Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

Gracia Thompson as Margaret and Peter Heslop as Stanford make eye contact in a scene from 'Secrets ... Shhh!' at the Pantry Playhouse recently.

THE LIGHTS went up promptly at 8:00 p.m. to the 'birth' of Jamaica's newest play Secrets - Shhh, which opened at the Pantry Playhouse to a full house of specially invited guests recently.

Written by Karl Hart, the play is divided into two acts and explores the ethos of a middle-class Jamaican family: George Edwards, the businessman heavily in debt; his wife, Rosie, the nurse with a medical problem; the wealthy Margret; George the financier and her son Ricardo, and Stanford the all-rounder for the Edwards.

In Stanford, Hart has created a hybrid. Stanford is a fusion of a foolish character who is always involved in his neighbour's affairs and the peasant who is the voice of reason often seen in the French playwright Molier's plays. The playwright's use of dramatic irony (the audience knows but the characters do not) to generate humour was very effective.

Increasing debt

Consisting of events that spanned a time frame of about six weeks, the play begins with George and Rosie returning from a trip abroad. They had gone to enrol their daughter Page in a university in Florida and to go shopping, despite the huge debt that George's auto shop is incurring. As the play progresses, the calls from the debtors increased. Somewhere in this 'royal mix up', it becomes necessary to reveal secrets. What is the secret? Shhh, here is a hint: When rum talk, woman walk.

Giving life to the characters were Fae Ellington as Rosie, Peter Heslop as Stanford, Fabian Thomas as George, Gracia Thompson as Margret and Tesfa Thompson as Ricardo.

All performed credibly. But it was Ellington, the veteran, who first overcame the opening night angst. She was very convincing from the get-go. Heslop, another theatre veteran played the gullible but wise Stafford with alacrity and gusto. Fabian Thomas seemed to have hone George from the outset, depicting an unperturbed character in contrast to Ellington's Rosie, who is often agitated. Gracia and Ricardo came in their own as the play progressed.

Good guidance

Director Karl Williams provided the cast with good guidance. This was particularly demonstrated in the expository scenes between Stafford and Ricardo; George and Margret; and the last two scenes of the play. His decision to end the play with Yolanda Adams' song Day By Day was awesome. Using the curtain call to tell the audience to keep the secret created a dramatic ending. However, Williams' use of entrances and exits for Ring Road Motor needs to be reviewed. Also, whereas it was effective to have Rosie seated down stage centre for her birthday party, it did not work for Margaret in a previous scene.

Designs were done by Hart and Karl Williams. While the costumes, except for Ricardo wearing sandals, were great, the set design had some flaw. The actions of the play take place in three locations: at the house of the Edwards, the auto shop and two scenes at the home of the Sutherlands. However, the décor for the small space assigned to the Sutherlands did not reflect their wealth.

There was evidence of opening night hiccups: long scene changes between scenes and a malfunctioned set. Perhaps the cast and crew should take comfort in one of Stanford's lines, "You cannot go any further than bottom, the only thing for you to do is to rise to the top". May their endeavour grow to its full potential. Curtains!

Fae Ellington as Rosie and Fabian Thomas as George laugh during an embrace in a scene from 'Secrets...Shhh!' - photos by Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer