By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter 
Scenes from the production 'Bedward'.
IN ITS task as a mirror of the world, theatre does far more than tell who's the fairest, funniest and most dramatic of them all. So often it comments on our present and at others our past. It can tell us who we are, who were and even show where we are heading.
When the curtains went up on the new crop of plays for 2003/4 last December, Jambiz International's Christopher-Cum-Buck-Us and the Little Theatre Movement's Combolo seemed to be double teaming on the story of Christopher Columbus. The idea was by no means new, as plays such as Arawak Gold have used it previously. Indeed, Combolo is itself a re-make, having been rewritten (by its original playwright) Barbara Gloudon. Christopher Cum-Buck-Us was penned by Patrick Brown.
In light of the similarity of theme, it was not surprising that Christopher Cum-Buck-Us and Combolo had similarities. Indeed, the naming of the plays were Jamaicanised parodies of Christopher Colombus.
Their most important similarity, however, was that both plays would be staging a little bit of Jamaican history. Another play, though from a different slant, would engage in the project. Louis Marriott's Bedward, staged at The Ward Theatre, told the story of Alexander Bedward, the enigmatic faith healer who brought throngs to August Town to wash in his healing stream.
In tackling historical subjects, the three plays act as avenues for not only celebrating, but sharing the country's history and culture. Of course, it is important to note that they function in very different ways. Whereas Christopher Cum-Buck-Us and Combolo are both musical comedies, Bedward is a drama.
REFLECTION OF HISTORY
Of the three, Bedward is the only production with the deliberate intention to be a record or accurate reflection of history. The play shows how the authorities worked to silence Bedward, as he threatened their power by providing an alternative to the people of Jamaica.
The play presents information about the size of Bedward's following, its international impact and even cited articles maligning him. Even in doing so, Bedward allows audiences to decide for themselves whether or not Bedward was truly mentally disturbed.
In a country which greatly suffers from the lack of inclusion of accurate history which reflects the mass of the population, Bedward's staging is particularly important. In live and living colour it gives a historical lesson, without the looming menace of boredom that is so often attached to teaching history.
It is a graphic, telling example of the power of Jamaicans, our impact on world history and the possibilities that live within. It also shows the history of betrayal (whether well-intentioned or not) that has hampered many would-be successes.
Alexander Bedward will never be named a hero, nor does he have the cultural impact of a Bob Marley. It is therefore even more important that his story be told, as the significance of his life is an important aspect of Jamaican history.
As comedies, Christopher Cum-Buck-Us and Combolo make fun of some historical perspectives and manage to marry history with the present, and as a result satirise both the present and the past.
Indeed, the very name Christopher Cum-Buck-Us acts as a rebuttal of the idea of Columbus discovering Jamaica, how could he have when upon his arrival he 'come buck us'.
Christopher Cum-Buk-Us is clearly not intended to be an accurate portrayal of Columbus' arrival at Discovery Bay, St. Ann, in 1492, and plays fast and loose with much of history. As such, the play marries issues of election fraud (Christopher Cum-Buk-Us is elected) and makes jokes about many present day happening's, including the cellular phone craze and bin Laden.
Even so, Christopher Cum-Buk-Us nods at history quite often, in ways that were intended to be humourous but reflect historical accuracy. As such, when Lashy (played by Volier Johnson) is salivating at the thought of having some jerk pork, he quips "An a imported meat yuh nuh. Caa hag no reach Jamaica yet".
A hilarious butchery of Shakespeare is also of extreme significance to the events of history. Shakespeare is to England as cable is to the United States. He was, and continues to be, their greatest tool in their colonisation arsenal. With the wondrous words of the Bard, whom generations of Jamaicans were taught before they were taught their own poets, the British helped to bring their own culture as they savaged those of the countries they colonised.
As such, in a parody of history, Cum-Buk-Us (Johnson) forces the Tainos to dress in Elizabethan garb and perform Romeo and Juliet. The play is badly hacked, as the players are unable to connect with the subject. Of course, many Jamaicans who found themselves praising plants such as daffodils in tests of elocution have undergone this colonisation project.
Like Christopher Cum Buck-Us, Combolo marries the past and the present, but in a very different manner. Combolo allows for time travel by making its main character a descendant of the original Columbus, who comes to apologise to the Tainos for the ills visited upon them by his forebear.
Combolo therefore fictionalizes that some of the Tainos escaped into the mountains where they have survived to this day. The inclusion of an apology helps to draw attention to the need for reparations to the peoples so decimated by the cruel sword of colonisation.
FALLACIES
As such, it is interesting that both plays continue to carry forth historical fallacies. Colombus' supposed discovery of a place that existed long before he was thought of is not the only untruth that mars history.
Ironically, even while the Columbus in Combolo attempts to apologise for the ills of his ancestor, one such ill continues to be perpetuated. The Tainos are still not given back their correct name. In both plays the Tainos are denied their rightful name. Both plays call the Tainos 'Arawaks' (which was the language they spoke), continuing the misrepresentation.
In both plays, the Caribs are even greater victims of historical stereotype. As Dave Davis reports in a paper titled 'Rumours of Cannibals', the Caribs got their name through tales of their cannibal nature, not through evidence of it. The article, which is available at muweb.millersville.
edu, points out that the need for labour allowed the title to be lavishly applied.
It says: "A 1511 edict defined as Caribs any Indians who were hostile to Europeans, behaved violently or consumed human flesh. Caribs, the edict concluded, were without souls and so were suitable subjects for the slave trade."
However, despite the political project which inspired the stereotype of the Carib, both Christopher Cum-Buck-Us and Combolo continue to add to the fallacy. In both plays, the Caribs are the villains; in both they are cannibals.
It would be easy to argue that Christopher Cum-Buck-Us and Combolo can be forgiven for not being more accurate, because they are, after all, comedies. However, even plays we would like to dismiss as just comedies can be historically significant.
After all, who would remember Henry V without Falstaff?
