Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

The 2017 staging of UWI St. Augustine’s Old Yard, put on by the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, Agostini Street on February 19, was a colourful celebration of traditional mas.

Patrons were treated to up-close views of the characters portrayed by UWI students and performers. The grounds were transformed to look like an actual yard, complete with shops and houses.
Old Yard project director and Carnival Studies coordinator, Dr. Joanne Tull, said the purpose of the event is to remind people that these characters are part of T&T’s heritage, and to expose others to an experience they have never seen or known. She said Old Yard was inherited from a committee who used to produce Viey La Cou at the Scout’s Association. Tull said a significant number of patrons were schoolchildren as they had to study the traditional mas characters as part of the A’Level and O’Level curricula, so they were able to see the characters and performers live and be able to pay attention to the detail of the costume.
Tull said the event is used to showcase traditional masquerade annually in a way that is not mundane or repetitive, so people will continue to come and see it. Therefore the decision was made to transform the venue into the period where these characters would have been seen to support the idea that traditional masquerade is fun and entertaining as well as educational. Another reason was to imitate the Disney model where the patron is transported to another world when they stepped into the venue. “The performers from outside are considered Masters of their various characters, whether it be Blue Devil, Jab Jab, Warahoon or Jab Molassie, so we have them come to engage us as a University, and at the same time, we have our students perform so they can be part of an experience with the masters of the Carnival Arts and at the same time learn from them. We have the students perform across the yard, as a way of reflecting the experience of the long time Barrack Yard.”
Artist Camille Harding, artistic director of Old Yard, said her inspiration for the venue was the description of Minty Alley in the book of the same name by CLR James, as well as that the Agostini Street building is an old yard. She said the traditional mas takes place within a community and there are certain elements which are common to a community, including houses, a parlour, a rumshop, a market, etc. “These are things you see in your community. We called the food section ‘de canteen,’ the craft vendors were ‘de market,’ and we added Granny’s house. The Granny in society she’s the storyteller, she’s the person that gathers the children and we also realized that is a good play area for the children, because it is very important to the children. They also love the seesaw and there’s a lot more we’d like to do, such as the old-time swing on the tree. The event is very much a family event and a lot of people bring their children to learn about the mas.”
She lamented the limitations that had now been placed on the space due to the encroachment of the adjacent Republic Bank. “The Old Yard had a different space before, back before development, pretty soon this is going to be the car park, so every year the fence is inching forward and actually last year and this year I left the blue fence untouched because to me that’s very much an artistic statement not to touch it. That blue fence is also part of art, it’s part of development and of change. Last year they cut down the zaboca tree and the beautiful old mango trees, but that’s what progress is I suppose.”
Harding said traditional mas is part of T&T culture and can be seen in our language and posture year-round, not just during Carnival time.
Tull said since she has been staging Old Yard, she has seen growth both in how competent DCFA has become in showcasing it, as well as growth in the number of children who are present. “To my mind it more used to look like kids there because their parents had come but in our yard, it’s a case where the adults are here because their children are here, and I like that because if the children continue to come, it means traditional masquerade isn’t necessarily going to die. We get children who come and ask to be a part of it so it’s also a platform for engaging young people who may have hidden or emerging talent and it’s something they see themselves as doing. This is a perfect place for them to explore as it’s safe and attuned to the University.”