Shereita Grizzle, Gleaner Writer
The Farfield Theatre in Montego Bay, which has been largely underused, found new life yesterday as Dahlia Harris' latest drama, Her Last Cry, made the venue its new home.
Located on the outskirts of Montego Bay, the theatre is the only fully equipped one outside of Kingston, and is this year celebrating 40 years since it opened to the public. For this reason, the hard-working production team from Her Last Cry decided that it would be the perfect location for the play's second set of shows.
Nadean Rawlins, the play's director, said the decision came from the need to bring more awareness to the Farfield Theatre. "It is a great space to host productions, but has been largely underused over the years, so this was a way of bringing back some life to the theatre, especially now since they are celebrating their 40th anniversary," she said.
Making her debut run in the director's seat, Rawlins told The Gleaner that the experience thus far has been different, but exciting. "As an actress, you are used to being on the other side of the camera, feeling the character and helping them come to life, but as a director it is different," she explained. "It's almost like you know what each character should be feeling, so it's easier to translate to the actors and actresses because you know what you want to see."
Challenges
Though she described the experience as rewarding, she admitted that the new role doesn't come without its challenges. "It has its challenges, but acting helped a lot. It's almost seamless to me how natural it comes, and the script makes my job so much easier because the writing is superb."
Written by Dahlia Harris, Her Last Cry takes an in-depth look at the issue of domestic abuse, and challenges the realities surrounding it. It chronicles the tale of an upper-middle class married couple, Paul and Joanna March, who seem to have the perfect life, but are struggling with the issue of domestic violence. The couple also battles fertility issues as they are unable to conceive a child. This, fuelled by Paul's anger at his failing business and his alcohol-induced rages, threatens to end their relationship. Joanna now struggles with the decision to either leave her husband or deal with his wrath.
The play is co-directed by Suzanne Beadle and has a cast that includes the likes of Tony Rodney and Carla Moore. The show kicked off at the Farfield Theatre yesterday and will run for one month, ending on October 26. It will only be shown on weekends.
The play recently wrapped up its two-week run in Kingston, but the production team says plans are being put in place to facilitate a second staging in the country's capital.