Great directing, natural talent on display in ‘Pitchy Patchy 2’
Published:Monday | September 11, 2023 | 12:02 PMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer
It’s 7:30 Saturday night at the Philip Sherlock Centre, Mona. Milling around you are scores of beautifully dressed people. The ones wearing multicoloured Pitchy Patchy T-shirts are focused on specific actions related to the main event of the evening. The others are more relaxed – chatting, eating, drinking in front of the dozen or so refreshment booths on the lawn in front of the theatre.
You feast for an hour on chicken and rice and/or shrimps and pasta (served in white paper plates) with, for dessert, combinations of nuts or ice cream of various flavours. After the edibles, you begin sipping on Red Stripe beer or Bread & Butter wine (or both) but have to drink up quickly when you are summoned into the theatre. The main event, the on-stage presentation of Pitchy Patchy, the 2023 version, is about to begin.
The first iteration of the show staged at the same venue last year was such a success that Pitchy Patchy 2 was inevitable. Written mostly, and directed by Executive Producer Rayon McLean, the revue has two other executive producers, Kasandra Henry and Sherona Forrester.
In the handsome printed programme, there is a page full of names of people assisting them. So important is the look of the show that in that list, one must highlight the contributions of art director Shantay Madden; executive producer/production designer Maya Wilkinson; costume designers McLean and Kimberly Morris; mask designer Paul Hamilton; and lighting designer Nadia Roxburgh.
The others will surely take comfort in remembering the well-known saying, “In theatre, there are no small roles.” Of course, the show couldn’t have gone on without them.
For the benefit of those new to the scene, Pitchy Patchy, a show with an official tag line of “an outrageously hilarious satirical revue,” is a patching together of social media and traditional theatre. Most of the executive producers work in social media. A lot of the cast and assistants to the producers are from traditional theatre.
The hype and larger-than-life atmosphere of social media pervades the atmosphere of the show, outside and inside the theatre. An outside component of that atmosphere was the all-white, 12-foot tall Jonkunoo stilt-walker, who kept dancing to maintain his balance.
He could be considered a part of the “pre-show” performers. Others were singers Courtni Jackson, who told me she has been singing from she was six, and two young men calling themselves, collectively, the Friday Night Cru.
McLean got some assistance from writers Tristan Alleyne, Desmond Dennis, and Wilkinson, and for the most enjoyable number, Clash and Culture, the whole cast of the show. In summary, the writing is just okay, with many of the jokes being either unoriginal [if you spell “bread” as “bred” and are told you left out the “a,” you respell it “breda”] or forced.
What is brilliant is the acting, which partly comes from excellent directing and lots of natural talent. The performers with speaking parts in the 11 skits are Wayne Marshall, Dr Sanneta Myrie, Joylene Alexander, dBurnz, Desmond Morris, Danar Royal, Keticia ‘TC’ Chatman, and Tanaania Tracey. An unnamed, but very energetic young man, dances the part of the on-stage Pitchy Patchy character, who, unlike his counterpart outside, is dressed in a rainbow of colours.
The skits have a multitude of themes. Adam and Eve argue with the voice of God in the Garden of Eden over exactly how the forbidden fruit – now revealed as a jackfruit – came to be eaten. There is a fuss over the attitude of the Gen Z generation, whose members seem to be bone lazy.
In a barber shop, the action moves from the cleaning woman who returns to sell drinks then stopping to video a quarrel between one of the barbers and his baby mother.
A clever Schools Challenge Quiz features members of the audience matching wits with the cast. The climactic Culture and Clash skit shows a clash between dancehall and reggae music. Marshall and dBurnz steal each other’s women with their excellent singing and speechifying.
Saturday night saw the special gala showing of the production, which opened last Wednesday and closes on September 24. The Wednesday to Friday shows begin at 8 p.m., the Saturday stagings are at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and the Sunday evening performances start at 6 o’clock.