By IPS Correspondents
KINGSTON, Dec 19 2002 (IPS)

Violence in downtown Kingston has claimed another victim – a traditional holiday pageant that is being relocated for the first time in more than 60 years.

Crime in Jamaica’s capital has forced producers of the annual play to switch its traditional Boxing Day opening from the landmark Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston.

According to Barbara Gloudon, writer of this year’s "Miss Annie" show, producers met with the Ward’s board shortly after a Nov. 16 shooting incident between gangs in downtown Kingston where the Ward is located.

Five people were killed and 17 others injured in the incident.

Gloudon said all parties agreed that the Ward, which is sandwiched between some of the area’s toughest communities, would not be a safe place for the play’s traditional Dec. 26 curtain raiser.

"It’s going to be only for this year, until we can help restore confidence in downtown," said Gloudon. "It wasn’t a decision taken lightly. We’ve been wrestling with it for the past two years but patrons have become quite edgy about going downtown.”

The Ward has hosted the yearly play – known here as a pantomime – since it debuted in 1941 with "Jack And The Beanstalk". Only in 1950, when electrical problems made the facility unsafe, has the theatre not hosted the annual musical.

"Miss Annie", which is based on the life of legendary 18th century plantation owner Annie Palmer, will open at the Little Theatre, a similar venue just 10 minutes by car east of the Ward.

Normally, the pantomime moves from the Ward to the Little Theatre after three months, but because patrons feared for their safety, the 2001 production was switched after only one month.

That, said Gloudon, caused a strain on the budget of producers.

"We lost about 200,000 Jamaican dollars (about 4,000 U.S. dollars) last year and that’s something we can’t afford. We don’t get any funding from anybody and whatever is made from the pantomime one year is left over to produce the next one," Gloudon explained.

Management at the Ward has grappled with crime in downtown Kingston for a number of years. But not even the bloody political warfare of the 1970s forced a change in venue.

Now, it has become increasingly difficult to convince audiences of their safety. Not even a shuttle service from New Kingston, the city’s business district, to the theatre has reassured patrons.

The pantomime thrived back in the years of British rule, and even after Jamaica gained independence in 1962. Theatre lovers flocked to the Ward to watch greats like Louise Bennett and Ranny Williams, but though it has continued to attract a loyal following, the play’s popularity has waned with the increase in small-budget stage productions.

The Ward is one of few historic sites in downtown Kingston from Jamaica’s colonial past. It opened in 1912 and was given as a gift to the people of Kingston by Colonel John Ward, the city’s British ruler.

When Kingston’s corporate structure moved to New Kingston, the haberdasheries and duty-free stores owned by merchants of Asian and Middle Eastern descent flourished. So did leaders of rival gangs who reportedly demand extortion money from these owners.

The merchants have repeatedly appealed to the government and the city’s private sector organisation to beef up security downtown. They even closed their stores on Oct. 15, the day before general elections, to protest the high level of crime in the area.

Increased police presence, merchants say, has not stopped toughs from demanding ”protection” money from them.

In addition to the merchants, downtown is home to sidewalk vendors who sell wares like cheap clothing from Caribbean territories like Aruba and Curacao. Many of them are from hardened communities such as west Kingston, where police say there is much criminal activity.

Attempts by the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation (the government agency that oversees Kingston) to move the vendors to new markets have been unsuccessful.

This year, Kingston has been virtually under siege. It is where most of the 1,002 people murdered in Jamaica this year were killed. According to the Constabulary Communication Network, more than 200 people were murdered here in October and November alone.

Those statistics and the Nov. 16 incident near the theatre have frightened the management at the Ward into closing its doors on the pantomime this year.

Barbara Gloudon, who has written most of the pantomime scripts in the last decade, hopes that when Dec. 26, 2003 comes around, Jamaica’s best-known production will return to familiar surroundings.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
KINGSTON, Dec 19 2002 (IPS)

Violence in downtown Kingston has claimed another victim – a traditional holiday pageant that is being relocated for the first time in more than 60 years.

Crime in Jamaica’s capital has forced producers of the annual play to switch its traditional Boxing Day opening from the landmark Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston.

According to Barbara Gloudon, writer of this year’s “Miss Annie” show, producers met with the Ward’s board shortly after a Nov. 16 shooting incident between gangs in downtown Kingston where the Ward is located.

Five people were killed and 17 others injured in the incident.

Gloudon said all parties agreed that the Ward, which is sandwiched between some of the area’s toughest communities, would not be a safe place for the play’s traditional Dec. 26 curtain raiser.

“It’s going to be only for this year, until we can help restore confidence in downtown,” said Gloudon. “It wasn’t a decision taken lightly. We’ve been wrestling with it for the past two years but patrons have become quite edgy about going downtown.”

The Ward has hosted the yearly play ¡ known here as a pantomime – since it debuted in 1941 with “Jack And The Beanstalk”. Only in 1950, when electrical problems made the facility unsafe, has the theatre not hosted the annual musical.

“Miss Annie”, which is based on the life of legendary 18th century plantation owner Annie Palmer, will open at the Little Theatre, a similar venue just 10 minutes by car east of the Ward.

Normally, the pantomime moves from the Ward to the Little Theatre after three months, but because patrons feared for their safety, the 2001 production was switched after only one month.

That, said Gloudon, caused a strain on the budget of producers.

“We lost about 200,000 Jamaican dollars (about 4,000 U.S. dollars) last year and that’s something we can’t afford. We don’t get any funding from anybody and whatever is made from the pantomime one year is left over to produce the next one,” Gloudon explained.

Management at the Ward has grappled with crime in downtown Kingston for a number of years. But not even the bloody political warfare of the 1970s forced a change in venue.

Now, it has become increasingly difficult to convince audiences of their safety. Not even a shuttle service from New Kingston, the city’s business district, to the theatre has reassured patrons.

The pantomime thrived back in the years of British rule, and even after Jamaica gained independence in 1962. Theatre lovers flocked to the Ward to watch greats like Louise Bennett and Ranny Williams, but though it has continued to attract a loyal following, the play’s popularity has waned with the increase in small-budget stage productions.

The Ward is one of few historic sites in downtown Kingston from Jamaica’s colonial past. It opened in 1912 and was given as a gift to the people of Kingston by Colonel John Ward, the city’s British ruler.

When Kingston’s corporate structure moved to New Kingston, the haberdasheries and duty-free stores owned by merchants of Asian and Middle Eastern descent flourished. So did leaders of rival gangs who reportedly demand extortion money from these owners.

The merchants have repeatedly appealed to the government and the city’s private sector organisation to beef up security downtown. They even closed their stores on Oct. 15, the day before general elections, to protest the high level of crime in the area.

Increased police presence, merchants say, has not stopped toughs from demanding “protection” money from them.

In addition to the merchants, downtown is home to sidewalk vendors who sell wares like cheap clothing from Caribbean territories like Aruba and Curacao. Many of them are from hardened communities such as west Kingston, where police say there is much criminal activity.

Attempts by the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation (the government agency that oversees Kingston) to move the vendors to new markets have been unsuccessful.

This year, Kingston has been virtually under siege. It is where most of the 1,002 people murdered in Jamaica this year were killed. According to the Constabulary Communication Network, more than 200 people were murdered here in October and November alone.

Those statistics and the Nov. 16 incident near the theatre have frightened the management at the Ward into closing its doors on the pantomime this year.

Barbara Gloudon, who has written most of the pantomime scripts in the last decade, hopes that when Dec. 26, 2003 comes around, Jamaica’s best-known production will return to familiar surroundings.

Excerpt: