'Run Di Track' is entertaining, intriguing

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Run Di Track, the Independent Actors Movement (IAM) production which closed at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts on Sunday, is inherently entertaining.

A novel concept in Jamaican theatre, the production is based on the latter stages of a talent show where three entrants - solo performer Smooth (Damion Radcliffe, who also directs the production) and duos Track Starz (Kayla, played by scriptwriter Sabrena McDonald, and Ricardo, played by Shaun Drysdale), and 2 for 1 (Turbo (Omall Wright) and Melissa (Natasha Griffiths) - remain. The audience is also a participant, supporting placards placed on chairs at the Dennis Scott Studio Theatre meant to be held up a la Digicel Rising Stars, one person in Sunday's one-third-capacity final audience especially enthusiastic about the role.

Host Lisa (Dorraine Reid) and show producer Buffy (played by Tesfa Edwards on Sunday night, who alternates with Carl Samuels) literally run the show.

The participatory nature of the production was reinforced when, at the end of the obligatory introduction and applause, McDonald extended a hand and said "in the role of the audience tonight, you, our audience".

That audience had been thoroughly entertained by the contestants, all five turning out to be competent enough singers - even as Smooth was deliberately false in his falsetto and overly dramatic in his dramatic 'for the ladies' delivery - and certainly good thespians. However, as entertaining as the original songs were, as well as 2 for 1's delivery of Dennis Brown's Revolution and Track Starz's take on Dancehall Queen, the real thrust of Run Di Track lay in its behind-the-performance stories.

So the audience, back in its non-participatory role, was treated to what the real-life audience would not see - the behind-the-scenes intrigue of Turbo, addicted to prescription drugs; the love life permutations of Lisa, Buffy, Melissa and Smooth; the tension between Kayla and Ricardo in their uptown-downtown relationship; the scheming and thuggery of Buffy.

Run Di Track has its share of humour. Smooth's clumsy attempts to conceal his feelings for Lisa among them, but it has a heavy dose of drama as well, with the heavy-handed Buffy showing his true colours as Ricardo attempts to return a contract which offers him an advance of $200,000 (which he has already collected and spent 75 per cent of) if he will relegate Kayla to a back-up role. And that is where Run Di Track veers a bit off track.

The turn of events to Buffy's gun-pulling and beating up Smooth, then ordering thugs to 'deal with' Ricardo (who is stabbed, according to a newscast), then Ricardo wearing a wire as Buffy is confronted by all (there is humour as Smooth dares to get physical and holds on to Buffy's legs for dear life, then Lisa gets in a kick on the man who has consistently whupped her) is simply too much in a short space of time.

Then, when Buffy has been disposed of, Run Di Track continues with 2 for 1 taking the top prize.

It is a case of compressing events in a format where audience attention span - participatory or not - can be notoriously short, especially for a production that pulses with performances.

Run Di Track utilises multimedia for the judges' responses, which worked very well despite the occasional hair's breadth of a pause between the host turning to the screen and it coming to life that causes anxiety and throws the audience off a tad. The set, dominated by a circular platform branded with the show's name, which is also projected in glowing colours to the back of the stage, works well.

Run Di Track stands out with its concept which changes the audience's role from participant to observer, as well as its sheer entertainment value. Easing the audience into the drama of Buffy's thuggery more gradually would have made for a longer production, but Run Di Track has the legs - in writing and acting - to have gone the further distance.