IT was a mixed bag in the world of Jamaican theatre for 2014.

While there were notables, the general feeling among practitioners was that the general malaise and downturn in the economy made its way into playhouses and onto the country’s stages.

The theatre would was shocked on November 20, with the sudden death of noted roots theatre actor, Cleve ‘Chu Chu’ Warren. Warren died in the St Ann’s Bay hospital after falling ill on his way to the airport. An autopsy conducted a few days later revealed that the actor had ingested 57 pellets containing a substance believed to be cocaine.

There was also another death, albeit of another kind. The Pantry Playhouse in New Kingston closed its door in August, ending a 14-year run which saw a number of notable local productions taking to the stage there. The closure came after what proprietor Karl Hart described as a “long and hard look” at the operations of the centrally located venue.

“It is a decision that I wish I didn’t have to make,” Hart told the Sunday Observer. “I have been watching how the theatre business and general economy have been going over the past two years and have realised that if it doesn’t improve then I will just have to close the doors.”

On a brighter note, the year saw the further development of the country’s two theatre festivals – Tallawah and the 8 X 10 Festival.

Tallawah was able to add two major awards to its offering, one in the area of acting which was won by Glen Campbell, and the other for the technical areas which went to Quindel Ferguson.

The 8X 10 festival was a mahor hit at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona. This year for the first time 24 short plays were stages over the three days of the festival. These festival would spawn Shorts Take Centrestage, a night when five of the shorts from both these festivals were showcased free of cost to a local audience.

The Actor Boy Awards in April saw the children’s series The Anancy Chaptaz going home with an armful of trophies. The production by the Independent Actors Movement (IAM) won a total of five trophies in the categories: Best Costume, Best Original Song, Best Choreography, Best Musical, and Best Children’s Theatre. The Night’s other big winner was If There’s a will There’s a Wife, which won four statuettes.

The local theatre-going audience was treated to a production of Hamlet in August with a stop in Kingston by members of Shakespeare’s Globe who were on a world tour. The showcase of one of the great writer’s tradgedies was well received.

Among the productiosn which hit the floorboards were the National Pantomime The Golden Macca Fat, Embassy Saga, Jamaica Sweet, The Prophet, Laff It Off, To The Finish, My God Don’t Wear Pajamas, Clash and Funny Kinda Love.