Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer

Edgar White's Redemption Song is the School of Drama's (at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts) 2006 major production. At best the production was significantly better than this year's mini productions, but the performances generally leave a lot to be desired.

To a degree, for a school production Redemption Song was not bad. However, for a School of Drama production, the space from which one would expect to see the next great dramatic talents arise, it was generally disappointing, though not without hope from a few performers.

Directed by William Lampert, the play deals with the West Indian condition, ripped between the economic forces at home and the racism and classism faced abroad.

It surrounds the arrival home of Caribbean expatriate Legion, who returns to Redemption to find that the world as he left it is lost. Legion returns to heal from the wounds incurred while travelling to the metropolis of the world, but Redemption is gripped by madness, alcoholism, jealousy and greed.

Most engaging

The most engaging performance comes from Natasha Griffiths, who plays the young girl Verity. Griffiths delivers with an ease that stands out, allowing her dialogue to flow well and her character to be reasonably engaging.

Kevin Sewell seems to have finally tapped into his acting talent. As the villain Fowler, Sewell delivers his most powerful performance to date, and though he has a lot of growing left to do his performance in Redemption speaks of potential.

Kemarquo Jones plays the lead role of Legion and while his performance was all right, as the story's hero he needs to be far more engaging so that he can take the audience along with him. Dayon Gray (Bramble) and Minshka McIntosh (Ms. B) also have timing problems, which make their dialogue very stilted.

Indeed, the dialogue dynamic is generally quite weak at the start of the production. Rather than a naturally flowing conversation, it feels as though the actors are waiting for the other person's lines to end, which gives the slightest, unnatural pause to the conversation, making it feel stilted and unreal.

Overall, the production is just about adequate, with a few entertaining moments and promising performances. Unfortunately, Redemption Song is unable to redeem the unimpressive run that the School of Drama has been having recently.