Summary
Derek Walcott’s two-act play Pantomime—first produced in 1978—is set at the Castaways Guest House on the island of Tobago. The only two characters are Harry Trewe, a white Englishman in his mid-forties who owns the guest house, and Jackson Phillip, a forty-year-old Black Trinidadian who works as Harry’s factotum (general handyman and servant). Harry is a retired actor and Jackson is a retired calypsonian—someone who performs calypso, a Trinidadian musical style that uses African rhythm and improvised lyrics about life in the Caribbean.
The guest house’s gazebo sits on the edge of a cliff. The table is set for breakfast. Harry walks out carrying a tape recorder and sets it on the table to record himself. Dancing and singing, Harry tests out lyrics for the Christmas pantomime show he is planning. The lyrics invite the audience, adults and children, to enjoy the show, which is called Robinson Crusoe. Unhappy with what he has sung, Harry switches off the recording and exits the stage.
Jackson enters wearing a white waiter’s jacket and black trousers, but he has no shoes or socks. He sets down a breakfast tray. Jackson calls for Mr. Trewe, switching between an English accent and his Creole accent. He fans the eggs, worried they will get cold and he’ll get in trouble, but then realizes he is only cooling them more. He says aloud that his boss must have jumped off the ledge “at long last.” He leaves with the tray before Harry returns wearing a goatskin hat and carrying a goatskin parasol. Harry sees Jackson’s footprint, singing about the footprint of a naked man until he forgets the rest of the lyrics. Jackson returns without the tray and tells Harry breakfast is ready. When they ask each other how they are doing, both men reply by talking about the weather at sea rather than their own emotions. Harry says he predicts “heavy showers,” and is so bored he “could burst into tears.”
When Jackson goes to get the breakfast, Harry addresses him as “Friday,” referring to himself as “Crusoe.” Jackson reminds his employer that he isn’t an actor and has no intention of playing a naked cannibal in front of tourists. Harry scoffs at the word “tourists” and reminds Jackson that they are the only ones in the guest house because it’s closed for repairs. Harry climbs onto the ledge and pretends he is going to jump off. He tells Jackson he is “watching the great Harry Trewe and his high-wire act.” Jackson says he is “watching Jackson Phillip and his disappearing act” as he turns to leave.
Harry gets down from the ledge and says it would be too frustrating to attempt suicide in a Third World country because the pencils break when you try to leave a note and the local blades aren’t sharp enough to cut your wrists. Jackson says they (residents of Trinidad and Tobago) are trying their best since “all you gone.” He also tells Harry that no one will believe it’s suicide; they’ll accuse Jackson of pushing Harry.
Jackson tries again to give Harry his breakfast. Harry says he’s been awake with insomnia, worrying over what entertainment he will give his guests. Jackson talks of how every part of the hotel has some issue, as though the physical structure is diseased. He tells his boss to just give the guests water, food, and shelter—the basics. Harry reminds Jackson that the ad for the hotel promotes “Nightly Entertainment,” so they have to give their guests something. Harry says he’s been up all night thinking about the script for Robinson Crusoe, a pantomime he co-authored. He says he can break it down to just two characters: Crusoe and Man Friday—and maybe the parrot.
Jackson says that, while they’re on the subject, he would like to “report” the parrot for the fifth time for saying “Heinegger.” Jackson says he knows that it’s supposedly the name of the old German who used to own the place, but the word is “playing havoc” with his nerves. He says he thinks the pre-colonial parrot has the wrong idea. Harry jokes that it’s just the parrot’s Creole accent. Jackson suggests executing the parrot by firing squad. He says the bird is prejudiced, having been corrupted by its colonial upbringing, and it has to adjust to modern-day Trinidad and Tobago.
Harry jumps up and returns to the subject of the pantomime. Jackson refuses to put on the goatskin hat and make a fool of himself. Harry says it would be a “twist, heavy with irony” if they reversed the casting. Jackson says he can’t believe Harry, a real actor, having the “balls” to go around naked playing a white cannibal. They drop the subject while Harry asks for his breakfast. Jackson reminds him there is an island-wide shortage of butter and sugar. Harry says he has heard Jackson sing calypsos in the kitchen. Jackson says he keeps begging Harry to stop trying to make him an entertainer; he moved to Tobago for peace and quiet, having finished with Trinidad and show business.
While Jackson is off stage getting the breakfast tray, Harry removes his clothing and says, “Mastah … Mastah … Friday sorry. Friday never do it again. Master.” Jackson comes back to see Harry like this and groans. Harry explains that he was feeling what it is like to be Friday. Jackson asks if he minds putting his pants back on. Harry asks why he can’t eat breakfast without pants on; Jackson says because he is there, serving Harry. Harry says there’s nobody here. Jackson asks him twice more to put his trousers back on. Harry asks if Jackson’s afraid he’s “bent” (gay), then explains that, though he hasn’t had much interest in women since his son died, he hasn’t “gone queer” either. Jackson says that he feels like an ass holding the breakfast tray while his employer stands naked; if anyone did pass by, Jackson’s reputation would be ruined. He will serve Harry only when Harry puts his pants on. He then shouts at Harry, calling him a “blasted child.”
Harry finally puts his clothes on. He accuses Jackson of having a Victorian attitude, saying there’s nothing wrong with a hotel owner having breakfast in his underwear on a deserted Sunday morning. Jackson says it’s about manners. Harry tells Jackson to take a seat, saying he’ll serve him to learn manners. Jackson stays standing, and says he’s been served by white men before in New York, so it isn’t a novelty. Jackson rants about how his sense of humor can only be stretched so far. He says that he used to get into trouble in Trinidad. There was an Indian man named Boysie who wanted “to play nigger,” making jokes and referring to Jackson as “nigger boy.” Jackson would laugh and tell him to stop, but he kept going. One day, Jackson drove an icepick into the man’s hand, nailing it to a table. Harry asks Jackson to sit at the table. Jackson shrugs and obliges.
Analysis
In the opening scene of Pantomime, Derek Walcott establishes the play’s sense of dark humor while introducing several of the major themes: isolation, performance, resentment, mimicry, and postcolonialism. The themes of isolation and postcolonialism are captured in the play’s setting: a small rundown hotel on an island of the Caribbean country Trinidad and Tobago, which, at the time of the play’s 1978 production, had only recently gained independence from Britain. In this secluded place, Harry Trewe has left his life as an actor in England behind. With no guests currently staying due to repairs, Harry finds himself more isolated than usual; his employee, Jackson, is his only company.
Walcott introduces the theme of performance with Harry’s first appearance on stage. Having been awake all night with worry over how to entertain future guests—or so he says—Harry sings and dances a part from the pantomime he once coauthored based on Daniel Defoe’s 1719 book, Robinson Crusoe, which is widely considered the first English novel. Unlike a silent mime performance in which meaning is expressed through gesture, a British pantomime is a child-friendly theatre show that involves slapstick comedy, musical routines, and jokes. Pantomimes are usually produced around Christmas and tend to be based on fairy tales or nursery stories. Tired of being a hotelier, Harry envisions a return to being a pantomime performer, and hopes Jackson will also come out of retirement as a calypso singer.
The theme of resentment comes up with Jackson’s reactions to his eccentric, whimsical employer. While Harry entertains fantasies of dazzling guests by turning the hotel into a cabaret, Jackson is more concerned about getting the dilapidated place in basic working order. With sarcastic asides (addresses for the audience’s benefit) and overt anger at Harry’s childish behavior, Jackson makes clear his bitterness at being subordinate to such a foolish and entitled man. He also tells the story of a time when his resentment turned to violence and he drove an icepick into a man’s hand, having had enough of his racist taunts.
Jackson’s resentment even extends to the hotel’s parrot, which he accuses of purposefully calling him the N-word. Harry defends the bird by saying that it is merely repeating the name of the hotel’s German former owner, Heinegger, but Jackson perceives racial prejudice in the bird. The themes of postcolonialism and mimicry arise as Jackson outlines his theory that the parrot, like a child, has been indoctrinated into being prejudiced against Black people by its white racist owners from the colonial era. Jackson adds that such attitudes have no place in the postcolonial present.
Walcott builds further on the theme of postcolonialism with Harry’s joking insults about Tobago’s “Third World” status: Harry emphasizes the poor condition of the newly independent former colony’s economy by complaining that the products available are of such low quality that a person couldn’t even commit suicide. Jackson counters Harry’s mockery by pointing out Harry’s lack of knowledge about the country’s domestic unrest, alluding to the island-wide shortage of basic food staples like butter and sugar—likely a reference to the 1975 workers’ strikes in the oil, sugar, transport, and electricity sectors of Trinidad and Tobago.
