Friday, April 29, 2011

Better The Devil You Know Review



P. Anthony White’s classic play, Better The Devil You Know saw a return to the stage this year thanks in part to the St Agnes Players and director Anthony ‘Skeebo” Roberts. The tale follows the exploits of a divorced couple in New York, 1980. The tagline refers to the play as a romantic comedy but there was really little romance. Instead, White’s tale offers something other plays this year did not – an insight into the human condition of both men and women. What followed was an introspective look into many themes, namely gender identity, migration and Post-Colonialism – not a small feat for such an old play.

Visiting from The Bahamas, Virginia (J. Camille King) finds that she is unable to adapt to the cold environs of New York. To make matters worse, Paul Christie (Anthony Roberts), her former husband takes up board in the same apartment. What ensues is an interesting dynamic between the two who share old stories and slice open new wounds. I found it interesting that the core action of the play (what the characters wanted) was written in the subtext as opposed in the literal – something most modern Bahamian plays do not do. Essentially Virginia wants to reconnect with Paul and vice versa. However, Virginia’s intentions are masked in malice and bitterness. Paul, who had manipulated their marriage of almost fifteen years, reveals that he could not love another woman and found it hard to move on—so much so that his current love interest is also named Virginia. At the core of White’s play is the fantastic issue of the human soul and love. This play is about a man and a woman trying to reconnect with each other and not knowing how. Isn’t that how we operate? Both are alcoholics, both lie, cheat and manipulate the other for whatever gain is available. For me this was the “AHA” moment of the play which is again, something that happens rarely.

Out of all of the clashes come great scenes that could have benefited from some dramaturgy though. Virginia and Leslie spent too much time giving exposition when more meaningful conversations could have occurred. The characters spent most of the play drinking and I mean drinking, drinking like sailors after a hurricane drinking. That’s all well and good but this drowning of sorrows in alcohol is never addressed in the play by the characters on a serious level. Why should they? Simply because the drinking has much to do with celebrating their daughter’s wedding as it does about the fact that these former lovers are nervous about staying with each other. It’s a way to dull the pain of a failed marriage that still stings them like it happened last night.

Both Leslie and Eva were unnecessary characters that had no action. To make matters worse the actresses were none too good either. Leslie (Zena Cooper) seemed to have one voice setting – which was set at 11 - whereas Eva (Emily Osadebay) who provided comic relief in her appearances in key moments never got to capitalize on her entrance, she would merely stagger off stage a few seconds later mumbling a line or two. I think with a little dramaturgy the play would have been a ton more interesting with just Paul, Virginia and a better developed Eva.

Roberts and King did a decent job opposite each other, but I feel with a little more rehearsal time and some more coaching for King, their performances could have been fantastic. Roberts knew what he was doing – this is familiar territory for him – but King seemed to be getting her feet wet again. This became apparent to me when King was first opposite Cooper. Sorry to say but her performance was like the sinking Titanic, but once Roberts joined her there was a noticeable change in her acting. I would have liked to have seen that from the beginning.

The stage was pretty dynamic and good measure was used to take advantage of the living and dining room and the upstairs area. I must say, other than Woman Take Two and the two previous Shakespeare plays done by Shakespeare In Paradise, I’ve never seen such a complex set design. The lights, music, props and costumes were incorporated superbly and only complemented the vast and glorious set.

As this is Roberts directorial debut I believe he managed to put on an entertaining evening. With time I hope to see more and more performances from the St. Agnes Players, ones that are as insightful as White’s.

Monday, April 18, 2011

New Blog

So I created a new blog the other day. I know what I want it to be, so I'll see if that's what it will become. For now you can follow the link and see for yourself if Bahamian drama is your cup of tea -- and please fret not, this blog isn't going anywhere.

http://bahamiandrama.wordpress.com/

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Cabinet Review




Welcome ladies and gentlemen to The Cabinet, a play about politics in The Bahamas. That’s right another political satire about our government. I can hear the other critics now...deep heaving sighs mixed with vodka shots and a great melancholy with ponderings on why God, why don’t they write something else for a change, or a, I thought of that ten friggin years ago can’t they be more original? I know how some of you feel, but please fret not, this was a play more about the human condition than anything and it worked! That’s right, it was good.

On April 1st, The Cabinet premiered at The Dundas Centre for The Performing Arts to a warm and enthusiastic audience. The play mirrors to an extent the events that occurred in The Bahamas at the turn of the century. Sir Lymon Leadah, former Prime Minister for over thirty years has just passed away and in that wake the current Prime Minsiter, Reggie Moxey, is conflicted about a promise he made to the people to only serve two terms in office. However after Lymon’s ghost starts appearing to Reggie, he decides to concoct a plan that would ensure his position as Prime Minister in years to come.

Written by Ward Minnis and directed by Dr. Ian Strachan, the play is set in the fictional isles of The Archipelago and stars Chigoze Ijeoma as Reginald Moxey, Ward Minnis as Jerome Cartwright, Ian Strachan as Sir Limon Leadah, Sophia Smith as Latoya Darling, Matthew Wildgoose as Kendrick Johnson and Arthur Maycock Jr as Fenton Green. In our tiny nation, this counts as an all-star cast. So with these points in mind, let’s see how The Cabinet fairs.

What it did right

It made me laugh. Then it made me laugh again and some more after that too until I was busting my guts. Yeah, some of the jokes, puns and acting may have been a bit cheesy in some spots, but together as a cohesive piece, the comedy shone through like the glittering piece of British humor it reminds me of. That’s right, I went there, Britain! Matthew Wildgoose proved once again that he is a comical genius in any role given to him. As Kendrick, Wildgoose showed a dynamic of not just performing over the top idiocy, but also quiet moments of inner turmoil that just busted guts. Wildgoose is no newcomer to the scene either; he’s been acting for over five years now and proves that comedy is his comfort zone. Minnis as Cartwright was fantastic. He was never too overbearing but had the right amount of range to pull off the comical bits written for the exceptionally dry character. Ijeoma should be here as well, but I actually found him limited in his acting and we’ll talk about that later.

The script was well written and a decent job was done to bring it to the stage. And while we’re talking about the stage, it was set up in three spaces, Cartwright’s front room, Moxey’s office and his study at home. The spaces were dynamic and well placed. No one space blocked the view of another. I appreciate that as Moxey’s study table could have easily blocked any of the other two spaces from view.

What it could have done better

Moxey’s character is a direct caricature of a certain Prime Minister, but you knew that, the man was miming Hubert’s voice and laugh for goodness sakes. However, I found that very voice too soft to hear at times, and honestly I heard the laugh once despite him doing it in almost every scene. Ijeoma’s problem was, he never projected to the audience, except for the two instances where he shouted. To make matters worse, after the intermission he didn’t ride the laughs anymore. What I mean is, he said a funny line, the audience laughed and while we were laughing he continued with his line. Know what that means, we missed the line. That’s not cool.

And while we’re talking about Ijeoma, I felt his acting was flat. But now get this, when I read The Cabinet his character was not. I had similar problems with Latoya and Fenton, but sadly they were written flat. They were only meant to be catalysts, nothing more. This means that Ijeoma had some bad direction. When he was meant to seem melancholy, excited or deeply touched, I didn’t believe him because he was not displaying the range expected of the part.

Sir Lymon Leadeah was an interesting character as he had the most dynamic scenes with Moxey. However I felt these two really could have capitalized on some scenes better than they did, especially the father-son moment they shared in their final scene. I feel the comedy was played more than the emotional connection I was looking for in a scene like that.

I can see the stones heading my way now! “Stone that bastard!” they shout. “What he know anyway?” I sorry, I sorry!

Back on track, The Cabinet was fantastic ya! It’s just what we needed back in 2007, an actual play about the government, but here it is now and it’s still funny. Like I said before, the script is fantastic – it works. Does that mean it’s not without flaws? No, it has some, but that’s ok. Nobody cares; this production was well done and shows that Dr. Strachan is slowly moving forward in his role as director. If you are looking for a good night of laughs then look no further, The Cabinet aims to please and returns to The Dundas on April 7th.