Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor
Big Chef (Volier Johnson) and Girlie (Zandriann Maye) discuss serious issues during one of the emotionally-charged scenes of Hot Spot. - WINSTON SILL / FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
PLAYWRIGHT/PRODUCER BASIL Dawkins on Tuesday opened yet another thought-provoking play, Hot Spot, at the Little Little Theatre in Kingston.
The play which opened to a sold-out house last week Tuesday, examines the current trend of new and more forward-thinking businesses either taking over, merging with or putting smaller stuck-in-the-past entities out of business.
Hot Spot is a small restaurant owned and operated by the husband and wife team of Greg and Beverly - played by Charles Hyatt and Marguerite Newland respectively. The restaurant is experiencing slow sales until the hungry workers from the construction site across the road begin to buy many lunches daily. Buoyed by the activity, the usually lazy Greg decides to introduce a breakfast line. Beverly sees the wisdom in the decision but is annoyed that as with all Greg's other ventures, it will only mean more work for her.
GIRLIE
Enter Girlie, Hot Spot's dishwasher who will be promoted to breakfast chef. Girlie is happy, particularly for the extra money that will help pay for her mathematics classes and take care of her son in the country.
NEW RESTAURANT
But Girlie is not the world's best cook and after burning the porridge once too often, Greg decides to hire an international chef. Enter Big Chef (Volier Johnson), a Jamaican who recently 'returned' from the United States full of bright ideas to increase business while lining his own pockets.
Things are going great till it turns out that the construction site across the road, now complete, is a new, modern restaurant - TGIT! The owners are doing everything right including the provision of excellent customer service and they even have plans to expand into a food pavillion. More problems lie ahead when the usually tired and overworked Beverly is diagnosed with cancer and faces a long hospital stay.
Greg almost sells the business but is handed a plan by Big Chef to change it into a Health Spot - a restaurant that caters to wholistic healthy lifestyle and a fresh approach to meal preparation. However, before Big Chef can assist in the implementation of the new plan, he is arrested on suspicion of crimes committed overseas.
In his absence, business booms and Beverly who had a miraculous recovery, is at the helm of the business for a change. She is living proof of the healing properties of Big Chef's natural juice preparations and Greg has to do some real work for a change. They don't seem to have the capacity to fill orders.
THE CAST
In the role of Greg, Charles Hyatt portrays a man who is eager to prove to everyone that he is the hot-shot boss. His goal is to buy a house for Beveryl's comfort but he is not above stealing a few thousand dollars from their savings when she is not looking. Greg typifies the average Jamaican husband and boss who has a roving eye for his female employee even as he declares undying love for his wife.
He is filled with bright ideas but not in a hurry to personally implement them. And even though his wife is always upset with him, she can do nothing to change him. Opening night saw Charles Hyatt, a veteran actor, perfectly understanding his role but surprisingly still needing to get his lines down pat. There were far too many lapses in his delivery.
Volier Johnson is convincing as Big Chef and the phony American accent will have the audience falling out of their seats. His body language and air of mystery leave those around him with questions as to his true identity and he convinces us that he has something to hide. Like Hyatt, opening night saw him slow in delivering his lines as effectively as we expect someone of his ilk should do.
Marguerite Newland is convincing in her role as the tired, overworked and often angry wife. Her delivery is good and the audience feels her pain as it progresses.
But the life of the production is Zandriann Maye - a drama student who is filled with the exuberance of youth while being armed with an active memory and agile body. She delivers her lines effectively and seems to yearn to feed from the experience of her cast mates. She is one to watch and the audience loved her on opening night.
Dawkins continues to pen credible and poignant stories of Jamaican life and in Hot Spot he examines the themes of betrayal, trust, hope and even the promise of a second coming. Hot Spot also looks at the lasting effects of rape on a young woman and how the abuse can cause thoughts of revenge to fester in a mind determined to achieve success and rise from poverty.
Dawkins collaborates with Buddy Pouyatt as director and has Quendell Ferguson in charge of costumes. Scareltt Bharie is stage manager and Patrick Russell is in charge of light, sound, set design and construction.
