The Jamaican
Pantomime Company was formed in 1985, and developed out of
a summer workshop coordinated by Maurice Harty. The
need to bring together a core of multifaceted, musical theatre
performers grew out of a realisation that much valuable
rehearsal
time was spent breaking in a new set of players each season
only to start again with the next. Under the leadership of
Brian Heap and Barbara Gloudon, the Company went into action.
Since 1985, the "company system" has produced within
the LTM a cadre of young performers, notable for their versatility,
not only in their ability to sing, dance and act, but also
their readiness to meet the special challenges of the Pantomime
including stilt-walking, acrobatics and puppet/effigy animation.
The first Pantomime which featured the Company was
"Trash",
(1986/87) a watershed production which ensured the survival
of Pantomime in the information age in Jamaica. The emergence
of the Pantomime Company has also enabled the Pantomime to
tour extensively. The Company has performed throughout
the United States, at several venues in Florida and New York
as well as Toronto, Canada, Leeds and London in the
United Kingdom and Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Pantomime
Company has a summer season of a production which features
mainly music and songs from the extensive collection developed
over the years. The productions began in 1996 with Rookumbine
- a revue of Pantomime songs, the following year the Company
was seen in Augus
Mawnin which was created in
recognition of the return of Emancipation Day to the national
calendar.
The Pantomime Company upholds the mantra "You're only
as good as your last performance" and so they
rise to the creative challenges set for each year's production
as they seek to bring quality family entertainment to
the theatre-going public.
