By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
Scheherazade (Kristina Rochester) weaves her words around King Shahriyar (Orrin Scott-Stewart). - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
THERE WERE two things which upgraded The Jamaica Junior Theatre production Scheherazade's Tale from a pleasant experience to a very enjoyable one. The first was Jason Jones' appearance and performance and the second was hearing Ana Strachan sing.
Scheherazade's Tale is a modified retelling of the 1001 Arabian Nights. The script, written by Sonia Gordon Scott, reduces the 1001 tales to a single one for the purposes of this story. While that made Scheherazade's trick a little less plausible, it was a necessary action for the staging of the production.
In Scheherazade's Tale, the young Scheherazade (Kristina Rochester) makes the decision to marry a misogynist King (King Shahriyar played by Orrin Scott-Stewart) who has decided to marry a series of women, killing each bride. She comes up with the brilliant plan to marry the woman-hating King and help him fall in love with her by regaling him with a tale which will incense his imagination and, at the same time, endear him to her. The tale she chooses to tell also mirrors her present situation, since it deals with another ruler (Haroon-al-Rashid) who hates women. The despot, Haroon-al-Rashid (Jason Jones), is outwitted by Princess Dunyazade (Anna Strachan), who also bewitches his eldest (and of course charming) son Prince Calaf (Rory Baugh).
If you have not quite figured it out, therefore, Scheherazade's Tale is a fairy tale. It pretends to be nothing else and should therefore be accepted as such, with all the conventions that come with it. The twists in the plots and the notions of romance are extremely contrived, but that is as it should be. You are subtly asked to disrobe all cynical notions needed for the real world and simply join the players on a musical carpet ride.
Of course, where Scheherazade's Tale shines is not in the plot or even the script as a whole, which offers nothing astounding. With Doug Bennett functioning as musical director and Jon Williams as sound track creator and arranger, Scheherade's Tale benefited from a wonderful soundtrack. The songs easily engage the audience from the second song, Baubles, Bangles and Beads. The first time a soloist really makes an impression, however, is with the appearance of Mana Groves as the Lady Tamsin. Groves performed Songs My Mother Taught Me and the catchy Put on a Happy Face, both of which she handled very well.
However, when Strachan sang, all others paled in comparison. Strachan has in her possession an amazingly powerful voice, which belies her small size. Its full potential was first demonstrated in her second piece, Highest Lama. The audience appeared to simply be in awe of a voice which could make one believe in bardic magic. By the time she sang No Peace Within My Heart, it was actually amazing that everyone was not moved to tears.
The only other singer who came close to her delivery was Baugh. Actually, the two performed wonderfully in their duet, making their romance seem rather real.
Baugh was also one of the better actors of the performance. He seems rather comfortable in his role and was better at affecting conversation than most of the cast.
When it comes to acting kudos for this production, however, they fall easily to Jason Jones. Playing the villain in the piece, Jones also wore the most striking make-up in the piece. Wearing very dark eye make-up with just a hint of red (reminiscent of his bloodlust) Haroon-al-Rashid had a exaggeratedly darkened lips which dripped into a small pool of a beard. He looked every bit the archetypal villain.
Jones' performance perfectly complemented his make-up. Adopting a very gravely voice, reminiscent of a Disney villain, he seemed to embody the character. Every tilt of the head, snarl or growl was completely within character. He was clearly a stereotype, but it was a well- played one.
As Schehezarade, Rochester narrates most of the work and also functions as a principal dancer. Her performance spoke of great potential and she was able to refrain from being monotonous despite the lengthy talking. Additionally, she displayed a lot of professionalism by brushing aside a mishap very early in the production. Whether or not her accident threw her off she did not show, but she clearly demonstrated that errors or not, the show much go on.
Scott-Stewart also demonstrated marked improvement as an actor and a singer, showing much more confidence, range and voice control than in the past.
To top this off, the technical crew has much to congratulate themselves about. Peter Haley directed the production and designed the fluid and effectively simple set. Carolyn Chin Yee as costume designer and co-ordinator presented a show which displayed the best costuming currently on the Jamaican stage. Without the bright and authentic designs, Scheherazade's Tale would be a much less eye-catching piece. Their work was complemented by the efforts of Tony Wilson, choreographer, and Tanya Allgrove, stage manager.
