Country Duppy & Jonkanoo Jamboree

By Aston Cooke

Country Duppy and Jonkanoo Jamboree are two very amusing plays that revel in traditional Jamaican cultural forms and creatively explore their meeting with the modern world. Highly recommended for Caribbean students of English Literature and Theatre Arts
COUNTRY DUPPY
This is family entertainment.informative, rib-tickling comedy (Daily Gleaner)
Country Duppy is an outrageously hilarious slice of Jamaican life. (Jamaica Observer)
heavily informed by Jamaican folklore and traditional practices. (Share News, Toronto)
JONKANOO JAMBOREE
An allegorical exploration of class and race using the Jonkanoo as a trope for life as a masquerade. (SUSUMBA)
There was understanding of stage craft, use of space and natural dialogue. (Daily Gleaner)
Musical drama, part cautionary folktale marked by a sense of old-fashioned Jamaican storytelling and youthful angst. (Tallawah Magazine)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496948410

Aston Cooke

Aston Cooke is a Jamaican Arts & Culture specialist and a leading playwright who also penned Oliver at Large, LTM Pantomime River Mumma and the Golden Table, Front Room, Concubine and Jamaica 2 Rahtid. The recipient of ten national Actor Boy Awards for outstanding achievement in Jamaican theatre, Cooke is Co-ordinator of the Secondary Schools’ Drama Festival of Jamaica and serves as Board Chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission. Aston Cooke is a 1989 Canadian Commonwealth Scholar and a graduate of the University of the West Indies (B.A. Mass Communication and M.A. Communications Studies) and Ryerson University, Toronto (B.Comm. in Hospitality and Tourism Management).

Book preview

COUNTRY DUPPY

& JONKANOO

JAMBOREE

ASTON COOKE

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© 2014 Aston Cooke. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 10/17/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4842-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4841-0 (e)

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

COUNTRY DUPPY

ACT ONE

ACT I, SCENE 1

ACT I, SCENE 2

ACT I, SCENE 3

ACT I, SCENE 4

ACT I, SCENE 5

ACT I, SCENE 6

ACT I, SCENE 7

ACT I, SCENE 8

ACT I, SCENE 9

ACT TWO

ACT II, SCENE 1

ACT II, SCENE 2

ACT II, SCENE 3

ACT II, SCENE 4

ACT II, SCENE 5

JONKANOO JAMBOREE

ACT ONE

ACT I, SCENE 1

ACT I, SCENE 2

ACT I, SCENE 3

ACT I, SCENE 4

ACT I, SCENE 5

ACT I, SCENE 6

ACT I, SCENE 7

ACT I, SCENE 8

ACT I, SCENE 9

ACT I, SCENE 10

ACT I, SCENE 11

ACT I, SCENE 12

ACT TWO

ACT II, SCENE 1

ACT II, SCENE 2

ACT II, SCENE 3

ACT II, SCENE 4

ACT II, SCENE 5

ACT II, SCENE 6

ACT II, SCENE 7

ACT II, SCENE 8

ACT II, SCENE 9

ACT II, SCENE 10

ACT II, SCENE 11

ACT II, SCENE 12

FOREWORD

When a playwright/dramatist as successful and prolific as Aston Cooke decides to offer his plays for publication, it is a time to rejoice. One can rest assured that theatre-lovers, students, researchers and cultural practitioners have been granted access to even more Jamaican/Caribbean material of substance. Audiences both regionally and internationally have had the opportunity to enjoy Cooke’s productions and can attest to the quality of his writing. Having directed two of his plays, I can attest to his attention to detail and the authenticity of his writing style. His genuine love for the Jamaican/Caribbean persona shines through in his realistic portrayals of character, as revealed through dialogue.

With that said it must be noted that Cooke also has a gift for creating exciting dialogue that leaps off the page and makes staging easy. The gift extends into the unerring eye for seeing and presenting ‘theatrical moments’ laden with that rich and colourful sensibility and aesthetic which is totally Caribbean. In such moments, Cooke word-paints strong opposing characters into delicious contrast with each other. And yet, he doesn’t just paint with broad and colourful Caribbean brush strokes. He invests his characters with a sense of ‘sweet irony’ and ‘smooth wit’ so they breathe life like living proverbs and metaphors walking easily from page to stage. There is no doubt that his observance of the nuances and subtleties of character is exemplary.

It is not surprising that the first plays to be published are Country Duppy and Jonkanoo Jamboree. One of Cooke’s stylistic strengths shines through in his sensitive treatment of rural folk where he takes them and places them in dramatic conflict with their own traditional beliefs. Another stylistic strength is his ability to present humorous situations fraught with dramatic tension as political satire. Cooke’s body of work forces the audience/reader to examine their concepts about themselves as Jamaicans and as Caribbean people. He uses humour to poke holes in preconceived notions about society and get people and ask questions of themselves and where they belong on the social grid between urban and rural; Europe and Africa; uptown or downtown; dancehall or dinky mini; demonstration or tea party; Christianity or Obeah.

As a teacher of Jamaican and Caribbean folk and traditional dance, it was particularly pleasing to see how Cooke infused life into the Jamaican masquerade form of Jonkanoo and how he weaved the Jonkanoo characters into a powerful script. In Jonkanoo Jamboree, Cooke creates a new myth based in Jamaican folktales and folk forms. What is particularly exciting is that although it is clear that he has a penchant for using and addressing cultural forms in his plays, he is not heavy-handed in his application of such forms. It is done in a style that complements the form itself.

Aston Cooke has done a masterful job at storytelling with both Country Duppy and Jonkanoo Jamboree. I feel privileged to have been the first person to direct Jonkanoo Jamboree for the stage and be part of that process of bringing to life the wonderful characters in the play. I know that readers of the play will enjoy the Caribbean fantasy-fiction-like quality and appreciate the juxtaposition of the rural life and the urban aesthetic of the dancehall. Both Country Duppy and Jonkanoo Jamboree are great reads and beautiful scripts ready for staging.

Michael Holgate

Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts

University of the West Indies

Mona, Kingston 7

Jamaica

COUNTRY DUPPY

First performed at the Barn Theatre, Kingston, Jamaica on Wednesday, July 12, 2000 with the following cast:

Directed by Michael Nicholson

ACT ONE

ACT I, SCENE 1

MISS BEATRICE’S VERANDAH. LATE EVENING. THE SCENE IS SET IN BAMBOO BELLY DISTRICT SOMEWHERE IN RURAL JAMAICA. MISS BEATRICE LIVES IN A BIG PLANTATION STYLED GREAT HOUSE WITH A LARGE VERANDAH. THE INTRICATE LATTICE WORK OF THE VERANDAH IS PAINTED WHITE AND STRECHES AROUND THE FRONT AND SIDES OF THE HOUSE REMINISCENT OF OLD JAMAICA. THE VERANDAH DOUBLES AS A MEETING PLACE AND A WORK AREA FOR MISS BEATRICE WHO IS THE ONLY DRESSMAKER IN THE VILLAGE. AN OLD AND OBSIOUSLY WORKED SINGER SEWING MACHINE ADORNS ONE END OF THE VERANDAH. WHEN THE LIGHTS COME UP, BEATRICE IS TAKING CLARA’S MEASUREMENT FOR A NEW DRESS.