Robert G. Lawrence
The best year in E.A. McDowell's professional career was almost certainly 1880; the exciting and profitable success of HMS Parliament from Winnipeg to Halifax no doubt encouraged him to take his company to the West Indies in December of that year. The enthusiastic reception there led ultimately to return visits in 1886 and 1891.
As during his many Canadian tours, McDowell did not skimp in his arrangements; for his first courageous tour of the West Indies he took twenty-one plays, with full scenery and properties, and a company of nineteen. The repertoire included The Shaughraun, which had been a favourite for six years in Canada, Rosedale, Engaged, Caste, East Lynne, The Two Orphans, and HMS Pinafore. The company performed in Kingston, Jamaica, until 23 February 1881, then moved on to Bridgetown, Barbados, to do sixteen plays from the Jamaican repertoire between 2 and 29 March. Subsequently the troupe spent approximately nine weeks in British Guiana and vicinity (an outbreak of yellow fever forced the cancellation of a visit to Trinidad). Newspapers of the West Indies report the presentation of at least fourteen plays, in Georgetown, 4 April - 24 May, Berbice and New Amsterdam, 16-23 May; and Demerara, approximately 25 May - 1 June, 1881.
A new company of seventeen persons began a second Caribbean tour in Jamaica in January 1886; among the nineteen plays were old favorites like The Shaughraun, advertised as having been performed one thousand times in Canada, Rosedale, East Lynne, and The Geneva Cross, as well as plays that had entered the McDowell repertoire since 1881: Esmerelda, The Private Secretary, The Mikado, and Diplomacy. The company spent 9-23 February, 1886, in Bridgetown, Barbados; 27 February - 18 March in Georgetown, British Guiana; 22 March to mid-April in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, with perhaps a brief return to Georgetown; 26 April - 28 May in Port of Spain, Trinidad; and 31 May - 11 June once more in Bridgetown, Barbados.
The third and final tour of this area, April-July 1891, was shorter than the earlier ones. Apart from Mr and Mrs McDowell, this company of seventeen was quite different in personnel from that of 1886. It played in Kingston, Jamaica, during April and the first half of May 1891, in Barbados 25 May - 6 June, and Trinidad 13 June - 4 July. Port of Spain newspapers show that the company left for Demerara on 8 July 1891, but I have been unable to learn when McDowell ended this tour and returned to the U.S.A.
Although no reference has been found to The Shaughraun during this third West Indian tour, East Lynne, The Private Secretary, and Called Back appeared once more in the Barbadian offerings (I have no information for Jamaican performances), but McDowell added Our Regiment, The Magistrate, Moths, Fedora, and The Black Flag. The visit to Barbados ended abruptly after the accidental drowning of company member Ernest Sterner on 5 June; theatre patrons in Port of Spain later saw the plays listed above and eight others, including The Balloon, The Geneva Cross, Little Eml'y, and Engaged.
West Indian newspapers referred repeatedly to the pleasure that the McDowell Company brought to eager audiences; one theatre reviewer wrote plaintively about 'the monotony of life in the tropics' (Barbados Agricultural Reporter, 9 February 1886). During this period only a few theatre companies visited the area, encountering difficulties in travel, in presenting plays on makeshift stages, in facing the hazards of tropical diseases and enervating heat. Yet during three visits the McDowell company must have derived compensation from a warm welcome and the profits carried home.