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 7^th.