Eric Merton Roach (3 November 1915 – 18 April 1974) was a Tobagonian poet and playwright. He published some early writing under the pseudonym Merton Maloney.
Life Roach grew up in Mount Pleasant, Tobago:
Between 1949 and 1955, his poetry was frequently broadcast on the BBC programme Caribbean Voices.
In 1960s, Roach began to gain an international reputation. However, he became overwhelmed and depressed, and committed suicide in 1974, drinking insecticide before swimming in the ocean.
Ksenia Kharlamova, Canadian actress and model of Russian and Trini heritage, claims Eric Merton Roach as her grandfather, paying tribute to him in an Instagram post.https://www.instagram.com/p/C0CZjA5P4fi/?igsh=MThsbTA2Y2hyMWttZQ%3D%3D
Work Plays Belle Fanto: A Medium-length Play in 3 Acts, 1967 Letter from Leonora, 1968 A Calabash of Blood (a Full-length Play in 3 acts), 1971 New Dancers in the Dooryard (undated)Jean Sue Wing papers. The Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies. SC 7, Box 1, Folder 5.
Poems The Flowering Rock: Collected Poems 1938–1974, Peepal Tree Press, 1992
Plays: performance history Belle Fanto Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Schools Drama Festival
1971: St. George's College (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Slade Hopkinson. 1973: Palo Seco Government Secondary (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by B.T. Harry. 1982: Cowen Hamilton Secondary (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Victor Edwards. 1988: San Fernando West Senior Comprehensive (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Garvin McClean. 1989: Signal Hill Senior Comprehensive School (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Cherryll Uzoruo. 1992: Aranguez Junior Secondary School (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Susan Crichlow. 1993: Signal Hill Senior Comprehensive School (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Cherryll Uzoruo. 1997: St. George's College (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Rawle Carrington. 1999: Tranquillity Government Secondary (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Karen Griffith. 2002: Cowen Hamilton Secondary School (Trinidad and Tobago) directed by Iezora Edwards.
Theatre companies The following theatre companies performed Belle Fanto:
San Fernando Theatre Workshop, directed by James Lee Wah Trinidad Theatre Workshop, directed by Derek Walcott The Tobago Drama Guild, directed by Peter Wheeler Thabiti
A Calabash of Blood 2019: The University of the West Indies, Department of Creative and Festival Arts, directed by Neriah Alfred 2021: The Tobago Drama Guild, directed by Peter Wheeler Thabiti 2023: The Tobago Drama Guild, directed by Peter Wheeler Thabiti
References
Further reading Laurence A. Breiner, Black Yeats: Eric Roach and the Politics of Caribbean Poetry, Peepal Tree Press, 2008
External links Al Creighton, Glorifying African survivals, 22 August 2010 Andre Bagoo, "I am the Archipelago": Eric Roach and Black Identity, 28 February 2015 Eric Roach and the Flowering Rock Eric Roach manuscripts at the University of the West Indies