If the Carifesta secretariat did not deliver on any of the other promises it made it certainly hit the nail on its head when it promised that the Jamaican play, River Bottom, would have been a “belly full of laughter.”
Led by Jamaica’s renowned comedian Oliver Samuels, the two-hour comedy could be best be described as highly entertaining and bursting with humour, compassion and pain. The two hours were well spent for those who made it into the National Cultural Centre; hundreds more queued for over an hour and were unable to. There were a few brave souls who stood outside until the first two hours were up to enter for the second staging of the play from 10 pm to midnight.
The cast felt sorry for the many angry and sometimes teary-eyed patrons who were unable to get into the centre for the start of the play at 8 pm and agreed to put on an encore performance from 10 pm.
We are not knocking the secretariat but we feel that maybe River Bottom was one of the plays for which the ticket system should have remained.
When we decided to attend we knew we had to arrive early for the scheduled 8 pm start. We figured that 6.10 pm would have been early enough. Not so. At 6.10 pm when we stepped out of our vehicle the line to enter the centre had wound its way out of the compound on to Homestretch Avenue to the new National Archives building. We bravely joined the queue, figuring the number of people in front of us could not have filled the centre.
Unfortunately, other who arrived after us did not think the same way and instead of joining the line decided to congregate in front of the building. The crowd had gotten so big in front of the centre that you could not have even seen the stairs. At that point, we were at the back gate and we knew there was no way of us getting into the centre.
In the end we did get in. How? That is our secret. What we can tell you is that we did not enter the building through the front door. Inside, some parents had their little children take up entire seats even though they were pleaded with to have their small children sit two in a seat so that others could get an opportunity to view the play.
River Bottom
Samuels plays Cappo, the spiritual leader and Member of Parliament (MP) who fools the residents of River Bottom, a poverty-stricken Jamaican district, into believing that he could communicate with storms along with other powers. While the residents lived in shacks with no running water and electricity, Cappo lived in a “story house with split level with a front porch and a back veranda.”
Cappo “brought the house down” with his added local touches into the play. When he was crticised about living in a big house while his members lived in shacks and his church was being held under a genip tree for years, Cappo asked his congregation if it would not be a shame for their spiritual leader to be living in a shack. He then called the names of two well-known bishops in Guyana, questioning whether they lived in shacks. Both of the bishops are known and they live in huge fancy houses. When reference was made to them the NCC erupted with members of the audience waving their hands.
Cappo has his eyes on a young woman name Pearl, whose mother, Cherry, wants her to marry an “educated man” with a green card who has some complexion that could give her grandchildren’s skin some texture.
Cappo, who believed he would have reigned supreme in the district, is stopped in his tracks with the return of Quatty, a young man who had been abroad to seek an education, and even has a green card. Cherry tries to match him with her daughter. Quatty has a new take on life and is ready to pass on his newfound wisdom to the residents of his childhood district. Cappo tries to get rid of Quatty by sending him into a storm whom he knew was sleeping in his mansion’s garage.
The play is consumed with lots of trials and conflicts and a huge serving of social commentary, wit and humour. The use of flashback sequences, sound and visual effects and an impressive set design enhance the overall appeal of the production.
In the end, Cappo was dethroned; the storm took off the roof of his two-storey split level mansion, and Pearle and Quatty become a couple. Pearle’s mother becomes romantically involved with Cappo after she hears him say he has “dual citizenship.”
