Ti Jean and His Brothers - An Introduction to the play and playwright

​Born on the island of Saint Lucia, a former British colony in the West Indies, poet and playwright Derek Walcott was trained as a painter but turned to writing as a young man. He published his first poem in the local newspaper at the age of 14. Five years later, he borrowed $200 to print his first collection, which he distributed on street corners. Walcott’s major breakthrough came with the collection (1962), a book which celebrates the Caribbean and its history as well as investigates the scars of colonialism. Throughout a long and distinguished career, Walcott returned to those same themes of language, power, and place. His later collections include Tiepolo’s Hound (2000), The Prodigal (2004), Selected Poems (2007), White Egrets (2010), and Morning, Paramin (2016). In 1992, Walcott won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel committee described his work as “a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.”

​Retrieved from: Poetry Foundation

​Early Life

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Derek Walcott was born in St. Lucia and raised by their mother after his father died. His mother was the headmistress of a school so Walcott received a good education in English and was encouraged to pursue the interests of the arts. As a student at The University of the West Indies, Mona, he encountered the tension characteristic of Euro-centred education and from that the desire to create a theatre representative of the native cultures emerged. He moved to Trinidad after university and formed the Trinidad Theatre Workshop in the 1950s which remains a legacy of his.

He celebrates the Caribbean and its history and investigates the scars of colonialism and post-colonialism. His work explores language, power, and place. He probes problems of Caribbean identity against the backdrop of racial and political strife. He crafted native Caribbean drama in a distinctive West Indian style which he fused with non-Caribbean theatre forms. He is a formidable playwright and poet and is one of the most revered poets of the 20th century.

Throughout a long and distinguished career, Walcott returned to those same themes of language, power, and place. His later collections include Tiepolo’s Hound (2000), The Prodigal (2004), Selected Poems (2007), White Egrets (2010), and Morning, Paramin (2016). In 1992, Walcott won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel committee described his work as “a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.”

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​​Retrieved from: Poetry Foundation

​Since the 1950s Walcott divided his time between Boston, New York, and Saint Lucia. His work resonates with Western canon and Island influences, shifting between Caribbean patois and English, and often addressing his English and West Indian ancestry. The polarities in his writing shoot an electricity which is questioning and beautiful and which helps form a vision of the Caribbean.

Walcott was also a renowned playwright. In 1971 he won an Obie Award for his play Dream on Monkey Mountain, which the New Yorker described as “a poem in dramatic form.” Walcott’s plays generally treat aspects of the West Indian experience, often dealing with the socio-political and epistemological implications of post-colonialism and drawing upon various genres such as the fable, allegory, folk, and morality play. With his twin brother, he cofounded the Trinidad Theater Workshop in 1950; in 1981, while teaching at Boston University, he founded the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. He also taught at Columbia University, Yale University, Rutgers University, and Essex University in England.