SEX, VIOLENCE and betrayal cavorted on the stage at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus on Tuesday night. It was the second night of Tallawah, the tertiary
institution's drama festival. The night featured eight pieces equally split between the Centrestage Workshop and Excelsior Community College.
Tuesday night began with Centrestage Workshop's first play, the comedy Living on the Ledge. The two-hander detailed the final hours in the marriage of Dana and Dave Edwards. These hours play out on the ledge of their apartment when the wife threatens to end her life.
From this tale of soured romance, madness and betrayal, the evening moved to the monologue Dat Witch Henny. This medley of mispronunciations, performed by Deondra Solomon of Excelsior Community College, portrayed a tour guide at the Rose Hall Great House. It poked fun at those in the tourist trade who torture and confuse their tongues, lose the 'hs' then replace them wildly with great vengeance in an attempt to be understood by the tourist.
From the tale of the wicked witch of Rose Hall, the evening wound on to a poem of self-empowerment as Keisha Brisette of Centrestage Workshop did More Than What You Bargain For. Two additional poems followed in the first half. First was another Centrestage Workshop piece, Good God, Bad World. This was followed by Excelsior Community College's Jhodi Bennett, who delivered the dub poem Tingz a Get Hard. Both poems took a look at the international surge in senseless violence.
SECOND PLAY
The night's second play, No Sex Tonight, came from Excelsior Community College and continued the tales of sex and betrayal. No Sex Tonight shows Carl and Priscilla Facey on their honeymoon. However, they both have secrets. The play attempted to discuss the female archetypes of the virgin and the whore, playing them as two sides of the same woman. Unfortunately, it chose to do so using the Superman theory of disguising, replacing Clark Kent's replacing Clark Kent's spectacles with a wig.
Tuesday's performances ended with two experimental plays. The first, Scarlet Letters, from Centrestage Theatre Workshop, presented tales of violence, sexual abuse and suicide. Beginning with eight dead people in a cemetery discussing how they had been brought low, the production was very segmented, changing style with each new theme.
THE ENDING
However, it was brought together at the end, when the initial pieces were revealed to be drama class presentations. In keeping with this, the entire theatre was transformed into a classroom, the 'students' were interspersed with the audience, taking the performance well beyond the stage. The reality element was carried to the stage where even the final 'lights out' was explained by the production.
The final Excelsior Community College play, Warrior Princess, detailed a piece of the life of Nanny of the Maroons. It was another piece of experimental tale of the heroine's life stitched together using threads of dance and poetry.
This 33rd staging of Tallawah began on Sunday night with nine pieces from Excelsior Community College and Northern Caribbean University. The competition continues through to Friday. The Best of Tallawah will be presented on Sunday evening.
