Keith 'Shebadda' Ramsey. - File

Montego Bay, St. James:

Judging by the buzz on the new Stages production, Shebadda Comes to Town, the audience will be rolling in the aisles as the play promises to be just as funny as their last smash hit, Bashment Granny.

Shebadda Comes to Town is a spin-off of Bashment Granny starring the breakout character Shebadda, played by Keith Ramsey, whose gender-bender character has taken local pop culture by storm.

The play is based on the journey of 'Shebadda', a died-in-the-wool 'country bumpkin', to the big city where he finds a room in a tenement yard occupied by a seedy and diverse group of characters.

These include 'Pastor Oral' (Maxwell Grant), 'Ras Pumps' (Richard Stephenson), a Rastafarian, the pastor's wife, 'Bev' (Suzette Barrett/Ruth Samuels), and daughter 'Kim' (Abigail Grant) who is also Shebadda's love interest.

Interesting characters

Other interesting characters include a hustler called 'Ringo' (Garfield Reid), the corrupt landlord 'Pampas' (Patrick Smith), and 'Dainty' (Dainty Belanfante), a promiscuous, exotic dancer. Stead Flash who plays 'Smurf' is also the director of the play. The play is written by Garfield Reid.

The actors have been rehearsing for the play over the last two weeks since closing the smash hit Bashment Granny at the Ward Theatre last month.

This play will presumably have a two-month run before the actors have to dash off for a tour of the United States to reprise their roles for Jamaicans living overseas.

The producers are enthusiastic about the play which centres around the new comedic find of the year, Keith Ramsey, who first came to public attention as a crowd-favourite among the finalists in the televised stand-up contest 'Comedy Buss'.

Comedic timing

Judging by the reviews and pop culture references to his onstage character, Ramsey is a budding star with his delightful sense of comedic timing and delivery, razor-sharp wit and his gift of physical comedy.

You can follow Shebadda's adventures as he transforms from 'never-see-come-see' country bumpkin to a rootsy 'shotter' under Ringo's tutelage and finally laugh your heart out as he takes 'extreme measures' to do a good deed for his girlfriend Kim.

"The whole tenement yard is full of deception, manipulation and greed. And after a while, everybody a fight for ownership of the yard, and Shebadda is caught in the middle of it. He changes from a country 'buffu' to a gangster and an icon of the ghetto, until finally he takes another extreme change to prove his love," said writer-actor Garfield 'Movie Star' Reid.