Preserving Our Literary Heritage

(Excerpt of an interview with Ian Valz, Georgetown, Guyana, November 2007.

Valz made his mark on local theatre before migrating to St. Maarten in 1983, where he died recently. Valz is better known for his play, ‘House of Pressure’.) PP:      The contribution of Guyanese in the Diaspora in the field of literature and art should not be, ought not to be, divorced from what’s happening back home, because more often than not, the writer, the artist, is talking back to a Guyanese community, speaking with a Guyanese sensibility.   Congratulations, Sir Ian Valz, on your knighthood, which came about because of your hard work in the theatre arts in St. Maarten. Walk us through this process leading to the award.

IV:       When I arrived in St. Maarten in 1983, there was  a sort of community theatre in place, and I realised quite quickly there was potential for expansion and growth. I started to teach young children, teenagers and young adults. I formed three groups: The children drama workshop, the teenage acting company, and the adult drama workshop. We produced many plays. Eventually, theatre evolved to such an extent that we got a lot of support from the general public. Somewhere along the line, they recognised that effort, and that it was making a major contribution to the cultural development of St. Maarten.

PP:      Your play, ‘Masquerade’ is now in book form…

IV:       Yes, it was published since 1989.

PP:      Not much publishing in drama. Paloma Mohamed comes to mind, a few others in Trinidad…

IV:       Derek Walcott, Roderick Walcott… There was a lot more publishing in the 70s when I was young man; we could find one-act plays in the library…

PP:      Sheik Sadeek, N. E. Cameroon and others. Why so little publishing in drama. I know plays are written to be performed, and that’s publishing of a sort, but we would like to see plays in another format, to save them in book form so we can refer to them; that’s what books are for. Why so little publishing on plays?

IV:       Well, I think prose has attracted more critical thinking as opposed to drama. And there is that demand, the market is there. And for us in the Caribbean, culture has always been a back-burner issue. And drama is even further back. Those perhaps could be the reasons.  Very good plays have been written, many good scripts lying about the Caribbean; that’s unfortunate, but… In St. Maarten, there is company called ‘The House of Nehesi’ publishing work for myself and George Lamming…

PP:      CARIFESTA is coming back to Guyana; perhaps we could use that forum to discuss that aspect of the art. But back to the play, ‘Masquerade’; it was short-listed for the Guyana Prize for Literature some time ago…

IV:       Quite some time ago, but it was a great honour to be placed in the same category as Michael Gilkes, who was the eventual winner. I was just starting out my career, and it certainly encouraged me to continue…

PP:      I was coming to that, meaning, that a book/entry that is short-listed has the potential in the eye of the panel of judges to be the winner. So, in essence, ‘Masquerade’ is a winner. And you said you were honoured, especially since it was pipped by the indomitable Michael Gilkes, the grandmaster of drama. ‘House of Pressure’… very popular. Take us through the process of reaching the public.

IV:       I was very influenced by Molière while I was at Saint Stanislaus College, which was very active in drama at the time. And I did Molière’s ‘The Miser’ one year, and something in it reminded me of local situations; there were elements in it that I think I could adapt to Guyanese situations. Of course, it was quite different socially, but the characters were so rich that they reminded me of people I know, so I decided  to rework and rewrite it, and it evolved into something other than Molière’s ‘Miser’, and I was happy with the end result. I got good support from André Sobryan, Anthony Stewart, Jasper Adams and Ron Robinson. In fact, when we did the radio serial, it was Ron who helped me. At that time, I was quite young, and young writers weren’t really given the chance to get their work out, but Ron fought for it and it was successful. And it has stood the test of time, because I recently saw it, and it was still funny and poignant.

PP:      And it moved to stage successfully.

IV:       Yes, that was in 1981. And it was tremendously successful.

PP:      Let’s discuss this issue of young writers, emerging writers finding it difficult to break into the mainstream. In your case, you got help. Without that help, what would have happened to you?

IV:       I haven’t really thought about it that way; I guess I was blessed. Actually, when I was about 16 or 17, Ron saw me in a play at Saint Stanislaus and invited me to join the Theatre Guild. A new set of young people was joining at that time, and I think I was the youngest to direct a play at Theatre Guild. And again, Ron fought for this, and that play was called ‘Home at Seven’. And it won all the awards that year. And that sort of gave all the youngsters encouragement to show that they could break into the mainstream. Remember! The big names at that time were E. McAndrew, Fr. Gardner, George McKenzie and others. That was quite an accomplishment: Directing a play, winning every award at the time, and the credit again goes to Ron. But I was fortunate to work with the best on that occasion: Margaret Kellman, Anthony Stewart, Ron…

PP:      I like looking back because it can be instructive. Sometimes, the formative years can reveal quite a lot. Let’s locate Ian Valz in Guyana.

IV:       I was born in Hadfield Street, Georgetown. Mmy parents still live there. I attended St. Mary’s Primary School, then Saint Stanislaus. I studied public health at the university, and joined the City Council. Mavis Benn was mayor then, and she recognised that I was involved in the arts, and made me ‘Sports and Culture Officer’ for the Council. I worked there for about two years, then migrated to St. Maarten to get married. I left at the height of my popularity here, and oftentimes I thought about coming home, but you know, you get caught up in the society and that is that.

PP:      Earlier, I said that the writer in the Diaspora writes back to a Guyanese community. Your play, ‘Masquerade’ was set in Guyana.

IV:       I was very nostalgic at the time when I wrote ‘Masquerade’; I’d just gotten to St. Maarten and really missed home. At that time, too, there was the debate about Guyanese leaving their country, and I had mixed feelings at the time.

PP:      That’s what I said in my opening … we cannot afford to divorce the contribution of Guyanese writers in the Diaspora; whatever you may do, some of your work will be grounded in your formative days; thinking back of home where you have learnt your art and tested your craft. And you said you left at the height of your popularity.

IV:       Yes, I’d just done a play with Margaret, Allan Cooper and Andrea Charles; ‘Butterflies are Free’. Most of my plays at that time were sold-out productions: ‘Two’s a Crowd’, ‘House of Pressure’, ‘Room to Let’…

PP:      Any special theme you focused on?

IV:       Basically reflecting what was happening in the society at that time.

PP:      What was happening
in Guyana at that time?

IV:       Guyana was going through a period of development at that time that incorporated several viewpoints and varied opinions and conflicts. Of course, that needs to be addressed. I think theatre is the proper place and time to educate and entertain.

PP:      And theatre can do much more than that, relatively… which was why you chose to work with young people. Expand on that project.

IV:       I do think that in the Caribbean region, youths display this natural ability to perform and are ignored. What it can do when encouraged is to establish self-esteem; it gives the youth the opportunity to grow with a certain consciousness and pride. So I think theatre is very important for the young.

PP:      And theatre should be easy; it is grounded in oral tradition, with which we are all comfortable, so it should come more easily to us. But that is not the reality.

IV:       Unfortunately.

PP:      Why unfortunately? Explain this; since theatre can do so much and yet theatre is sort of struggling in comparison to the other art forms.

IV:       Well, the initiative in St Maarten, for example, came from a group of us who realised it had to be done, and we approached it seriously and consistently and with a lot of energy. If you stay with it long enough, people will buy into it. I did it here with Margaret Lawrence, Jasper Adams, Andrée Sobryan, Ron Robinson and all those guys. On one side, the lack of consistency may be the problem: The genuine love of it; the reasons why you are doing it and not just for the dollar. But you must recognise that this is part of your cultural development if you are to grow as a society. So, on the one hand, the artist has to have this total commitment; on the other hand, they have to get the support of the community via the government, and that is not always forthcoming in its totality. And that sometimes makes us feel underappreciated, especially when our commitment is larger than what we should receive.

PP:      Perhaps you could work on that area to get government to do more.

IV:       I think first of all, recognition of our artists is very important. Guys like Ron and Margaret should be recognised as national heroes for their contribution in Guyana. And Howard Lorrimer and others like Henry Rodney, who are consistently working at their craft…

PP:      Andrée Sobryan.

IV:       Certainly Andre…

PP:      Going back to the start of your career: To your formative days at ‘Saints’; to the City Council’s cultural project; to Theatre Guild. What you had to offer to the powers-that-be in theatre that induced their encouragement and support?

IV:       It is more likely the crowds I pulled, especially at the National Cultural Centre… If something is not that really good, you wouldn’t get that support. Of course, the literary critic will say what they have to say. But we recognised that this was theatre for the public, and not just the elite audience… but for a general audience. So we were able to bring people out from every area of Georgetown, and even further. We went to Berbice, and everywhere we went, we had good support. And I think that somewhat opened the eyes of people that these guys were doing something good, and I was certainly doing something good. That’s how I was offered the job at the City Council by the then Mayor, Mavis Benn. Sitting in the Council with all the elder heads was quite intimidating at times, but I was able to deliver there as well, because I had good support from the workers of the City Council at the time. Actors like Michael Balkarran… I don’t know if he is still acting, I hope so. He was in the first Link Show with Ron. Michael was also from the City Council, and I got his full support.

PP:      You mentioned taking plays to New Amsterdam. That is a dimension missing in the arts, where everything seems to be focused on Georgetown, centralised in Georgetown. Producers complain how difficult it is to take plays out of Georgetown without proper lighting, stage and other props. But you have, and successfully.

IV:       Yes, I have performed at Dartmouth, on the Essequibo [Coast] with Hilton Hemmerding…

PP:      How is he? Another great Guyanese performer.

IV:       I haven’t seen him in a while, but I’d like to hail him up and wish him the very best. When I worked with the City Council, Hilton was there. I started a folk group there and he was part of it. He was the lead in the folk group, and we did many, many great productions together. And we toured everywhere. Of course, the mayor was instrumental in getting us to go places, showcasing our talents.

PP:      You had the machinery to help you.

IV:       Yes, Mavis Benn was very instrumental.

PP:      Drama, writing, directing, acting… and now you’ve moved to another art form….

IV:       Film-making. I’ve done a number of international projects; one with CBS and a number of tours to Holland. I have always found film to be a fascinating medium, because it could reach so many people at one time. It is not like theatre, where you have to perform twenty/thirty performances. I am a very diverse person; I like to experiment in other areas of the art. And I was lucky to write a script that took ten years to produce. Finally, I found a producer who was impressed by the script and he brought a great crew from Holland and we made this film, ‘Panman: Rhythm of the Palms’. It’s about a pan player, the struggle of the panman, sort of symbolic of the Caribbean artist; the struggle we have with family life and getting artistic work done. It premiered in St. Maarten…and I am in discussion here with local producers to work along with me and to have it shown here.

PP:      ‘Panman’! I am thinking of John Agard’s ‘Man to Pan’.

IV:       I performed that several times…

PP:      Similar storyline?

IV:       No. But certainly the inspiration must have come from there. John wrote a beautiful piece of work that talked about what the artist represents to us in the Caribbean. Of course, it cannot be overstated: Pan is the only musical instrument to be invented in the 20th Century; it made me appreciate more the steelpan and what it represents, not just as a musical instrument but as an instrument of bringing peoples together, the Caribbean people.

PP:      This is what you are doing with drama, and now your filmmaking. Congratulations on using these art forms to bring people together, which can augur well for CARIFESTA X in Guyana in the year 2008.

(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)