Easy Street

The Lue Yen family went to a play tonight in New Kingston. We always seem to end up at the Center Stage Theatre. Last time we were here we saw Oliver Samuels. That was a "Wow". He is great. I got to participate as a chicken (it was a take-off on Noah and the Ark).

Anyway, the Center Stage has a repertory cast that we see again and again. (Pictures for this post by Esther)

These plays are always very broadly comedic and usually musical, but with a bit of a social message. "Easy Street" was set in a dump somewhere in Jamaica, probably near Kingston. It was about the lives of people who collect and sort rags and other things from the dump. I'll give you a couple of lines to set the tone. This is scene setting dialog at the beginning of the play.

"We don't have GCT" (general consumption taxes). "We don't have income tax." Pause for timing here. "We don't have income!"

The language is Jamaican patois. This is basically English, but with accent, loan words, abbreviations, and new constructions. After years and years of visits I can get about 80-90% now. There are even new words every time. This year's selection is:

"kurroaches:          a word for garbage or other messy stuff you throw away.
Kiss mi neckback: I can't believe it

This was a fun night. Everyone in the audience laughed out loud, clapping and cheering at the best moments. I didn't know the woman next to me but we laughed together and talked after the performance.

Here are the players.

Glen Campbell is a star in his own right (as Fungus, a local "recycler"). We also enjoyed all the rest, from Camille Davis as Queenie (rejected at the altar and in search of a place to live), Sharee McDonald-Russell (as Princess, a victim of her man's abuse), Chris Hutchinson (as Constable Bully, a misogynistic policeman and Princess's man), and Courtney Wilson (as Scab, an "itinerant sorter" of garbage).