Cecily Waite-Smith

Mixed Company:Three Early Jamaican Plays

Cecily Waite-Smith

In 2012 Jamaica celebrates the 50th anniversary of Independence.Mixed Company is a collection of three of the finest early Jamaicantheatrical works, written for the most part before the dawn ofIndependence.Written in 1954 (The Creatures by Cicely Waite-Smith), 1960 (Bedwardby Louis Marriott) and 1970 (Maskarade by Sylvia Wynter), the playsare examples of works conceived with a Jamaican audience in mind,a Jamaican audience conscious of the melting pot in which it lived.Each offers a unique perspective on the spirit of a people whoheld on to traditional beliefs and customs in the face of colonialopprobrium as the populace struggled to gain its political, socialand cultural independence.