By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter ON THURSDAY night, Taylor Hall, of the University of the West Indies, Mona, made its presence felt in the 2002 Tallawah competition. Of the 12 pieces performed, 10 were presented by the hall. Mary Seacole Hall and Irvine Hall also vied for the 21 trophies being offered. Also in competition were the University Dramatic Arts Society and EXED Community College.
Last year, Taylor Hall went home with three awards and two high commendations. The final performance for the night was Taylor Hall's Jihad. The play won two awards, 'Best Sound' and 'Best Costumes'. Additionally, its director, Taneisha McGhie, won 'Best Director'. Taylor Hall also received two high commendations for Jerusha Stupart's performance of My Black Skin and the stage setting of The Fall, performed by Mark Gray.
McGhie was once again the director of the pieces and Stupart and Gray were also back. As such, the night's most impressive piece of work was reminiscent of Jihad. Although the topics differed, both pieces used the same stylistics. Rather than depending on a gripping dialogue, the plays were mimed, with a soundtrack lighting to help make the tale more coherent. This year's entry, The Silent Killer, helped the night to end on a very positive note. The play dealt with AIDS and highlighted that it had no respect for age, sex or sexual persuasion. Although it remained interesting, especially because of the difference it brought to technique, The Silent Killer was not as tight a production as Jihad had been.
Nonetheless, the audience was treated to quite a spectacle when the scene dealing with the gay community came to the stage. What was displayed, much to the audience's delight, was a bevy of uglies, showing the males of the group in drag. The lighting and costuming for the piece were also quite impressive.
A shorter dramatic entry was In My Mind's Eye. This piece dealt with a schizophrenic woman who has been traumatised by being gang-raped. This piece suffered from two things, weak actors coupled with a very cruel audience. It was particularly unsettling to hear howling laughter coming from some of the men in the room when the young girl came unto the stage with blooded clothes, signalling the brutal rape.
Interestingly, they were equally amused by the tale of a male gang-rape which came later in the proceedings. This tale came in Mark Gray's second monologue Happy Birthday Dad. Earlier, Gray had performed Death and the Maiden.
Happy Birthday Dad dealt with a young man who was raped because he is gay, and finally tells his father the truth. All mention of rape seemed to quite titillate those same men towards the back of the room who laughed, cheered and yelled their own comments. Gray's monologue did not suffer too greatly from this however, in the main because it was not a great piece to begin with. It seemed to be too intent upon sensationalising the rape and accompanying murder than exploring the issues the victim faced.
It seemed that rape was the major topic of interest as a second monologue also dealt with the issue. Nothing, a prosecuting attorney's closing speech charging three men, who while witnessing a rape cheered on the rapist (much like that aforementioned segment of the audience). Performed by Lanna-Gaye Franklyn, this piece was well delivered and completely ignored either sensationalism or overacting.
The other pieces contributed by Taylor Hall were: One Million Ways to Burn, performed by Jerusha Stupart; Who Says performed by Gayon Robinson; This Fear performed by Stacia Davidson; and The Miser, performed by Adley Duncan.
Centre Stage Workshop with Gas Riots, Rebellion...Whatever and Netia Simpson with the dub poem The Gun provided the night's other entries.
