Peter Abrikian, Gleaner Writer

Scene from the play 'Bashment Granny'. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Garfield Reid's Bashment Granny hilariously portrays the lives of a family of three; 'Mr. Bashment', played by Maxwell 'Maama man' Grant; his son 'Trevor', a conman, played by the writer himself, and 'Jookie', a pilot, played by director Sted Flash.

Thick with homo-eroticism, the backbone of the show is the side-splitting interactions of the predominantly male cast.

Officer Duffodil (Patrick Smith), and James 'Shebada' Bones (Keith Ramsey), bear the brunt of this gay burden though it is not limited solely to them. The ladies of the company are both love interests of Trevor and are played by Ruth Samuels (Miss P) and Dainty Belafonte (Angel).

Staple element

It is only towards the end of Act I that we meet the 'third woman', title-giver, 'Bashment Granny', who in what seems to have become a staple element of recent 'roots' comedy, is played by Maxwell Grant in drag. The predictable complications are let loose on the household as 'Bashment Granny' tries to grasp and embody the concept of 'Jamaican woman'.

Officer Duffodil immediately starts 'checking' her seeking to 'get ahead in life', Trevor's two women faun over their perceived mother-in-law-to-be, and Mr. Bashment is caught time and again in the predicament of having both his personalities required at once. The apogee of the shows humour closes act one as 'Bashment Granny' takes the stage for the first time and 'Shebada' teaches her the latest dance moves.

James 'Shebada' Bones, flamboyantly depicted by a multi-talented Keith Ramsey, is the pulsing heart of the show. He is an ever-present next door neighbour who appears male yet seems to personify the stereotype that is 'ghetto-female'. The question of his sexuality is perhaps answered best by 'Shebada' himself when he says "mi deh pon di border line".

The love interest 'Angel' (and yes, there are many Bounty/Beenie references) for once possesses more than just a fine figure (though fine it is!) and Dainty's debut performance offers up a pleasant serving of surprising talent.

A slew of dancehall interjections, from classics such as Wayne Wonder's 1996 Bashment Girl, right up to today's hits such as Tony Matterhorn's Dutty Wine and Mr. Vegas' Hot Wuk are well placed and tend to raise the already-high comic level of the family's precarious situations.

The one drawback to an otherwise excellently-executed comedy is that the second act is somewhat slow. Though it is no less side-splitting, unfortunately, the pockets of humour are spaced just a bit too far apart and the show slows down just a little too much.

Bashment Granny has officially moved on from playing in Kingston, (their final show was on Sunday, January 28) but due to the overwhelming (and well-deserved) response from John Public, there will be an encore at the Hilton Kingston hotel on Valentine's Day. If you haven't seen it, don't miss it!