Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
MEEKS
"Blackwood Meeks' strength, this marriage of the folk and the modern; the ability to see with the eyes and speak in the tongue of her ancestors without
losing relevance to today."
MATTERS ARISING, Amina Blackwood Meeks' new one-woman play, is a thoughtful, brilliant satire of the state of Jamaica. It explores the matters that have arisen and constantly cause the nation to stub its toe (and often fall on its face) on the way to progress; the matters that sometimes even seem to have us turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
The production is currently playing at the Dennis Scott studio theatre at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Directed by Carol Lawes, Matters Arising features eight stories: 'Is me Fada', 'Wildlife', 'Poor Eva', 'Possession', 'Madhouse Rock', 'Destination Smaddification', 'Don't Hurt that Bird', and 'Lunatics in the Asylum'.
The narrative is accompanied by a quartet of singers who add to the sound track while M'Bala, on his numerous instruments provides sound effects, and occasionally music. These two help to enhance Blackwood Meeks' acute eye and tongue for the matters of the world. The work concludes with poetry from the Royal African Soldiers: Ginsu, Neto Meeks and Takura.
TALES OF VARIOUS CHARACTERS
Blackwood Meeks plays the narrator who strings together the tales of various characters, including her two most famed, Jing Bang and Miss Lady, who are joined by Nanny, Eva, and others. Through these characters Blackwood Meeks tackles local and international politics, of race, class and gender. There is no real separation of the stories, most of which are ended with a modest curtsy to separate it from the next.
As such, the stories are allowed to flow with barely a pause, keeping the audience always engaged. The stories are rich with a sense of folk knowledge which are constantly used to enhance and play with the current world, and that is Blackwood Meeks' strength, this marriage of the folk and the modern; the ability to see with the eyes and speak in the tongue of her ancestors without losing relevance to today.
Indeed, a few of her phrases may well find themselves going into the annals of folk history. Matters Arising works in the tradition of using laughter to kibba heart bun. It does not try to sugar coat that which it criticises, yet it is not filled with despair either.
Lawes brings keen direction to allow the characters to bubble forth though there is hardly any separation between them and the narrator. The character in 'Wildlife' is particularly intriguing. So too is the content of this piece, which looks at the international politics which engender poverty as the 'haves' keep getting more while the poor are forced to be satisfied with life's 'bun-bun'. 'Destination Smaddification' is a journey into the ramifications of colour and 'lang wedge' in dividing the world into 'smaddies' and 'nobodies'.
Matters Arising is simultaneously funny and serious. It highlights that laughing does not mean ignoring seriousness. It is a beautiful piece of satire that simultaneously celebrates the Jamaican psyche while highlighting its holes. In its masterful take on satire, Matters Arising has much in common with Aston Cooke's Jamaica 2 Rhatid. Though their styles are very different, both pieces were clearly torn from the same claat.
