Washed away: A review of Judgement in Paradise

Judgement in Paradise, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker-turned-playwright Adrian Wildgoose, promised the end of the world – well, The Bahamas – as we know it, but delivered something quite different. 
In the context of destruction, Wildgoose tried to hold a magnifying glass to Bahamian society by highlighting issues like religious hypocrisy, lack of political accountability, familial neglect and national dependence.
The play really focussed on the relationship issues of the protagonist, Destiny Wilshine, with her father, Christian; her grandfather, Grandpa Wilshine, and her best friend, Chance. Subsequently, Christian Wilshine (well-placed irony) sells The Bahamas to foreign investor Seymour Bucks, who then renames the archipelago “Laziton”.
While this is going on, reporter Terry Smith is convinced by a Mayan priest that The Bahamas is meant to be destroyed on December 21, 2012, which she feels she must share with the rest of the country.
Firstly, I have to commend the cast because they clearly put a lot of work into the production and their effort can not go unnoticed. It was a cast of young people, many of whom were COB students and alumni. Though some shone brighter than others, I didn't see one person on stage that made me remember I was watching people act. The players clearly had a sense of character and where they fit into the story.
So, did I come away feeling I had watched a good show? Not exactly. The fundamental element that was missing in this play was strong writing. Perhaps with the desire to tackle so many pressing issues, Wildgoose was being over ambitious. The play seemed chock full of issues and themes and perspectives, but there was a serious lack of cohesion.
In terms of characters, some were written and directed with a lot of insight into life and the human condition. Others... not so much. Many characters were written and directed with comedy or furtherance of one of the various plots rather than realism in mind.
The character of the journalist was trying to convince The Bahamas to be prepared for the end of the world, but she never said why (“Because the Mayans said so” is not much of an explanation). At the same time, the radio talk show host, Haroldina Thriller, had moments of gold and moments when I wondered if she was on the radio or at the hairdresser. Two characters that should have provided the bulk of the insight into the situation had no insight to offer.
The elephant in the room with productions at The College of The Bahamas (COB) is often the technical issues. So needless to say, the lighting in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) needs to be revamped for plays. Unfortunately from the middle of the theater, the glare of the state-of-the-art concert lights made it impossible to see the characters and it actually hurt my eyes after a while.
 In addition to that, many would argue the use of microphones by the cast was a serious faux pas. Many would argue the opposite. The clincher? When the microphones didn't work, the audience couldn't hear the actors at all. This seldom happens when you use the good old lungs and project – something easily done in a theater like the PAC, which has less than 500 seats.
All in all, the concept of the play was brilliant, as well as the use of the Wilshine family as the audience’s window into the situation. But plays are about people – their wants, their actions and their purposes. Many players ended up just on stage acting, when they should have been playing three-dimensional characters with purpose.
This was a valiant effort by young people in theater that is absolutely essential for growth – both of the individuals and the industry. Wildgoose and his vibrant cast should be commended for taking the time to contribute to Bahamian theater, and hopefully, they will continue to produce and learn.


This review was written by Reva Cartwright-Carroll and was originally published in The Nassau Guardian on June 9.

‘If you have tears, prepare to shed them’: A Review of ‘Julius Caesar’ (2011)

Intense, rhythmic and methodical — all words that describe Shakespeare In Paradise’s 2011 signature performance, Julius Caesar.

After working front of house for Julius Caesar over three days and catching bits and pieces of the show, I sat down to watch it on its final night.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

“If you have tears, prepare to shed them.”

SiP’s signature play was directed by Bahamian legend, Philip Burrows. Burrow’s show was perhaps the best show I saw during the festival. Some say it was boring, apparently falling asleep even. I disagree.

He slashed Shakespeare’s original script to ribbons, axing scenes, monologues, characters — by god, you name it, Philip ‘Sweeny Todded’ it.

The show is two and a half hours long with intermission, but I didn’t want to leave the theater after the show — I wanted more.

Many have walked away from The Tempest (2009) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2010) amazed by the set. Some claim that that was all they remembered of the show. Well, Caesar only had a black set of stairs and the character’s costumes (which were in earth tones), so what were they going to walk away with this year?

The play apparently.

It was intense, never letting up the tension, drama and death. Most plays I’ve seen have a hard time balancing tension. Either plays are too tense with no room to breathe or they are too comical with no overall point to the madnesss. Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” can easily suffer from too much tension — it is after all, about betrayal, suicide and politics — but it doesn’t and Burrows did a good job balancing this on stage.

Perhaps one of his more risky moves was to incorporate Bob Marley’s music in his show. I felt that it paid off as the songs he chose fit in perfectly in the play. I spoke to a few others who saw the show and they felt that it didn’t fit in the overall setting of the play, and it is a valid point. However, I felt the music set the atmosphere perfectly.

The actors did a fantastic job bringing to life these hundred-year-old characters. I’ve seen too few a Bahamian actress like Jovanna Hepburn (Cassius). To say she stole the show sounds almost cliché to me, but she did. Hepburn was phenomenal. She convinced me, held me and threw me against the wall — all with her lines. I had people asking me from the first performance what her name was. For her part, she really brought her character to life — as did all of the other actors.

Matthew Wildgoose continues to mature as an actor. As Mark Antony, he excelled, never allowing his comic genius to emerge. Antony, in this play, is a calculating, decisive and serious character. Wildgoose did an excellent job.

David Burrows was fantastic. As Brutus he served as an excellent companion to Hepburn’s Cassius. Their intensity was brutal and a scene with the pair always promised earth shattering exchanges.

Gordon Mills was perhaps the actor who I felt played Caesar a bit too light heartedly. When I think of Caesar, I think of the ruler that conquered the Ghals and left his enemies begging for mercy. The man was prone to genocidal tendencies after all. One can argue that Mills’ portrayal made him more sympathetic when he died, but I would have preferred a more serious Caesar.

The rest of the cast did a fantastic job and I was quite pleased to see many new faces to the Shakespeare In Paradise scene.

This review first appeared in The Nassau Guardian on October 28th, 2011.

Review: Mariah Brown (2011)

Mariah Brown is not a play that can please a wide range of audiences. Those who are used to big explosions, raunchy sex scenes and hollow protagonists will find no pleasure in this one-woman play out of Florida. Instead, Brown offers a satisfying historical and emotional view of a Bahamian migrant who pioneered Key West’s Coconut Grove in the early 1880s.

That’s right, Shakespeare In Paradise presents yet another one-man show from the United States, following last year’s “Paul Robeson” and 2009’s “Zora”. I might also add that audiences loved those performances. So it is no small wonder that “Mariah Brown” quietly pleases audiences this lap. I say quietly because Brown is no showstopper about a suspected communist or the great Zora Neale Hurston, but rather, focuses on a mammy — a good natured servant — in search of a better life.

This is where Brown shines, as Laverne Cuzzocrea (Mariah Brown) transplants audiences back to the early 1880s and delivers one of the most memorable performances I’ve seen in any recent play. Cuzzocrea breaks down her performance with direct contact with the audience and exerting raw emotion. Her performance is quiet yet boisterous.

Central to the story was Brown’s hope and fortitude in learning to read and write. There is such a similarity here with Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”. Learning to read is intrinsically linked with education and social awareness and this proves true as Brown warns her daughters of the ‘killings’ occurring in Florida.

She also finds an appreciation of poetry, especially the works of Walt Whitman and Shakespeare. Brown’s love for words, letters, reading and writing is ironically opposed to the blindness that her husband suffers. It is almost as if the playwright weakens the patriarch to truly reveal the strength that Brown possess.

Perhaps the most important theme of the play is community development. Brown was a pioneer, building the first home in Coconut Grove and persuading others to join her settlement. Here she shines not only as a mammy archetype, but also as a new archetype, earth mother. Brown cares for her community, especially her boss in the Peacock Inn who helps her to read. These elements, in my opinion, made the script fantastic.

There were no physically technical aspects to the play: no music, lights or fancy robots. It was simple. Cuzzocrea wore a traditional dress fitting that of a servant. For the most part, this worked well for the play, as the simplicity of the dress stayed in line with the atmosphere of the performance and the script. The greatest alien element to the play was the venue — The Historical Society — that fits nicely with the historical aspects of the play.

I honestly I have no qualms with the play. It was the right length, proved to be highly educational and it followed the three unities of playwriting; time, place and action. It didn’t hurt that Cuzzocrea was fantastic as Brown. I mean she had the audience.

Writer and director Sandra Riley first staged Mariah Brown in 2003 and followed with two additional performances in 2004 and 2007.

This was the first time Mariah Brown was staged in The Bahamas.

This review first appeared in The Nassau Guardian on October 10th 2011