As we descended the hill to Leroy Clarke's sprawling ranch, the drumming and singing that rang out indicated that Errol Jones' 75^th birthday celebration was in full swing.

Over 100 people, some from as far as Florida, braved the winding, bumpy road in the Heights of Aripo to pay tribute to the actor who is to Caribbean theatre what Sir Laurence Olivier is to English theatre.

"Sayamanda, Sayamanda, Sayamanda ring de bell, " sang Mavis John as she scratched out a rhythm on a foot-long scratcher. With John scratching out the rhythm to Andre Tanker's signature piece, dancers Sonja Dumas and Jeanette Springer took the floor and grooved to the beat.

Claude Reid was quick to say, "You see who we have here, the essence of Caribbean theatre!"

And he was right, it was a veritable who's who in Caribbean theatre and culture, with people like actress Carol Lawes from Guyana, Jamaican writer Easton Lee, Cynthia Lawes from Barbados and a Trinidad section that included writer Earl Lovelace, veteran actors Laurie Goldstraw, Stanley Marshall, Albert Laveau and Ralph Campbell, dance icon Pat Roe and our finest pierrot grenade Felix Edinborough.

The tributes to Jones ranged from moving speeches to some jazz poetry.

"We haven't done enough to celebrate Errol," said a sombre Leroy Clarke.

Clarke, the Trinidad Theatre Workshop's first stage manager, has been closely associated with Jones for over 30 years and has seen him perform seminal roles like Makak in Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain.

This space is too small for Errol, if he was somewhere else, he would have been a real hero."

"With all of this, is now I know I'm getting old," said Jones, as he looked on at all the fuss that was being made over him. He laughed and clapped as Mavis John and pearl Eintou Springer performed the song, "Put some jazz in the callaloo" and gave Clarke some light hearted fatigue about the bumpy road to his home.

"All you ever see Errol Jones wine down to the ground?" asked actor Noel Blandin, master of ceremonies for the afternoon.

At this, a look of surprise came over Jones face, then an embarrassed look as Blandin continued, "He wined down in Central bank Auditorium when he played King Jab Jab in King Arthur and his Merry Men."

"Errol told me: 'Noel if you ever get me to do that again, I will kill you,'" laughed Blandin.

It was a day made for a celebration in the cool, crisp air of the verdant Aripo hills against the backdrop of Leroy Clarke's paintings. And at the end of the day, the talk was not only of the memories of Jones' career, but of what he has yet to achieve.

The grand old man of theatre is actively involved in the development of local theatre as a trustee of the National Drama Association. He is also going to make another appearance on stage soon, when he appears in the new local play Clearwater in June at the Central Bank Auditorium.
 
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