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by Edgar Nkosi White, directed by Rhoma Spencer

Theatre Archipelago with b current, Papermill Theatre, Toronto

March 16-27, 2011

Theatre Archipelago and b current have combined forces to present the North American premiere of I Marcus Garvey.  The play by Monserrat-born Edgar Nkosi White had its world premiere in Jamaica in 1992, where Garvey (1887-1940) is considered a national hero.  The play seems to be written to commemorate a man whose biography is already familiar to the audience.  Those unfamiliar with Garvey’s life and works will find many episodes in the play, especially the conclusion, unclear.

The Jamaican Marcus Garvey is one of the most important men in black history.  He began a movement called Pan-Africanism that sought to make black people everywhere aware of their common struggle to be free and to think of Africa as their homeland.  To this end he founded the United Negro Improvement Association.  As an entrepreneur he encouraged the creation of black-owned businesses and started numerous newspapers, business ventures and a shipping line himself.  

White’s play traces Garvey’s rise from a union organizer in Panama to his studies in London and work in the U.S., where he was arrested and imprisoned on a trumped up charge, to his final years where his very presence was considered dangerous in numerous countries, including Jamaica.  Richard Stewart gives a very inward-looking performance of Garvey that suits Garvey’s moments of reflection, but he is less successful in showing how Garvey grows from student to renowned orator.  His low-key persuasion contrasts greatly with the recordings played of Garvey himself whose speeches are fiery and dramatic.  Even Beryl Bain as Garvey’s second wife, and Muoi Nene, as an Antiguan among other roles, are more effective in giving rousing speeches.  It is the humour of Quancetia Hamilton, in the roles of Garvey’s sister and later his housekeeper, that repeatedly steals the show.  

Director Rhoma Spencer handles White’s non-naturalistic style well especially in the many passages of choral speaking.  Silvia Temis’s set consists of four white sails onto which scenes for the many locations are projected.  Especially fine are the projections after Garvey’s death of people he influenced like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Garvey is considered a prophet by Rastafarians and the show, accompanied by a live band, concludes with Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” with a refrain of Garvey’s famous words, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”  If the show gets just this idea across it will have done an important job. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2011-03-17.

Photo: Richard Stewart (foreground), Muoi Nene, Beryl Bain, Jack Grinhaus, Quancetia Hamilton and Azeem Nathoo.