Echo in the Bone, An
By Dennis Scott
Year staged: 1986
Opening night: 24/06/1986
Theatre Company: Talawa Theatre Company; 1986
Staged in: Drill Hall
Cast Size: 10
Synopsis
Crew, a black peasant, is missing. Maas Charlie, the white estate owner is dead. What killed him? The answers lie deep in the racial memory, they Echo in the Bone. The year is 1937. The country is Jamaica. Friends and family of Crew, finally convinced he is dead, gather for the traditional ritual held nine nights after a death in order to persuade the soul of the deceased that all is well and to send it away with cheers and rejoicing. During the ceremony the ritual impels the participants to re-enact their history as an oppressed people in order to find some meaning in madness.
Original Cast
Joanne Campbell
Brigit
Gary McDonald
Jacko
Ellen Thomas
Rachel
Leo Wringer
Sonson
Kwabena Manso
Dreamboat
Faith Tingle
Lally
Mona Hammond
Madam Love
Allister Bain
P
Lenny Algernon Edwards
Rattler
Malcolm Frederick
Stone
Production Team
Richard Moffat
Lighting
Sue D Mayes
Designer
Allister Bain
Choreography
Yvonne Brewster
Director
Additional Materials
Production Accounts
Ref: TTC/2/2/2
V&A Theatre and Performance Collection
Production Management Correspondence
Ref: TTC/4/1/2
V&A Theatre and Performance Collection
Marketing Correspondence
Ref: TTC/8/1/2
V&A Theatre and Performance Collection
Poster
Ref: BCA/Ephemera/310
Black Cultural Archives