“We wanted to do something good to honour his fiftieth,” said Jean-Paul Menou, the director of the production now running at the Edna Manley College’s School of Drama. He and I were leaving the Dennis Scott Studio Theatre on Saturday afternoon, having just seen a double bill of plays by Trinidadian playwright Zeno Obi Constance, who is celebrating his 50th year as a theatre practitioner.
Menou had watched the plays, The Ritual and Dueling Voices, with a critical eye and would later give notes to the cast. I watched the excellent production with enjoyment and admiration. Constance should be pleased.
At the heart of the plays are the concerns of young people, mainly females; and the young performers, students of the school, mainly females, seemed to fully identify with the characters they present to us. The cast of The Ritual, the first play onstage, are Danielle Tracey, Christene Coote, Marvia Sommerville, Rosebigate Newton, Kianna Jackson – who all play students – as well as Roxanne Williams, who has a tiny role as their teacher.
All the actresses playing the students also portray other characters, some adults, and the playwright’s clever construction of his story allows the actresses to acceptably exaggerate various mannerisms. In one moment, an actress will be playing another student and in the next she becomes a mother, a father or a boyfriend.
The play focuses on the story of Omega, a student who is not actually onstage, but who we get to know better than the ones who are, She is rumoured to be pregnant, and the girls, imagining the distress she and her family must be feeling, take on the roles of those concerned.
A poignant conclusion the girls arrive at is, “All a wi is Omega.” They know they could all get pregnant while at school.
But teenage pregnancy is only one of the themes of the play. Omega’s boyfriend is a Rasta, and religion pops its head through the stage doors for a bit. Her father and mother have different views on what should happen to Omega, and she is even put on trial for the “crime” of becoming pregnant while in school. That gives us an idea of the general society’s opinions on the issue.
We in the audience get as wrapped up in the story as the students. Thus, the irony of the teacher’s judgement that the girls were wasting time in idle chatter before she enters late in the play hits us as powerfully as it does them.
The girls remain in their uniforms throughout the story and they shift into different characters by merely adding a prop or two to their wardrobe – a length of cloth or a cap, for example. This, and the facts that the only pieces of furniture onstage are black rehearsal boxes and the only music comes from off-stage drums, remind us of the tradition of minimalist productions at the School.
Schoolgirl pregnancy is also a major theme in Dueling Voices. The school girl, Marge, is played by Apple Wright. Her teacher, Eric, with whom she is having an affair, is played by Kibwe Lawrence. Imani Williams, portrays his wife, Daphne. Jhanelle Erskine plays Marge’s mother, Alexa Larcher plays Marge’s teacher and Kushnie Maxwell plays Eric’s unnamed friend.
Like The Ritual, this work begins with light-hearted play – children’s games. However, unlike The Ritual, where the games stop when serious issues arise, in Dueling Voices, one game is actually used to discuss those matters. It’s a storytelling game, and the winning side is the one which imagines a problematic situation the other side can’t solve.
An example of a difficult question is posed by Marge who asks what should happen when a teacher and student who are having an affair really love each other. Should his being married and much older and society’s general disapproval of teacher-student romance matter?
Thanks to the fluidity of the directing, a ton of issues get packed into the 40 to 45 minutes each play lasts. The rapid shift of lighting designed by Calvin Mitchell moves one scene into another without the traditional blackouts; an open, wall-less set furnished with just the black boxes, and Michael Holgate’s energetic movement design all contribute to a fast-paced production.
The extra shows scheduled for this production means, I hope, that larger audiences than usual are expected. The show deserves them. Five school groups were booked for the 2 p.m. matinee which I attended.
Playing times for this coming weekend, the final one, are: Friday, November 10 at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 6 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m.