Dramatic start - US Embassy begins Black History Month celebration with one-man play

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

The United States (US) Embassy in St Andrew began its Black History Month celebration dramatically, as it staged a one-man show, 'Call Mr Robeson: A Life With Songs'.

Pamela Bridgewater, US Ambassador to Jamaica, in her welcome, explained that ever since dedicating the Embassy's information and resource centre as a memorial to Paul Robeson, it has received many enquires from people all across Jamaica who wanted to know more about the African-American author, singer, actor, civil rights activist and athlete.

"It is very fitting that we begin African-American History week with this dramatisation. It is also fitting that as we continue to celebrate the ties that bind 50 years of friendship between Jamaica and the United States of America, that we have this presentation," said Bridgewater.

And with that, the unforgettable performance from the Nigeria-born Tayo Aluko in his penned work began. The play was approximately 70 minutes long, and is a vignette on Paul Robeson's life, based on actual events.

'Call Mr Robeson' is not a biography though. The work does, however, mimic Robeson's rollercoaster life.

It was well done, employing excellent use of lights, song and music, sound effects, good pacing, pieces of sets, along with relevant props strategically placed around the stage of the Edna Manley School of Music's, Moody Hall.

Powerful in content and delivery, the dramatisation begins with the unmistakable music of American negro spirituals, often associated with the struggles of slaves.

Then Aluko, the lone actor, in role, emerges. Walking in shadow with a symbolic chair on his bent back, he is singing Nobody Knows De Troubles I've Seen.

Chair placed in position, Robeson's monologue begins when he was in his 20s, just before his marriage to his "rock" Essie - a woman so light in complexion that she could have passed for white. She was also his manager.

As the story progresses, at a nicely and well-timed pace, reinforced by excellent and controlled acting from Aluko, Robeson's extraordinary journey unfolds.

Robeson lost his mother to a fire. He, along with his siblings, were raised by his father. The athlete attended Rutgers and Colombia University. After graduating as a concert singer he travelled extensively. He used his singing platform and opportunities to speak against racism and other injustices faced by people of colour in the US.

For his forthrightness, he was constantly shadowed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, had travel restrictions placed on him (including being placed under house arrest) and had to survive an assassination attempt.

A media that often misquotes him only increased his dilemma. And with the death of other civil right campaigners, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the media seemed to have written him off too.

But prior to going into more private life, the courageous activist wrote his autobiography.

When the avid reader's wife and mother to his only child, Paul Robeson Jr, died, the activist pined away.

The fantastic dramatisation ends with Paul Robeson making his exit. Once again, his "troubles" on his back, but this time he is guided by a light.

When Aluko retuned for his curtain call, he was met with standing ovation from the audience.

In that audience was Barbara Gloudon. She was impressed by "the sheer business of what it is to do a one-man show from material as serious as this. It shows your learning ability. In fact, when you meet him outside he looks younger than he looks on the stage. He has the capacity to morph into what he played. And we must get accustomed to this kind of thing that you can do with theatre. We need to begin to see more of this kind of theatre [in Jamaica]. Editing of the material was very, very good. It is serious material he did there. It is wonderful. I love that he did not have to build a set. I enjoyed it," said Gloudon.

The positive response to the wonderful production was also due in part to director Nigerian Olusola Oyeleye and designer Phil Newman.

The set comprised of a piano, a chair and two metal-looking boxes used as a seat. Well-placed props included photographs of the women in Robeson's life, as well as photos of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, along with books and a jar of water. Oyeleye's blocking also ensured that each prop and set was relevant to the story. Another impressive aspect of the production was the use of songs, lights and sound effects as conduit for transition, setting and creating other characters.

The production of 'Call Mr Robeson' was well worth seeing.