Runner Boy

Last week a fellow pcv asked me to go with her and students from her school to see the annual pantomime show in Kingston. Of course I jumped on this opportunity right away. I really miss seeing live theater/performing arts and was excited to see how it's done in Jamaica.

Before I tell you about the show and our experience let me give you a brief history about the Jamaican Pantomime, cause it's quite interesting. The National Pantomime is put on by the Little Theater Movement theater company which promotes the development of drama in Jamaica. The first National Pantomime took after the tradition of English theater, where a childhood story was adopted for stage with music, song and dance. However, over the years the Pantomime has evolved from English tradition to "lusty tales of the Caribbean, with dialogue in patois and humour reflecting the robust sense of comedy of these 'islands in the sun." (Taken from LTM's website). Each year the Pantomime uses Jamaican culture, folklore and historical references to create a story entertaining for both children and adults.

This year's Pantomime is called Runner Boy, a parody about the famous Usain Bolt who impressed the world last summer by smashing world records and bringing home three Olympic gold medals. The story was not only about the Runner Boy, but also about the community he came from, the people of the town and everyday life of the rural community.

In true Jamaican fashion, we arrived late to the show so we ended up coming into the theater during the middle of a scene. As I sat down and tried to understand what was going on I realized that I couldn't hardly understand anything the actors and actresses were saying. :( I'd like to think that by now I can mostly understand patois (even though I don't use it much), but it is hard to follow along when I had no context on what was happening. Luckily though, once I was settled and really paying attention to the story I found that I could understand almost everything and got a lot of the jokes that were said on stage! It felt good to know that my patois part of the brain has been well trained to comprehend the Jamaican language.

Needless to say the show was very cute, with lots of songs and dance numbers that I was moving my booty to in my seat. I always get reved up by musicals. The remind me of the ones I preformed in during my high school years and all the fun I had performing in them... Ahhh memories!

The show ended rather late but that didn't stop us from taking some pictures outside the theater before loading up on the bus for the long ride home. What a fun night! Looking forward to next year's show!