By Mel Cooke, Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
THERE IS magic in the darkness in-between scenes at the current production on at Fairfield Theatre, Montego Bay, St. James.
The lights go down, appropriate music goes up, there is hardly a rustle from the unscreened stage and, when the lights come back up, a different scene is in place.
When one considers that the changes are most often between uptown and downtown dwellings in the social divide criss-crossing What The Hell Is Happening To Us Dear, the speed and set detail is even more deeply appreciated.
Perfect scenery, down to the genteel portraits in the uptown home of ageing couple Brian (Lloyd. B. Smith) and Julie (Jane Crichton) being transformed to the Rasta images of deejay Shatta Ranks' (Tony Rodney) apartment, is not much use without good acting. However, the Montego Bay Little Theatre Movement (MLTM) players in the Sydney Reid production do more than justice to the setting they are provided with to tell the tale.
UPTOWN FAMILY
To cram it in a long paragraph, the Basil Dawkins-penned tale is of an uptown family which falls on hard times financially and harder times in their inter-personal relationships, with Brian and Jane's daughter Debbie (Kasilyn Lawson) falling for and to Shatta Ranks, while in a twist Brian nearly goes for Shatta's 'real' woman Nicey (Makeda Solomon). (Whew! Now that was a mouthful!).
When The Gleaner saw What The Hell Is Happening To Us Dear last week the Fairfield Theatre was crammed to capacity, with a few chairs accommodating a couple persons at the left exit from the theatre. The turnout seems to have been pretty consistent, no doubt leading to the show being held over for this Sunday, after its regular run finished.
Alternates to the cast The Gleaner saw are Warren Williams as Brian, Shermaine Desnoes as Debbie and David Tulloch as Shatta Ranks himself.
It is a powerful cast, suited to their roles. Crichton is shrill and brittle enough to deserve her berating from Solomon when she goes to the ghetto to reclaim her husband; Smith plays the downcast, lovable, chubby 'Dads' well, and transforms into a serious protector in an instant as he backs down a knife-wielding Shatta; Lawson is a angst-ridden young adult, whose roll on the floor and 'begging for it' under the influence of marijuana is enough to make a parent really think.
However, What The Hell Is Happening To Us Dear centers on Shatta Ranks and Tony Rodney and is a gem. He has the prowl and the scowl, the attitude and, in the end, the contriteness - as well as the instant meekness when faced with the gun - to be funny, abrasive, understandable and, in the end, for all his sins, forgiveable.
The zinc fence, complete with... shall we say explicit graffiti, which is a part of the inner-city scenes, is a stunning addition, exquisitely done.
SENSUOUS MOVES
The scene-ending music is very well chosen and works wonders. Baby Cham's Vitamin S follows Shatta Ranks getting Debbie to 'beg fa'; Nicey gives Brian a shoulder to lean on in his time of trouble. In addition, Brian dances a nice jig that declares 'I feel good' when he is setting off to Nicey and Nicey herself drops some nimble, sensuous moves to remind Shatta of the niceness when he thinks of leaving her.
Douglas Prout directs, among other duties, the Sydney Reid production, with Ralph Reid and N. Edwards doing excellent jobs at light and sound. Robin Baston is responsible for the great sets, which were built by George Silvera and Rohan Bell. Nyanda Cammock, with the assistance of Shanakay Dryden, handles stage management duties, creating the scene- changing magic.
