Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Scenes from 1888, one of the productions at The Jamaica Youth Theatre (JYT) drama festival at the Little Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Avenue, St Andrew, last weekend. - PHOTOS BY CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE JAMAICA Youth Theatre (JYT) presented its second staging of drama at the Little Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Avenue, St Andrew, last weekend. In doing so, the group continued to highlight the impressive breadth of talent that is germinating in the young.
The JYT was formed last year, comprising largely students who had participated in the year's School's Drama Festival. Last year the group had delivered an impressive staging of Easton Lee's Tarshan Lace and Velvet.
For their 2005 summer production they presented two one act plays, Samuel Hillary's Chippy and Hall Anthony Ellis' 1888. So, both of this year's productions continued the trend to step outside of the ordinary. Chippy and 1888 both surround the issue of Black empowerment in Jamaica in the post-emancipation to pre-Independence era though they are tackled from different perspectives.
PRODUCTION WITH NOBLE INTENTIONS
The first piece, Chippy however, was the weaker of the two, and failed to live up to the precedent set by Tarshan Lace and Velvet. Directed by Aston Cooke, Chippy, is a production with noble intentions exploring Jamaica at a time when the spread of the Rastafari and its teachings of black self love clashed with the armed forces and British imperialism. Alas, Chippy needed a stronger more penetrating hand from its director.
First, Chippy had a tendency to go for laughs where it did not need to and so allowed the production to take on an element of farce which robbed it of much of its emotional energy. The farcical nature was created through a combination of minor problems with the script, directorial decisions and some technical difficulties.
Additionally, the actors clearly needed more guidance in exploring their characters. Nonetheless, Oneil Peart (Sergeant Pryce) gave a beautifully nuanced performance but unfortunately, the title character, portrayed by Danar Royale needed more work in order to get the audience to connect to him properly.
1888, on the other hand, was great. The play, directed by Fabian Thomas, had the stronger cast but it was buoyed by particularly strong performances by its female members Lisa Dunkley (Freda Baron), Janique Myers (Rosetta Baron) and Ann Campbell (Mini Marsha).
CHANGE OF PACE
While the piece had started out as a tale of competing masculinities with the father, Papa Baron (Gregory Green) and son, Sampson Baron (Randy McLaren) in the eternal face-off as the son attempts to assert his manhood, the women soon switched the production's pace and began to dominate.
Ann Campbell gave an intense, energetic and captivating performance that moved from the image of the clichéd virago to reveal a woman with a hurt past. Dunkley on the other hand was a relatively quiet presence for much of the piece. However, this allowed her to deliver a very nuanced character as she was able to demonstrate that being dramatic does not lie in being noisy. Myers came to the stage toward the end of the production, but once she arrived her presence was felt, and not merely because she towers over the other performers. She is, in a word, regal, and captured her character beautifully.
Though the females dominated this piece, Green and McLaren were able to hold their own and so was David Crossgill who played Overseer.
Combined, though Chippy and 1888 are pieces carved from Jamaica's past, through the JYT performances last weekend they shed a shining light on theatre's future.
