Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Barbara Gloudon performs '876 Palaver' at the Grand Commemoration Concert and Pelican Awards of the University of the West Indies, Mona, in February this year. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

A BAG containing cricket equipment lies in a corner of Barbara Gloudon's office at the Little Theatre in Kingston. On her cluttered desk is a script, Howzzat!, which is the title of the 2006 Pantomime.

Howzzat! is the 28th Pantomime Mrs. Gloudon has written or co-written since 1969 when her first production, Moonshine Anancy, starring Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley opened at The Ward Theatre.

For her contribution to the arts and culture, Mrs. Gloudon will receive the Gleaner Honour Award in November.

Howzzat! is based on cricket which pantomime producers chose to focus on with the International Cricket Council's World Cup a matter of months from being played at Sabina Park in Kingston.

For Mrs. Gloudon, writing Howzzat! is a challenge mainly because she is dealing with a sport whose popularity has declined considerably in Jamaica. At the same time, she is trying to get the attention of a generation weaned on cable television.

"The audience nowadays is much more sophisticated, children are brighter and television is around," she said. "The real competitor is television, so what I've learned over the years is how to write for a bright new generation," she added.

Mrs. Gloudon has penned the scripts for the last eight pantomimes. The event has been a spectacle in Jamaica since 1941 when Jack And the Beanstalk debuted at The Ward.

Jamaican folklore and history

Since 1998, she has written on current affairs or put a spin on persons who had a bearing on Jamaican folklore and history.

In 1999, Bugsie The Millennium Bug looked at the worldwide Y2K scare, while 2002's Miss Annie revisited the legend of Annie Palmer, the 'witch' who ruled over St. James' Rose Hall Estate in the 18th century.

The following year, Combolo dealt with a descendant of Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who 'discovered' Jamaica in 1494, returning five centuries later to apologise for his ancestor's atrocities.

Picking up tips over the past 30-odd years, Mrs. Gloudon explained, has prepared her to write productions with comedic or dramatic themes.

"I was privileged to have been brought in when there were great practitioners in the dramatic arts," she said. "Ranny Williams would show me how to write a comic line, he taught me about timing. He told me, 'Miss G, timing is everything'."

In the case of Barbara Gloudon and the arts, timing has played a significant role.

Jamaica had a vibrant arts community when she was growing up. Miss Lou was a theatre star, while painters like Albert Huie, potter Cecil Baugh and sculptor Edna Manley were respected figures.

The beginning

A scene from the Little Theatre Movement National Pantomime 2005/06, 'Zu-Zu Macca'. -Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

In the days of British rule, even those from humble backgrounds such as Barbara Goodison, were exposed to this haughty scene in school. The eldest of nine children whose father was a mechanic and mother an engineer, she was born in St. Elizabeth, but grew up in downtown Kingston.

It was while attending St. Andrew High School that she started working at The Gleaner, where she found a mentor in Theodore Sealy, the publication's no-frills editor.

She credits Mr. Sealy and Calvin Bowen, another senior Gleaner staffer, for helping develop her love for the arts.

"My real introduction to the arts scene came from The Gleaner because I was assigned to cover the arts," she recalled. "I covered visual arts, pottery, culture, ceramics, sculpture, paintings - whatever happened in the arts."

While pounding the arts beat, Barbara Gloudon not only developed an appreciation, but a desire to get involved as a writer and later an administrator.

Moonshine Anancy, a farce starring Miss Lou and Ranny Williams, got the pantomime ball rolling. She wrote three more during the 1970s and six in the 1980s including the immensely popular Schoolers.

Like many of her contemporaries, Mrs. Gloudon is not impressed by the productions in local theatre. She believes too many of them are strictly slapstick with little substance.

More funding

"Is all about, 'lawd, him kick mi inna mi belly an' it hot yuh si'," she said, grimacing. "There is just no thought going into the thing."

She also thinks there should be more funding from the private and public sectors to help build cultural awareness of the arts in local schools.

Two months before Howzzat!'s opening night at the Little Theatre, Mrs. Gloudon has already brought out the heavy roller, so to speak. Her cast is being drilled weekly in the rudiments of cricket by her brother, Kingsley, a former club cricketer.

Like organisers of the Cricket World Cup, Barbara Gloudon and her crew are hoping Howzzat! will be a hit.