Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Girlie and Big Chef get cozy in a scene from the play Hot Spot, set in a low-income diner. The play is written by Basil Dawkins and directed by Buddy Pouyat. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
BASIL DAWKINS' 2005/6 offering to the theatre is his gold medal winning production Hot Spot, currently playing at the Little Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue. It is a story which takes place completely in a low income diner, but it serves up a menu of more than just food. In this kitchen, malice, betrayal and suspicion are all brewing.
Hot Spot is directed by Buddy Pouyat. In mid-December, Dawkins, who produces and writes the production, presented a reading of Hot Spot. At that point the play had not yet fulfilled its potential. It still hasn't, but it has come much closer, and the result is an engaging dramatic comedy.
MYSTERIOUS FIGURE
The play is set in the kitchen of a struggling diner, which is a standard mom and pop operation. The arrival of a mysterious figure, dubbed Big Chef, is, however, about to bring the tensions in the kitchen to a boil.
The production is particularly buoyed by Zandriann Maye's performance. Hot Spot is a four-hander and three members of its cast are established, celebrated actors. Charles Hyatt plays Greg, Marguerite Newland is Beverley and Volier Johnson plays Big Chef.
Yet, despite the cadre of performers who make up this cast, it is Maye's performance that is most striking. Maye plays Girlie, a young girl from the country, who dreams of climbing the corporate ladder if she can jump the hurdle of the limited education, compounded by her poverty and limited exposure.
Dawkins creates in Girlie a full-bodied, energetic, character that rescues her from falling prey to the 'helper' stereotype. Indeed, Girlie is easily the most interesting character that Dawkins creates in Hot Spot, and that in the proverbial nutshell is the major strength and weakness of the production.
GIRLIE'S STORY
Big Chef ought to be the enigma of the production, but he is never as charismatic or mysterious as he should be. Additionally, the script indicates that his character should be a younger man than Johnson and that has a telling impact on the potential of the story. As is, Hot Spot almost becomes Girlie's story.
Newland also gives a very good performance as the over burdened but suspicious Beverley. Alas, neither Hyatt nor Johnson has so far reached the level of performance that their reputations deserve.
Nonetheless, the play is well written with very engaging dialogue and the characters are generally interesting and as the various levels of their relationships unravel, the plot gets generally more intriguing.
UNRELATED MUSIC
Patrick Russell creates a very believable set that makes good use of the small space of the Little Little Theatre. However, the use of light folk music during scene changes detracts from the production. Rather than enhance the emotive power or the scene just completed or the one to follow, the music was generally unrelated and therefore distracted from the meaning and emotions of the scenes.
In general, however, one can expect to enjoy the generous servings of drama and comedy that Dawkins has been steadily proffering. Hot Spot rests very easily on the palette.
