Live and in person at the Studio Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Playing until September 28, 2024. A world première.
Written by Andrea Scott
Directed by André Sills
Set and costumes by Sarah Uwadiae
Lighting by Steve Lucas
Composed and sound by Maddie Bautista
Cast: Celia Aloma
Conrad Coates
Savion Roach
Kim Roberts
Jennifer Villaverde
Bristling with angst, but written with open-hearted generosity, paying homage to Jamaican culture and linguistic poetry. A play about family with which everyone can identify.
Background. Get That Hope is the much-anticipated play by Andrea Scott, that is having its world première at the Stratford Festival. Andrea Scott is a powerhouse of a playwright. She wrote Controlled Damage about Viola Desmond and her struggles being a Black woman who just wanted to sit in good seats in a cinema in Nova Scotia and was denied the right even though she could pay for the ticket because she was Black. Viola Desmond is now the face on the Canadian $10 bill.
Andera Scott has written various other plays about the Black experience. She wrote for the tv series, Murdock Mysteries and because of her writing abilities, she was hired to write for Disney in Los Angeles. She is the first Black woman to have a play premiere at the Stratford Festival. I long for the day when we don’t have to make that distinction because it will be the norm.
The Story and comment. This is from the Stratford Website for starters: “Richard Whyte is determined to celebrate Jamaican Independence Day in style. The rice is soaking, the ginger beer is cooling and today his lottery ticket is finally going to hit it big! (It’s worth $70 million).
But Richard’s squabbling family have other ideas, and over the course of a single sweltering day in Toronto’s Little Jamaica, a lifetime of buried secrets and dreams will finally come to light.
Making its world première at the Studio Theatre, Get That Hope is a bittersweet drama of personal and cultural diasporas that brims with laughter and tears.”
As Richard says: “YOU GOT TO TAKE A LIKKLE BIT OF SUFFERIN’ TO GET THAT HOPE.”
Andrea Scott got the idea for the play while watching a Stratford production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neil. It’s a play about a family at odds with lots of issues. Except that Get That Hope is not Andrea Scott’s version of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. I think Get That Hopeis more openhearted than that, more generous of spirit and more universal in its story.
So, to further flesh out the story, Richard Whyte is buoyant about celebrating Jamaican Independence Day. But his wife Margaret seems ill-tempered. Margaret is his second wife—Richard’s first wife is in Jamaica. Richard’s daughter Rachel, from the first marriage, lives with them and is anxious to get out on her own. Simeon Whyte, is Margaret’s son from her first marriage and is unemployed and troubled that a friend of his from the army has died. Simeon is going to the funeral. There is a friend of the family, Millicent Flores, who helps Margaret with things, and is sweet on Simeon. That’s the set up for the problems to emerge.
It seems that none of the family but Rachel works for one reason and another. And only Rachel’s pay cheque is helping. That’s why she is so anxious to move out and has made plans to do that but keeps the information from the family.
There is animosity between Rachel and Margaret. Rachel imagines that her mother in Jamaica is really her loving relative. She never felt that affection from Margaret. Simeon is bitter about his lot in life, that his friend has died and that he has no job and other issues. Richard, the patriarch, seems oblivious to all this and just wants to celebrate International Jamaica Day. He is a proud Canadian, but just wants to celebrate this holiday with the traditional foods that he loves. And there are issues he has as well. This is all in Act I.
It would be neat if all the issues were resolved in Act II but rather than being a neat playwright, Andrea Scott is a smart one. And thoughtful. And intelligent. And a generous playwright to her characters.
In Act I the issues are presented and also how the assumptions about people are revealed. And there are further developments that leave one limp with the implications. But in Act II, rather than solve the issues, Andrea Scott does something more important. She gives her characters the hope and the resolve to recognize the issues, the truth, and the way forward. I thought that more profound than being neat.
The Production. Loved it.
Sarah Uwadiae has designed an apartment of this family in Little Jamaica. The couch is covered in plastic to protect it. How many people do that? Tons. Loved that touch. She has also designed the costumes which are functional, comfortable, and say a lot about the characters.
Because there is constant construction in Little Jamaica because of the impending subway line, there is an undercurrent of noise, nicely designed by Maddie Bautista. Her sound and music capture the essence of this Jamaican family.
It’s directed by Andre Sills, a fine actor, developing into a thoughtful, sensitive director. The production is directed with care so that the stories unfold in a measured way so we are aware of the issues of each character and can assess them carefully. Each character has issues important to them. It’s important not to make the play seem like a bunch of characters ranting. André Sills does a lovely job illuminating each character’s issues with nuance and detail. The accents are pronounced and unapologetic. There is an elegant and confident lilt to the music of the expressions and patois favoured by the people in this family. I loved the challenge of keeping up with listening.
Conrad Coates plays Richard Whyte and Kim Roberts plays his wife Margaret Whyte. It’s lovely seeing these two fine actors on the stage again after too long an absence. Conrad Coates is an enthusiastic, joyful Richard Whyte. He’s expecting to win the lottery and to enjoy all his favourite Jamaican foods. Kim Roberts as Margaret is watchful, laid-back and pointed in presenting her arguments. She is totally in control; supports her son but has bristling issues with her step-daughter, Rachel. Celia Aloma as Rachel is responsible, exhausted from her work, and cheerful at the thought of moving out until she gets some shocking news. Savion Roach is proud as Simeon but also wounded at how his world seems to be crashing. He had been in the military and his ram-rod straight posture has a hold on that former life. And Jennifer Villaverde plays Millicent Flores, the family friend, with sweetness and concern.
Andrea Scott as the playwright and André Sills as the director, make us care about these folks, their issues and recognize ourselves in their issues, even though we might not be the same ethnicity.
That’s the beauty of theatre to connect our similarities.
The Stratford Festival presents:
Plays until Sept. 28, 2024.
Running time: 2 hours (1 intermission)