Greta and Henry Fowler
Greta Bourke Fowler (née Todd) was born in Trelawny and educatrd at Hampden Scool and then in Canada. She taught at the Priory Scvhool which was founded by Henry Fowler who later became her husband. In 1941, she fgrought together a group of friends and staged the iunaugural Pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk”, her intention was to “raise funds to provide a little theatre fro Jamaica” and generally to foster the develoipment of drama in the island. She appeared onstage in the 1950 Pantomime “Alice in Winderland” as the Red Queen and later directed “Robinson Crusoe”, “Anancy &. the Magic Mirror” and co-directed “Quashie Lady”. She wrote “Anancy and the Magic Mirror”, “Queenie’s Daughter”, “Bredda Buck” and “Morgan’s Dream of Old Port Royal”. Through tireless fund raising and determinaton, land was purchased from the Government on Tom Redcam Drive and on September 20, 1961, the Little Theatre was opened. She then turned her efforts to her wish to eventually have a repertory theatre company was a factor in the founding of the Jamaica School of Drama which was opened on the grounds of the Little Theatre in 1972. Through her dedication to theatre and the arts she was made a Member of the Most Exvellent Order of the British Empire and the Institute of Jamaica awarded the Gold Musgrave Medal to the Little Theatre Movement in 1976. The Jamaican government awarded her the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) for her contribution in the field of the Arts.
Mrs Greta Fowler dies of a heart attack in the American Hospital n Paris, France, November 30, 1978, aged 73. She had been living with her hisband Henry Fowler who was stationed there as Jamaica’s representative to UNESCO.
Her ashes are interred at the Little Theatre under the Edna Manley sculture “The Rainbow Serpent”.
On
the passing of Mrs Greta Fowler, M.B.E. in Paris on November 30, 1978,
Michael Manley, the then Prime Minister of Jamaica gave the following
tribute to the "doyenne of the art where all the arts meet":
"The word "theatre"
in Jamaica has, for more than a generation been synonymous with the
Fowlers. And in the early days of the forties, Greta Bourke as she
was then, wrought many a miracle, when plays were mounted without
benefit of budgets, without recourse to training courses for potential
actors and with no source of fees for those who may have made claim
to being professional. But with enormous imagination, fantastic resourcefulness
and total commitment to the theatre, the show always went on.
There is no record of the number of Jamaicans who owe their start
on the boards to the encouragement of Greta Fowler. By her sheer enthusiasm
and determination she laid the solid foundations which are now the
basis of a vibrant Jamaican theatre which is so evident everywhere
today.
Before Independence she was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order
of the British Empire in 1975, the Institute of Jamaica awarded the
Gold Musgrave Medal to the Little Theatre Movement the organisation
which she founded alongside her husband in 1976. She received the
Order of Distinction (Commander) for her contribution in the field
of the Arts.
Apart from a natural and genuine love of the theatre, Greta Fowler
recognised the enormous potential which it had as an important unifying
social force and the annual pantomimes over the years have drawn some
major sociological conclusions which have been all the more effective
because they have been clothed in the guise of wit and humour, with
rich use of our dialect and riotous song and dance.
She understood, deeply that many of the social problems in the country
could be diffused by presenting them in a different perspective. For
all these reasons, I feel that Greta Fowler was a towering figure
in the national life of Jamaica. She merely used the theatre as her
medium."
A Thanksgiving
Service for the life of Mrs. Greta Fowler was held at the Little Theatre
on Wednesday December 20, 1978. The remembrance was given by Rex Nettleford.
Her ashes were interred on the theatre grounds, beneath the Edna Manley
sculpture "The Serpent".
Henry
Fowler
Mr. Henry Fowler, O.D., M.A., died in Oxford, England,
on February 14, 2007
Henry
Fowler, grew up in colonial times, when the Jamaican identity was
associated with a culture rooted in a distant land. Even though, as
a Rhodes Scholar, he was educated in “Mother England,”
he set his sights on helping to build a new Jamaica, according to
the vision of Norman Washington Manley who was to become one of the
iconic figures of Jamaica’s quest for nationhood and who Fowler
greatly admired.
After studies in England, Fowler returned to his native land and plunged
into the social revolution which was being born. Self-government was
the immediate goal and he took on the role of Editor of the newspaper,
Public Opinion, a vehicle for discourse on what the future held. He
became part of a band of social activists/idealists who began to lay
the groundwork for the “new Jamaica.” Along with journalism,
he also embraced the cause of education, founding the Priory School,
which came to be widely regarded as an institution for the elite.
However, along with Knox College in Manchester and Excelsior College
in Kingston, it was part of a new ethos, challenging the old definitions
of education and setting new boundaries for the young.
Besides assuming the role of headmaster of Priory, over succeeding
years, he expanded his involvement in the quest for an education system
relevant to the hopes and aspirations of a new generation. Among various
appointments, he served as advisor on education to successive Jamaican
governments and also represented the nation as Ambassador to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
helping to place this country on its agenda through his interest and
influence in education and the arts.
Henry Fowler had a deep passion for the arts, the theatre in particular.
Perhaps his most noted monument is the establishment of the Little
Theatre Movement (LTM), which he co-founded in the 1940’s along
with his first wife, Greta Bourke Fowler. The LTM and the Little Theatre
which it built, have remained beacons in Jamaican and Caribbean theatre
for over six decades now.
Under LTM auspices also, the Fowlers established the Jamaica Theatre
School in the 1970’s and later handed it over to the Government.
It was renamed the School of Drama and became a component of the Cultural
Training Centre, now the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing
Arts.
Henry Fowler also led the establishment of the Ward Theatre Foundation
in response to the urgent need to save the landmark building and preserve
its heritage as a part of Kingston’s cultural history. To the
end of his life, he retained his interest in the LTM and the Ward
and continued to be passionate in his advocacy for the maintenance
of these symbols of national creativity.
A Rememberance to Henry Fowler was held at the Little Theatre on Monday March 26, 2007. It included tributes from his family, his second wife Beryl Chitty-Fowler, friends and the performing arts community.
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