REVIEWS REVIEWS
The thing that strikes you about this play is the way that it has been put together. It came about through the endeavours of the author David Hermanstein and the director Karena Johnson, and called for a retrospective glimpse of how the characters made their journey through life, but it left the audience wondering what was going on on the stage as the story was told. A pity, for it was telling the true story of the troubles of a black community trying to come to terms with the society within which they lived. The director failed to make clear the divisions between the past and the present as the action moved from scene to scene leaving confusion in its wake.
We have a young woman with a baby looked after by male members of the community. The arrival of the child is the core of the story which is told by looking back at the events that led up it its birth and the philosophy of how those events came about. The young woman Dionne is played by Akiya Henry, her brother Remi by Jumayne Hunter and his friend Jermaine by Anwar Lynch. The boyfriend Delroy is played by Marcus Onilude and the father Ty by Trevor Dwyer-Lynch. All gave verve to their parts although the delivery blurred the diction to the detriment of the audience.
The set designed by Barney George was adequate for its purpose, although using the outer limits of the stage left some of the audience with restricted views, a problem further enhanced by the theatre's seating layout. The actors seemed not to know which side of the audience they should be playing to. The lighting designed by David Bennion-Pedley was strung on visible scaffold poles and shone at the audience and not down on the players, something that could be rectified very easily and should not have happened if the designer had tried the seating.
So, the author's message was there, but it had difficulty in making its way to the audience who tried to give the play and its players their full attention as they wished to be entertained. Try it. © BA
“Safe” is in Leeds on the 19th May until the 30th June, 2007. Council car parking charge £1 from 5.30pm until 10pm. This is now a No Smoking theatre.
   |