In the decade between Independence and Manley’s election—1962 to 1972—Jamaica was governed by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). For many Jamaicans, Independence from Britain represented a significant, if symbolic, cutting of ties with the colonial regime. However, Jamaica in the 1960s had not changed substantially from colonial Jamaica, particularly in terms of its colour-class social stratification. This chapter will discuss the JLP’s creole nationalist approach to nation-building in the immediate post-Independence period and the limitations of this for working-class Jamaicans. This will be juxtaposed with the changes introduced by the People’s National Party (PNP) under the leadership of Michael Manley when it came to power in 1972. The focus of the chapter is the way in which the Manley-led government made space—physical, cultural, and psychological—for people whose African heritage was considered inferior under British colonialism and who were excluded from the national imaginary of the local bourgeoisie. Specifically, this chapter will describe the significance attached to theatre spaces created by and for people from the working- and under-classes to explore the intersectionality of their identities.