theatre Roundup

THE BLACK THAT I AM & WINE AND ROSES



Despite criticisms leveled in respect of quantity and quality,
Jamaican theatre has not slowed down in 2005. Younger talents
are increasingly finding their way amidst the veterans and in
the two above-mentioned productions, one is heartened to see
young writers, Karl Williams and David Tulloch coming to the fore.

The Black That I Am
Written by Karl Williams
Directed by Brian Heap
Cast: The University Players
Phillip Sherlock Centre

To have fashioned a theatrical revue from his own poem is commendable
enough. To have created a work as vibrant, as bitingly contemporary and
funky as The Black That I Am is worthy of celebration. Collaborating with
Brian Heap, his dramatic cohorts in the University Players and choroegraphers
Shelly Anne Maxwell and Neila Ebanks, karl Williams has crafted a visual statement,
both manifesto and documentary, on today’s Jamaica, a place where overt class prejudices
and latent colour prejudices (sometimes they’re overt too) coalesce and bubble over in
an intriguing but piquant stew.

No topic is sacred or off-limits: race, religion, sexuality, even the Jamaican
preoccupation with team sports are skewered with gusto and panache, the language
combining grit, wit and forthrightness in near equal measure but never veering into
vulgarity.

The cast was excellent as a whole, but on the night this writer viewed the play,
the women were in ascendancy. Monique Caesar showed consummate skill in her monologue
of a black Jamaican young woman about to marry a white man. He variations in modulation
and her timing in "fixing up" for the nuptials were a treat to watch. Nadia Khan riffed
eloquently on racial ambivalence, trying to decide what racial box to tick on her
immigration form while awaiting a flight to New York.

Neither of those were as compelling however, as Nadean Rawlins’ sublimely venemous
Church Lady, heaping condemnation and epithets on an unseen Afro-centric "church sister"
amid choruses of "hallelujah" and "preach brother" her underlying mercenary motives
(the sister in question does not patronize her clothing and hair store). Whipping her
fan open and closed to punctuate her seething diatribes.


The men held their own, especially Jerry Benzwick as the "girls man" with a twist in
"I Do Women" and Peter Parkinson as a game show host(squinting and shifting his weight
from one leg to the other in mock concentration) in which the participants shuffle giant
letters to spell out racial double-entendres. A taped vox pop with persons from different
walks of life giving their thoughts on the term ghetto yielded some interesting and
humourous perspectives but could have been trimmed a bit. Choereographers Maxwell and
Ebanks kept the cast collectively light on its feet and in near perfect time.

The Black That I Am is more experimental in its sensibilities than the majority of
local theatre offerings but it offers lot ,both in terms of form and content to
theatregoers of all stripes and is deserving of a wider audience.



Wine And Roses [A Gentleman’s Hand]
Written by David Tulloch
Directed by Michael Nicholson
Cast: David Tulloch, Totlyn Oliver, Paul Skeen, Marguerite Newland,
Courtney Wilson, Sandra Knight

Little Little Theatre


Adapted from a previous radio presentation by current cast member Totlyn Oliver,
the one-act drama Wine & Roses begins on the familiar premise of a younger man-
older woman relationship.

Tulloch’s script however, proceeds to add a variety of complications to this rubric.
The woman in question is married (her husband is away but set to return); the young man
is coping with the absence of his father and his mother’s near-smothering attention,
as well as that of a girl his own age (Knight). Class and social issues are thrown
into the mix as well, largely in the form of the young man’s friend, a mechanic and
prototype of the inner-city Lothario. Through the characters, the author also makes
comments about the gun culture, the place of the church in modern society and contemporary
music (read dancehall) in contrast to "vintage" .

The functional set is split between the homes of the two main characters, with the
action alternating almost equally between the two. Tulloch and Director Nicholson
go easy on the audience with mostly short scenes and no distinct monologues. The
action builds steadily towards a somewhat implausible yet entertaining resolution.

Both leads are hampered, albeit minimally, by voice tones that tend toward deadpan,
but their mannerism make the age gap manifest. Wilson, as Deeko, the "mechanic" can
hardly tame the urge to overact, but comes into his own in a fine segment opposite
Newland, who hits the emotional marks of her character with little apparent effort.
Paul Skeen, as the husband, is in similarly good form, eliciting scorn, pity,
antipathy and admiration from the audience with similar ease.
Wine and Roses will leave a pleasant taste on the palates of those seeking a
refreshing, well-balanced evening of theatre.