightened sensitivity to racism and authority which creates many heated moments between Harry and Jackson and several attempts to walk out of the play. Acting the role of Friday and Crusoe causes unresolved issues from the past to resurface, and for the first time in years, Harry talks about his dead son, alcoholic ex-wife and Jackson talks about his reason for escaping the rough streets of Trinidad. Slowly, their production of Robinson Crusoe becomes a catalyst for providing them with closure and resolution.
About the Playwright
Internationally acclaimed playwright, poet and professor, Derek Alton Walcott OBE was born in Castries, Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean in 1930. Derek Walcott moved to Jamaica to gain a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of the West Indies. He then moved to Trinidad in 1953 where he pursued a writing career. His first introduction to writing was through poetry; at the age of eighteen he self-published 25 poems which was subsequently followed by his renowned collection of poems entitled In a Green Night (1962). In 1959, he founded the Trinidad Theatre Workshop which produced many of his early plays. Derek Walcott received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 as well as being awarded numerous accolades for his stage plays throughout his career.
Other published plays by Derek Walcott include: Dream on a Monkey Mountain, Six in the Rain, Ti-Jean and his Brothers, Six in the Rain, O Babylon, Remembrance, The Joker of Seville, Last Carnival, Beef, No Chicken, A Branch of the Blue Nile and Odyssey.
Summary (Extract)
Trinidadian JACKSON PHILLIP, a retired calypsonian aged forty, starts to generate ideas for their improvised version of the Robinson Crusoe production. Taking the position of the director, Jackson requires Harry (Mr Trewe) to act like a bird which Harry finds too humiliating. Harry begins to feel uncomfortable with the role reversal and wants to return to reality, he as the manager and Jackson as the waiter. When Jackson refuses, he goes one step further and threatens Jackson with his job. But Jackson is keen to finish what he has started.
JACKSON
May I say what I think, Mr. Trewe? I think it’s a matter of prejudice. I think that you cannot believe: one: that I can act, and two: that any black man should play Robinson Crusoe. A little while aback, I came out here quite calmly and normally with the breakfast things and I find you almost stark naked, kneeling down, and you told me you were getting into your part. Here am I getting into my part and you object. This is the story…this is history. This moment that we are now acting here is the history of Imperialism; it’s nothing less than that. And I don’t think that I can – should – concede my getting into a part halfway and abandoning things, just because you, as my superior, give me orders. People become independent. Now, I could go down to that beach by myself with this hat, and I could play Robinson Crusoe, I could play Columbus, I could play Sir Francis Drake, I could play anybody discovering anywhere, but I don’t want you to tell me when and where to draw the line!
(Pause.)
Or what to discover and when to discover it. All right?
CONTEMPORARY
MONOLOGUES
From
A JAMAICAN AIRMAN
FORESEES HIS DEATH
by Fred D’Aguiar
A Jamaican Foresess His Death by Fred D’Aguiar premiered at the Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on 9 April 1991, directed by Hettie MacDonald starring; Fraser James (Gerry/Airforce Officer), Clarence Smith (Alvin), Jeffrey Chiswick (Kojo/Kathleen’s Father), Sidney Cole (Bruce/Army Officer), Maynard Eziashi (Tim/Business Granny/Vendor), Maureen Hibbert (Kathleen’s Mother) and Geraldine Somerville (Kathleen).
Fred D’Aguiar was inspired to write his play A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death from his admiration for W.B. Yeats’ poem entitled ‘An Irish Airman Foresees his Death’. Like the poem, the play explores the lives of voluntary war aircraft pilots, with a particular interest in the unorthodox attitudes of British colonies who fought on behalf of the ‘mother country’, England. The play highlights the contentions of British-Jamaican identity for Jamaicans whose country had been a part of the British Empire for centuries but as a people were subjected to being treated as second-class citizens, chastised and racially abused by the British during the war.
This play focuses on the black working-class Jamaicans who fought for the United Kingdom Royal Air Force during World War II. The play begins in 1940s Jamaica as lead character Alvin Williams, alongside three of his friends; Gerry, Tim and Bruce, bravely take on the ‘patriotic and honourable’ act of joining the British Air Force. As none of the men have tra
velled to England their reasons for joining go beyond a patriotic act of duty; instead they are motivated by personal benefits, such as flying a plane, money, English women, historical recognition, travelling abroad, guns and uniform. Despite Alvin’s Jamaican grandmother, his only relative, discouraging him from sacrificing his life for the Second World War by sharing her ill-fated premonitions, Alvin and his friends enlist for the British Air Force and travel to an RAF training ground in Scotland by boat. In Scotland the men’s expectations are shattered. Alvin is the only one employed as a pilot, the others have to contend with menial labour jobs; barber, chef and toilet cleaner. Alvin experiences his first taste of racism when accosted by Scottish pilots who strip him naked to check if he has a tail. Things take a turn for the worse when Alvin accidently shoots another British aircraft, he is punished more harshly than his white British counterparts, receiving a summons, confined to the base and branded a killer by Scottish pilots and the community. This also has a negative effect on his relationship with his Jamaican friends and Scots girlfriend Kathleen who were are all subjected to racial taunts and abuse, as a consequence of his actions. Alvin is dishonourably discharged from the army and thus forced to consider a new life.
The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors, Monologues for Men, Volume 1 Page 3