RODERICK WALCOTT
1930-2000
St Lucian
playwright succumbs to illness
Courtesy Trinidad
and Tobago Review
Sunday Express
Section 2
April 2, 2000
Page 10
Roderick Walcott, the St Lucian playwright and twin brother of
Derek Walcott, Nobel Laureate, died on the night of Monday, March 6, in
Toronto, Canada, after a long illness.
He
was 70.
He
was born on January 23, 1930 to Alix and Warwick Walcott. The twin brothers Derek and Roderick had one
older sister, Pamela. Warwick Walcott
died in 1931, and the Walcott children were brought up by the well-loved
teacher Alix.
Walcott
was awarded the Saint Lucia Medal of Honour (Gold) "for eminent and
outstanding contribution to the Literary and Performing Arts" during this
year's celebration of Independence. His
trilogy of plays, The Benjy Trilogy, published by Ian Randle Publishers,
was launched at the Department of Culture on February 25.
In
January, he was the recipient of the Joseph Devaux Lifetime Achievement Award
at the annual M&C Fine Arts Awards.
In 1976, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for
outstanding theatrical work in St Lucia.
Roderick
Walcott is remembered as the leader of the St Lucia Arts Guild during the
fifties and sixties, from 1951 to 1967.
For many years, the group presented the best of international and
regional drama to local audiences. The
popular 'Roddy" was highly respected throughout the region as a
playwright, screenwriter, painter, theatre director, costume and set designer,
song lyricist and literary editor. Walcott
also led the Turks steelband, and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of St
Lucian carnival.
He
is regarded as one of the founders of modern Caribbean theatre.
His
play The Harrowing of Benjy still remains the most produced play in the
English-speaking Caribbean. His
now-famous musical The Banjo Man was staged by St Lucia for the first
Carifesta in Guyana in 1972, and was a huge success. It was part of a trilogy that included Chanson Marianne
(1974) and Romiel et Violette (1979).
These plays featured the local flower festivals of La Rose and La
Marguerite. His collaboration for many
years with Charles Cadet produced many folk songs that have now become classic
St Lucian songs.
A
listing of the playwright's works include 17 dramas, eight musicals and two
screenplays. He also painted, and
staged a one-man exhibition of his work in 1978 in St Lucia.
In
1968, Roderick Walcott and his family moved to Canada, where the playwright
studied theatre arts at York University in Toronto from 1969-1973. He returned to St Lucia in the late
seventies to become the island's first Director of Culture from 1977-1980.
He represented
St Lucia at international cultural conferences and headed delegations to Carifesta
in 1972 and 1979 (Cuba). He returned to
Canada in 1980, but visited St Lucia periodically to produce his plays.
Among
immediate family left to mourn are his wife Stella, daughters Carrie and
Heather and son Willard, his brother Derek, and sister Pamela St Hill.