By Michael Reckord, Freelance Writer 
FOR GUYANESE-BORN actor Ron Bobb-Semple, The Spirit of Marcus Garvey is more than just a 'show' or 'performance.' For him, he states, it is "a cultural and theatrical presentation."
After seeing and hearing Bobb-Semple in the 45-minute, one- man production, the audience at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA) on Saturday night understood the distinction he was making. The words 'show' and 'performance' did not do justice to the actor's portrayal of our National Hero. As we watched, Bobb-Semple seemed to become Garvey.
Bobb-Semple starts off with an advantage. In body and features, he looks very much like Garvey. However, it is what he did with these attributes that persuaded the audience to suspend disbelief in a 'performance.'
Eyes blazing, voice strident, face and body contorting to his passion, Bobb-Semple transported himself to an elevated state with his own words and the audience gladly went along on the ride.
The script was a mix of Garvey's speeches and Bobb-Semple's own ideas. The two were cleverly interwoven, and it would be only Garvey scholars - and there were a few in the audience who would be able to distinguish one from the other.
Before the actor came onstage, there was a brief introduction of Garvey, as if he were the speaker at some function. Then the lights went up and Bobb-Semple entered, dressed in a black United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) uniform and wearing a feathered hat and white gloves.
His rapid-fire speech alternately exhorted and chastised black people. He reminded them of their glorious history and natural talent, then declared that once outside of Africa they got lazy, lost respect for themselves and developed a tendency to pull down fellow blacks.
The second half of his speech was about his trial on fraud and conspiracy charges by the United States Government. He gave evidence of an unjust trial: the judge speeding it up because he had a meeting out of state; one man admitted in Court that he was told beforehand what to say; one man accused Garvey of being a member of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK).
"I know that some people did not like me because I was black, some because I was not born in the USA," said Garvey.
In a third segment of the play, 'Garvey' answered questions put to him by his audience (Garvey's audience, not Bobb-Semple's audience). The questions are, in the real world of the production, on tape. Among other things, 'Garvey' said he could fight for his cause from jail, that the KKK represents the thinking of white America, that the prejudice against the African is not because of his colour but because of his condition.
"We must make Africa a place of respect, " he said.
In the fourth and final segment and in dim light, Garvey spoke to the audience from the grave recommending 'self-esteem, self-respect and self-reliance' for the Black race.
"I never taught racism," he said, concluding, "With God's dearest blessing, I leave you for a while. One love!"
Later, changed into civilian garb, Bobb-Semple accepted a book of Garvey's sayings compiled by Ken Jones and thanked the Friends of Liberty Hall for inviting him to Jamaica for the presentation.
Excellently received curtain raisers to The Spirit of Marcus Garvey were Jimmy Tucker singing One God, and Amina Blackwood Meeks telling two stories, one about how a little boy was cured of his bird-shooting habit and the other about the values and attitudes of two of the performer's favourite characters, Miss Lady and Jing Bang.
Mrs Donna Scott Motley, a Friend of Liberty Hall, told the audience that the restoration of the former Garvey meeting place had begun and that a website on it would be established shortly.
