A bellyful of laughs

Theatre lovers had a bellyful of laughs as the St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force staged their 2006 production entitled, “Come See Me, Come Live with Me” recently at the Peace Memorial Hall.

Before the curtains were raised for the comedy, members of the force entertained the packed hall with music, poetry, dance and bodybuilding.

But the real show of brilliance came when the actors and actresses under the guidance of director, Meldon James developed the story line to reveal the fate of the gigolo lifestyle of Johnny.{{more}}

Played by Kerry Ottley, Johnny is spoilt silly by his girlfriend Aaliyah, played by Kimberly Lewis, who does all the chores, pays all the bills and buys Johnny whatever his heart desires.

There were even instances in the play when Johnny gave the ordinary looking Aaliyah little to eat and he was still taking what was left on her plate.

The cruel Johnny ignores Aaliyah’s wishes to have a baby and spends his time liming, gambling and drinking with the boys on the block but is smitten by the voluptuous Stella, played by Jihan Lampkin, who just returned to the village after studying law. After wooing the well-educated vixen with fancy meals at restaurants and dancing at nightclubs, Johnny eventually asks Stella to marry him.

After the big wedding, the tables turn for the scoundrel Johnny, he gets the real Stella who refuses to clean up and cook unlike his ex-girlfriend. Johnny demands that Stella do the chores and cater to his every whim and fancy but is literally whipped into submission by the domineering Stella as she unleashed blows on him with a frying pan. Johnny ends up trying to get back his old girlfriend Aaliyah who now refuses his advances and the once proud and boastful Johnny becomes the laughing stock of the neighbourhood because his wife now “wears the pants.”

The moral of the story was that Johnny was like the greedy dog who after looking at his reflection in the water, let go of his old bone for another one, and ended up with nothing.

Although there were some moments of confusion as Johnny’s buddies engaged in quarrels and some scenes were a bit too long, everyone did their best to stay in character.

Commendable performances were given by the village drunk played by Lorcan Webb who denied that he was intoxicated and said that he was just instead sleepy. The obsessive record keeper played by Keron Samuel who kept going around asking for scores and Stella’s mother played by Judy Davis and Sharista James who played Johnny’s mother.

The next performance in the NCB Community Drama Fest was the Waves Theatre Guild with their presentation entitled, “Deceptive Wages.”

The festival kicked off with the staging of the Community College Drama Club with their presentation entitled “Immortal Sin.”