By Michael Reckord, ContributorGINGER KNIGHT'S comedy Part Time Lover (Barn Theatre) was a hit when first produced 17 years ago. It ran for more than 150 performances and the playwright-producer records that some men saw it five or six times with different girlfriends, indicating by their laughter that they thoroughly enjoyed it each time.
Women enjoyed it, too, says Knight, and one who was pregnant laughed so much she went into labour. Subsequently, in recognition of the joy the baby (and the play) brought into her life, she named the child Ginger.
Times have changed. Plays tend not to have the long runs they had back then, the Little Theatre Movement's Pantomime being an exception. In the case of the play under review that's a pity, for this production is better than the original.
For one, the theatre, a professionally run, well kept space, is nicer. The set is the best ever used in a Knight production. (Knight said his own mediocre design was thrown out in favour of the beautiful one we see by Karl Hart and Dayne McDonald.)
Also the cast is more professional. It features Actor Boy award winners Volier Johnson and Deon Silvera, as well as other well known names - Dayne McDonald, Ginger Knight himself and Ruth Knight. Marsha-Ann Haye is not as well known, but she has a fair amount of stage experience. Charles Knight doubles with brother Ginger in the tiny policeman role.
Because my guests on the evening I saw the play were two university professors from Chile, I was able to appreciate the production in part through foreign eyes. They thought the production was excellent.
My word for it is, overall, 'enjoyable'. There are excellent components; the aforementioned set, showing a tastefully decorated bedroom and a living room, being one.
Another is Silvera's performance. She plays Sonia, the power-hungry, money-loving, man-loving daughter of the house. In pursuit of her own selfish ends, she steals her stepfather from her mother. So how come the audiences love her? Silvera's characteristic high energy, her personal attractiveness and brilliant smile help, of course; but it's mainly because of the type of play Knight has written. Part Time Lover is a comedy, yes, but more precisely it's a farce - and you don't dislike anyone in a farce, even the bad guys. Even more precisely, this is a 'roots play'. But it's a roots play with class.
That is not a contradiction in terms. The set and calibre of the performers make it classy. The story makes it rootsy; here's a summary of the sensation-stuffed plot.
A newly-married man (McDonald) tries to seduce his stepdaughters with sexy underwear and stacks of thousand dollar bills (ganja money). One daughter (Sonia) moves into his bed as her mother (Ruth Knight) is thrown out on the street. The other daughter, Nadine (Haye) resists and is rewarded handsomely - in a deus ex machina sort of way, without any effort on her part. In the end the good are lifted up, the bad punished.
It's farcical stuff, written strictly for laughs. This is not true of some of Knight's later plays, which he wrote after real research into significant social issues.
While the others performers don't quite inhabit their roles to the extent Silvera does, they are good and all bring to their performances energies which balance one another very well.
Incidentally, the freeness of the sex talk and the portrayal of the quasi-incestuous, adulterous relationship, provided a new - perhaps refreshing - experience for my guests. It seems theatre in Chile isn't quite so open about these matters.
Directing credits are shared for the production by Ginger Knight, Johnson (who alternates with McDonald) and Silvera. The influence of the original director, Keith Noel, lingers.
