Kieran King introduces 'Eight Seven Six'

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Kieran King is a bold man - or a gambling man - or both. He chose last week Thursday, when the Carib premiere of the movie Ghett'a Life seemed like the only ticket worth clutching on to in town, to present the Eight Seven Six theatre company to an understandably minuscule audience at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA).

But the daring did not begin with the choice of date to declare Eight Seven Six publicly and present snippets of the play Last Call, which is now playing at the PSCCA, University of the West Indies, Mona, and runs until August 21. King has written theatre reviews for The Gleaner, some of them scathing and scorching, and now that he is up front as writer/director of Last Call (in addition to his previous acting credits), no doubt his work will be scrutinised with a decidedly jaundiced eye by some.

Not that King seemed at all bothered by the preview's turnout or the prospect of the scathed and scorched turning out for Last Call to turn the tables. After Scarlett Beharie's introduction, he simply introduced the excerpts.

That began with the set, designed by Larry Watson. "You are looking at a rendition of sorts of the Myrtle Bank Hotel in 1949," King said, after noting that the year provided a challenge. "The play takes place in real time over one night," he explained. That one night is June 23.

Authenticity

Part of the excerpt was a band of wind instrumentalists, with pianist Karen Armstrong up front and a seat to be filled by the upright bass player, who was on military duties. "We have tried to keep the authenticity of the time. We have used instruments of the era that would have been used in the lounge," King said.

He explained that four scenes would be previewed, two each from the first and second acts, with the first pair being more light-hearted. Four friends were reuniting after a decade, as they had planned.

The friends, thespians Shayne Powell, Rishille Bellamy and Maurice Bryan, were soon in place. And the musical nature of Last Call, with the players of instruments in sync with the players on stage, was soon on show, with good movement to go with the vocals.