‘Hurricane Hataclaps’ provides energetic entertainment

With the alliteratively named Hurricane Hataclaps showing at the Little Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Drive, Dahlia Harris has another hit on her hands. For the comedy, the multi-talented playwright, producer, director, actress and radio and television personality is able to use the skills associated with those professions with the help of a large team of clever designers and a backstage crew.

The story, on which all the other elements of the production depend, is an interesting study of contrasts. As the title suggests, the action takes place during a storm – perhaps Melissa, though it’s never actually identified. The sounds of thunder, rain and crashing objects abound, thanks to sound designers Sherika McLean, Marie Lovelock and Tifani Fagan.

Those special effects — along with accompanying flashes of lightning and frequent radio announcements about the approaching hurricane — naturally cause the characters great distress. Their constant, energetically choreographed movement before, during and after the weather event is highly entertaining.

However, all that activity is just the background for the story’s primary focus on the characters’ relationships with one another. There are four characters: Pearl (Harris), a fervent Christian; Parnell (Tesfa Edwards), her husband, a would-be philanderer; Arlene (Maylynne Lowe), the owner and barkeeper of the bar in which the play is set; and Jah Jah Royal (Everaldo Creary), a Rastaman and Arlene’s suitor.

The Pearl-Parnell marriage seems to be in trouble, for Parnell has been spending more time in the bar than at home. He has two interests there; one is Arlene, the other is drink. He has been trying for months to start an affair with the first, and he has racked up a liquor bill of thousands of dollars.

Royal also shows a romantic interest in Arlene, whom he pursues, while drinking more rum than he pays for. We learn, though, that Arlene’s problems go way beyond her two non-paying customers when she reveals that the inheritance of the bar is a double-edged sword. It is both her means of earning a living and a weight anchoring her to the district and preventing her from moving on to better prospects elsewhere.

Pearl is a multidimensional (as opposed to ‘flat’) character who is a deacon in her church and constantly quoting passages from the Bible. At the same time, she’s unusually tolerant of her husband’s neglect of herself and their home. Perhaps she believes that he’ll get nowhere with Arlene.

The men’s characters are particularly interesting. On the surface, they are different, partly thanks to costume designer Lovelock. The neatly dressed Parnell is an educator, while the locs-wearing Royal is a labourer. While Parnell is cowardly and selfish, Royal shows generosity and courage. On another level, the men are alike, both being garrulous philosophers who incessantly, annoyingly, spout their opinions and advice, Parnell in high-flown standard English, Royal in street vernacular.

All the actors have years of stage experience, which manifests as convincing characters. Despite the confined space and the limited time covered – the few hours of the storm – we see the change and growth required of characters in a well-written play. Of course, Harris helped the actors as both playwright and director.

Owayne Hamilton, an architect, designed the realistic, practical set. Upstage is the door to the bar, which must be whole in the first half and broken in the second half after the storm. At stage left (from the actor’s point of view) is a bar with shelves for bottles and a counter strong enough for Royal to vault over into hiding.

At stage right are gaming machines and stools (both used), and, for a while, drink boxes litter the downstage area. Later, they are moved to provide sleeping space after the storm. Colourful posters on the wall lend further verisimilitude to the ambience.

The complex lighting, which has to be erratic to suit the storm conditions, was designed by Edwards and Fagan. Among other things, stage managers Patricia Morris and McLean have to change the set between acts in complete darkness.

The production is scheduled to run from Fridays to Sundays through to September.

entertainment@gleanerjm.com