06 Nov 2024
Deborah Heath discovers some of the stories of people who left their lives in the Caribbean to relocate to St Albans…
Earlier this year, many readers will have seen the St Albans Museum exhibition ‘Becoming Us’, a celebration of people who came from the West Indies and settled in St Albans.
Andrene McDonald (who travelled from Jamaica to St Albans in the 1960s) works for Active Lifestyles, a St Albans voluntary organisation which runs the Caribbean luncheon club and excursions for the over-60s. Along with other volunteers, she ran a series of workshops to collect the first-hand experiences which formed the basis of the exhibition at St Albans Museum + Gallery.
Tina Swain, manager of the Abbey Theatre was inspired by this exhibition to take the stories one step further and turn them into a piece of theatre. She explains: “My husband and I saw the exhibition when it opened in February, and were fascinated by the stories. I contacted Andrene McDonald, one of its curators, and proposed a joint project. This play is the result of that collaboration.”
Andrene, chair of Active Lifestyles, added: “After an overwhelming response of over 26,000 visits to the Becoming Us exhibition, with the support from the Abbey Theatre, using the words of local people and performed by local people we continue to showcase historical facts with a hope to deepen an understanding on what the St Albans African Caribbean community experienced.”
I felt truly privileged to be invited to this play which took place in the intimate space of the Abbey Theatre Studio. The script, compiled from interviews made for the Becoming Us exhibition, told the stories of people who left their homes in the Caribbean to settle in our city. Rather than presenting seven separate accounts, Tina cleverly grouped them by theme, for example finding work and establishing a career. This made the experience conversational providing a very a satisfying theatrical experience.
Tina explained: “The cast narrate the lived experiences of other local people who confronted discrimination and racism, but also found friendship, acceptance and contentment here.”
One actor even read out her own story of moving from St Kitts to join family in St Albans. It felt all the more powerful and down to earth as none of the volunteers had acted before, although I sincerely hope some will go on to do so.
A particular shout out for the marvellous performance of ‘Tears on my Pillow’ which had everyone in the audience singing along.
In terms of the stories themselves, I must confess to it being an eye opener. I was ignorant not only to the conditions people lived in (including sleeping rough in Clarence Park) to the extent of the discrimination that was faced. These men and women were, after all, answering the call of the British Empire and I feel so ashamed that they were met with hostility.
For example, many stories talked of being turned down for a job once the employer could see the colour of their skin. The only place men seemed to be able to initially find work was the gasworks. Rising out of these tales of racial discrimination however was an overarching theme of hope. The story of one woman’s steady climb up the career ladder of the legal profession was inspirational, as was the general sense of community and family; how everyone helped each other even when they had so little to give.
With immigration such a hot topic, ‘Becoming Us: Revisited’ was a particularly thought-provoking performance for this time. I recognise all the cogs in the machine which contributed to the execution of this show and commend everyone involved.
As a writer myself. I have great admiration for Tina Swain for having the vision to take these stories and craft them into a piece of theatre to be staged during Black History Month. It was the right story, told at the right time and in the right way. I am delighted to hear that some of these tales should soon be available to read online because this is an important part of St Albans’ history which should be widely appreciated.
The show was a truly heartwarming and educational community collaboration between The Abbey Theatre and Active Lifestyles and shows how there are little known stories everywhere we turn. Stories that not only need to be told but must be done so in different ways so that their message can be far-reaching and powerful.
