Playwright Bobby Fraser develops radio drama

Have you ever heard of Nelly Ibo? Well if you listen to NBC Radio 705, you just might.

Thanks to local playwright Bobby Fraser, the slave woman was brought to life on the airways through a radio drama.

It has been documented that Nelly Ibo was a slave woman from the Grenadine island of Mayreau, that she killed her slave master, “Massa Pascal” and threw him in the sea after she and other female slaves had got tired of enduring abuse from him. {{more}}

The story continues that soldiers were then brought down from mainland St.Vincent to quell the revolution and Nelly Ibo was hung on the beach. This was done for all to see so that other slaves, who may have had similar plans, would think twice about carrying out their ideas.

But the fiasco didn’t stop there, it was believed that Nelly Ibo did not act alone and that two other slaves, who helped her kill and dump the body of her Massa Pascal into the sea, were later taken to mainland, St.Vincent, tried and hung.

Explaining how he came to develop the radio drama, playwright Bobby Fraser said that Father Mark Da Silva, who did all the research, presented the document to him. The playwright said that after reading the document, he was spurred on to rework it as a play which was then converted to a radio drama for Emancipation Month.

Fraser who has been a playwright since the 1960s with the group “St.Vincent Players” has done countless radio dramas. Some of his more popular works include, “Life with Mable” and “In the Spirit of Chatoyer.”

He hopes that after persons hear the play they would appreciate the struggles of the African peoples more. Stressing the importance of theatre, Fraser praised the Ministry of Culture, specifically the Minister, René Baptiste, for helping to revive theatre in St.Vincent through the reconstruction of the Peace Memorial Hall.

He called on more young people to become involved in drama and theatre since, he said, it helps them to become more conscious. Fraser expounded, “They would have more self confidence, they would be able to meet people and express themselves better. Being in theatre has countless benefits and young people should become part of that wonderful artform.”