THERE IS a new sense of pride and purpose at the Reynold Weekes Primary School at Four Roads in St Philip; and some people say it has everything to do with the arts.
In the absence of a formal structure for these disciplines, the school has managed to get its name on the national scene for drama at the National Independence Festival Of Creative Arts (NIFCA) last year, and this year in particular.
Following up on its gold award-winning performance last year for Black Beauty, the school presented three pieces: Respect De Man, Who Is De Real Ossiemoe? and I Come To Tell You – which all made it through to the Daphne Joseph-Hackett Showcase For Drama/Speech, with I Come to Tell You and Respect De Man advancing to the big stage at the LIME NIFCA Gala.
The school also took one of the three newly introduced creator’s prizes awarded this year.
Senior teacher Tyrone Marshall is the resident writer. This is a position he assumed when he was transferred to Reynold Weekes in 2005. Marshall would have enjoyed NIFCA and other successes with the likes of Dario Waldrond at Society Primary School, where he taught previously.
“When I came over here, there was not so much a push, in my opinion, for the drama . . . . It was only sometime last year when I found myself much more involved in the drama.
“I started with the African Awareness programme and worked through that. I saw the potential in it and the rest is history, because we went to the Gala eventually and we won gold and everything with Black Beauty.
“Also that awakened that desire in all the children here to be a part of the process. They want to be in NIFCA; everyone is clamouring for that,” Marshall said, adding that the children were just waiting to hear what they had to do.
Andre Hade is the unofficial artistic director. He is the man with the ear for rhythms, and he assists with the dramatizations.
This is something he was involved in from his days at Ellerton Primary, and he continued with it at Reynold Weekes when he joined the staff in 2006.
“When [Marshall] gives me the words, I would usually then just find a suitable and appropriate beat for the piece.
And I am into the drama aspect as well, making sure that the children put forward the piece in the best way possible in terms of their facial expressions, and making sure they have everything down pat,” Hade explained.
He said he got a lot of assistance from Marshall and that they complemented each other.
Although not on the NIFCA stage, Respect De Man and I Come To Tell You would have been performed previously at school functions, but Who Is De Real Ossiemoe? was “on ice” waiting for the opportune time.
The portrayals by Jonathan Layne and Leonardo Browne were funny, but the message about HIV/AIDS was deadly serious.
“It seemed ready for stage, and I felt we had two students who would engage an audience – who would really sell this piece, as it were . . . .
“You had to look for a different approach to sell an old message, as it were, and so I tried to attack it from that side: this person trying to catch AIDS. But in truth and fact, that’s what we’re all trying to do when you live the life you live, that’s what you’re trying to.
“We were just looking for a different approach that would capture the attention of persons; cause them to look. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that all and sundry were as ready to hear,” he stated.
The piece won the HIV Award and the Earl Warner’s Prize for the Most Promising Theatre Piece. Apart from the awards, the transformation in Browne was the real success.
“He was of a frisky persuasion. He wasn’t the quietest fella in the school, but when he got involved in drama . . . that little fella transformed right before our eyes.
“He even became a prefect . . . he become somebody; to him he now had a sense of importance. Leanardo became this much appreciated young man, so helpful and everything. Just by getting involved.
“It’s success stories like that, that give us that drive that we need,” Marshall stated.
Patrons too would have been blown away by the convincing portrayal by Khamal Scantlebury in Respect De Man. He did an excellent job with the walker and abnormal hand, but the real tears did patrons in every time.
“He had a brilliant mind, remembering things well and all that. We gave him the words to learn; he ran with them. And I myself and Mr Hade and all the others watched him grow on stage . . . . We wanted him to show the emotion and as he got to understand this whole thing, we saw him crying on stage,” Marshall explained, noting that the air conditioning at the Frank Collymore Hall helped with the tears.
Scantlebury would have got help with his gait and using the walker from Roger Dyall, a colleague at St Martin’s Mangrove who also works with the disabled.
“That really helped in terms of the image that we were trying to project,” said Marshall of the teamwork displayed by Dyall.
Layne, Lachanta Brathwaite, Kadeem Morgan (drummer), Zaria Thompson, Japhia Lucas, Kiara Sargeant, Selena Patterson and Tahirah Rosemond were the students who performed I Come To Tell You.
With no pool of students in a drama group or anything of the sort to pull from, they say they move around the various classes scouting for talent. Marshall said the combination of the right students and an enabling environment by principal Joseph Clarke did the trick.
“One of the things that I think was important for me as a writer is the correct environment; and the environment here that Mr Clarke, the principal of this school, has fostered breeds that.
“It encourages teachers to be creative, to express themselves and so too the students,” Marshall said.
The duo is also ably assisted with costuming and other necessary things by colleagues Julie Greenidge, Crystal Leach, Tricia Austin, Sylvester Durant-Mason and Patricia Williams.
NIFCA is late in the year, but Reynold Weekes Primary starts in February with pieces for African Awareness Day and then they are tweaked and honed for NIFCA. By that time the entire school is buzzing, they say; and just about any child in the school can repeat the pieces, because they would have heard them so often.
With a creator’s prize to add to their growing achievements, Marshall said it was good to know his work was appreciated.
“It does give you, as it were, the impetus to carry on. It is not determined by gold, silver or bronze. ‘Tyrone,’ this is the Lord speaking to me, ‘I’ve given you a talent, use it. Whatever the outcome . . . you’re supposed to write. This is what I’ve given to you as you live on this earth’ . . . .
“It always gives us encouragement when you get acknowledgments as these, to carry on. But that does not govern how I continue to work, because it is not for me to use or not to use. I’m constrained by what I’ve been given by the Giver, and not necessarily just having the gift, but always remembering that the Giver gave it to me to use, to carry on his work,” Marshall said.
Hade said it was a “wonderful feeling” to be sharing in the creator’s prize with Marshall.
“I was very proud, and glad for Mr Marshall and myself when I heard about it.
He deserved it. From what I see in the whole drama/speech and at NIFCA, I know the work that we put in, and that he puts in and what he expects from the children.
They deserve these awards,” Hade said.
Both teachers are adamant that they will not be pressured to maintain or improve the standard because of the award.
“You love to be appreciated, that’s a human experience; but you should not let your mind get all so clouded with these things that you forget the importance of what you have to do. Your main objectives,” Marshall said.
“It’s the children and the message,” Hade supplied.
Given the many success stories out of being involved in extra-curricular activities, Marshall is pleading with teachers and parents not to deny their charges the opportunity to express themselves when Common Entrance or any other exam rolls around.
“God gives these children talents, whether it be art, writing, drama, whatever the case may be; and in some schools you will find, ‘Push maths, push English’, because the Common Entrance is upon us and parents get all caught up with that, because they don’t know any better.
“That’s their experience, or that’s what they’ve been hearing. That’s the apex of the child’s existence . . . . Extra-curricular activities such as these things do make a difference to the success of these students.
“They get up on mornings and they’re keen to be at school because there is something happening that I love . . . . You’re only ten years of age once in your life, so why would you take away that because of the Common Entrance,” Marshall questioned passionately.
“The more important thing is not teaching maths and English . . . . Start teaching children. Children have different approaches, different abilities, value systems . . . . That’s what we’re trying to push here with this whole drama experience; give children the opportunity to develop to the highest potential,” Marshall added.
Hade, a Class 3 instructor, said drama and the arts inspired children and made them want to do better.
While Marshall praised producer the National Cultural Foundation for providing the platform for children to shine and showcase their talent, he said there was still room for improvement.
He and Hade agreed that a lot of talent was lost in the transition from primary to secondary school and something needed to be done to tap it.
