Marley
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE read with great interest your editorial and the response of Mrs. Ruby Martin, OD, JP., vice-chairperson of The Ward Theatre Foundation, which was captioned in her Letter of The Day, "Ward Theatre a neglected treasure".
I, too, am horrified that this beautiful theatre should have been allowed to sink into the dust, simply by neglect of those in charge of both our national heritage and anyone in the Government under whose portfolio this falls; or, indeed, anyone who has any interest in our cultural background and sees a future and may be interested in seeing our youth become anything other than hooligan dancehall performers and everything that screams of bawdy and aggressive behaviour.
Alas, this has now become the norm in our society and is totally accepted. Gone are the days when our youth were given the opportunity of learning to read music, the development of voice and the advancement of budding theatrical performers for the stage and cinema. These people simply have no place to vent their expression, indeed no place that can even be considered a springboard for artists who aspire to compete on the international stage, and here again, I am not referring to the 'artistes' as they are popularly called by our press but true 'artists' of the musical and dramatic arts.
NO PLACE TO PERFORM
A quick visit to any Jamaican church will tell even the tone deaf that there are many beautiful voices, in every range, which simply have no place to train their instruments and certainly no place to aspire to perform in. Likewise for our young and old musicians and many brilliant students who gain distinctions in their music exams but leave the island out of frustration. It took our famous Bass-Baritone Sir Willard White CBE, to gain the accomplishment of two major honours from the U.K. Government and countless international accolades before our Government decided to jump on the wagon, and even now, many people will say, Willard Who? He did perform at The Ward Theatre but to only a small audience. I can only presume he was seen as being either weird or politically incorrect.
It can also be argued that every city needs a concert hall or convention centre or some kind of city hall where music can be heard, quality plays can be performed and even the occasional small-level conference be held. Gone are the days of integrity and quality concerts held in Kingston at the Ward Theatre, the Ormsby Hall, The Carib Theatre, The State Theatre, The Regal Theatre and countless other Halls and even the once lovely Hope Gardens where the finest performers of international standing came to perform en route to South America.
LOCAL IMPRESARIOS
I reminisce on the days when our local impresarios like Dudley G. MacMillan and Stephen Hill vied for first position in bringing to our shores Paul Robeson, Arthur Rubenstein, Lilly Pons, Sir John Gielgud, Sammy Davies Jr. Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Artists of the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet companies, The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, and countless other classical and jazz greats. Many local legends such as Bob Marley and 'Toots' were given opportunities of performing at these concerts as foreign performers and the local impresarios also had to allow time to their local counterparts. This was wonderful as they gained experience and built an audience, but they had a theatre in which to perform.
The problem also should be a lesson to anyone who wishes to bequeath anything of value to the nation, as did Col. Leslie Ward, as it was his dream that Kingston should have a quality theatre for the performing arts.The entire spirit of 'downtown' and all of those who work relentlessly there in order to maintain some modicum of civility have become disenchanted by the false promises and lack of insight by successive governments. Also, not to mention the continued bad press that 'downtown' seems to attract and is not founded, whatsoever. Downtown, as a whole, could be our stellar tourist attraction waiting to be rediscovered and brought forward.
The unforgivable neglect of our once-beautiful city really saddens me greatly. When will a government emerge that will see the hidden treasures of downtown Kingston? I am hoping our newly-appointed Prime Minister-designate, Mrs. Simpson Miller, will break that mould and see the gold and glory that could come from those historical streets which were painstakingly laid out in a modern grid system centuries ago.
I am, etc.,
E. Charles Hanna,
8-20 King Street,
Kingston
