THEATRE REVIEW: who knew grannie: a dub aria
26 Mar'10

Grannie loveable, flaws and all

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 3 out of 5

If you’re looking for heart and soul in a theatre piece, 'who knew grannie: a dub aria' might be just the ticket you seek. If you’re looking for theatrical finesse, however, it might be best to approach this as a work in progress — one with a fair bit of room for improvement.

The latest play from writer/director ahdri zhina mandiela, 'who knew...' had its world premiere on the Factory Theatre main stage last week, a production of Obsidian Theatre Company in association with the Factory Theatre.

A brief work, it is the story of family and not only how deep our roots might run, but how widely they spread as well. It is the story of four young people summoned home to Jamaica from the lives they have built here in Canada, to bid a final farewell to the grannie of title (played by Ordena) — a simple, compassionate woman who managed somehow to put aside age and poverty to raise these children of her children and send them out into the world in search of a better life. Some of them have found success, it seems.

Vilma, (played by Andrea Scott) for instance, is now a high-powered politician based in Ottawa — a woman who has the ear of the Prime Minister, which one supposes must be considered an achievement in some circles.

Her cousin Kris (Marcel Stewart) has done pretty well too, carving out a life as a successful restaurateur, although his personal life apparently draws disapproval in some circles.

For their cousins Tyetye (Joseph Pierre) and Likklebit (Miranda Edwards), life in Canada hasn’t proved to be quite so positive an experience. The former is serving time caged in a Canadian prison, while the latter pines for the warmth of her island home in the midst of a Canadian winter.

All in all, the ties that bind them — the joys of a shared Jamaican childhood, filled with music and games, dreams and stories — are stretched pretty thin here in their new home. But as they make their way back for their grandmother’s funeral, the power of memory takes over and those bonds once again encircle them in love.

Mandiela, as a writer, is nothing short of fearless in creating elaborate vocal patterns as she tosses words and ideas around with abandon, bending time and place to her will in pursuit of the theatrical moment. As a director, however, she falls more than a trifle short when it comes to meeting the complex demands her playwright makes on her.

Thanks to designers Julia Tribe (sets and costumes) and Bonnie Beecher (lighting), 'who knew...' has a strong sense of time and place, using a cats-cradle of taut cording to evoke not just the familial ties that bind but everything from a cityscape to a prison cell, while above it all percussionist Amina Alfred beats out the rhythms of life.

As the director tears into the playwright’s complex and challenging choral demands with far more heart than finesse, rendering too much of the text incomprehensible, other problems become evident as well. Mandiela fails to shape her casts’ enthusiastic performances to underscore the transit of her quartet’s voyage from childhood to adulthood and back again, finding brief moments of true childish wonder only in Edward’s performance, then squandering them by failing to ensure the performer’s voice made it beyond the footlights.

Thanks to the tremendous heart the performers bring to the tale, you’ll no doubt feel that you indeed knew grannie — but, chances are, you’ll mourn a wasted opportunity to know her a whole lot better.