Excellent one act pair at Theatre Place

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The Jamaica Association of Dramatic Artists (JADA) staged an excellent pair of one-act plays at the Theatre Place, New Kingston, on the weekend.

They were strikingly different, Rishille Bellamay Peliece (with a series of cameos by Keiran King) in Amba Chevannes' Ms Burton Gets a Promotion and Christine Ann Bell in Basil Dawkins' Josephine's Night Out.

It was a pity, though, that Sunday night's gala performance pulled in a very small audience, not only because the performances deserved a better turnout, but, also, the plays were staged to establish JADA's Theatre Artists Benevolent Fund.

Lack of mass, however, did not depreciate the quality of the standing ovation for a superb showing by Bell, returning to the stage after eight years in what she said may be her final appearance.

If it is, Bell closed on a remarkable high in a well-crafted story, handling the extended one-way dialogue (if speaking to a teddy bear named Chappie and anticipating his responses, or speaking to 'mother' on the phone at intervals can qualify as two-way discourses) while maintaining the concentration required to simultaneously prepare a meal. Bell was constantly in motion in the kitchen segment of the set, washing lettuce, slicing potatoes and cooking meat (the stove seemed to be the only part of the set which was not actually functional), plus occasionally going to the couch where Chappie reposed.

Woes of josephine

Dawkins' story also gradually revealed itself as so much more than the woes of a single, desperately lonely woman anticipating dinner in her home with an old flame, in addition to battling a domineering mother not above using her multiple ailments manipulatively. At the core of Josephine's Night Out is the question that Bell puts to Chappie, after going through the harrowing recount of her husband Henley's death from AIDS and her subsequent social exclusion: "Who suffers most, Chappie, the AIDS victim or the survivor?"

There were real tears streaming down Bell's face when she got the cancellation call from her date; she glowed as she danced with Chappie in happier moments and, at the end, the resignation was palpable and moving as she had a drink with Chappie, for whom she had poured a glass of wine.

Amba Chevannes' Ms Burton Gets a Promotion, the first and much shorter production of the night, had much more humour although, at the heart of it, the story was not funny. Bellamy played the deluded nerd to the hilt. She is deluded in more ways than one - about herself and her capabilities with an unexpected promotion, as well as the voice that she says whispers to her every night that "you are on the path".

Bellamy played hapless well, lurching after a ride that leaves her and then slow-trotting in place as she walked to work. Then there was the power-hungry version, exulting over her sudden acquisition of office position (which is just as suddenly whisked away), tempered by her dependence on her boyfriend, who again leaves her to walk home.

Keiran King made multiple brief, very effective appearances, as the music-listening Lebert, Derrick who attempts to bring her sunshine and the commanding abrasive Roderick - her boyfriend. The character changes were mostly in clothing adjustments, the accompanying mannerisms, diction and 'attitude' completing the transformation.