'Midnight At Puss Creep' brings familiar names

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Playwright Patrick Brown called on some familiar names to pack the hall for his latest play, Midnight At Puss Creep, which opened Boxing Day at the Centrestage Theatre in New Kingston.

It is the 14th straight year a play produced by Brown's Jambiz International has launched on that date.

The cast is built around veteran comedians Oliver Samuels and Glen Campbell, Jambiz stalwarts who have figured in previous hit plays like Oliver And Pinnochio, Class Of '73 and last year's Easy Street.

Samuels plays Edgar, whose mother, Rita, is the matriarch of Puss Creep.

Fair game

Despised by all, Rita is also in ill health and on the verge of death, making her fair game for unscrupulous relatives.

Campbell is the corrupt 'Corporal Tek Bribe'.

Teisha Duncan and Sharee McDonald-Russell, who alternates as 'Rita', Camille Davis as 'Della' the housekeeper, and Courtney Wilson who appears in the roles of 'Dr Cruel', 'Pizza Man' and 'Detective Inspector Tracey', complete the cast for what Jambiz director Lenford Salmon calls a "hilariously scary whodunit".

While it follows the comedic line of other Jambiz plays, Salmon told The Sunday Gleaner that Midnight at Puss Creep also touches on class prejudice and police corruption, which have long been sensitive topics in Jamaica.

"Brown's style is to take serious issues and drive them home in a comedic vehicle," Salmon explained.

In the past, Brown has looked at the matter of street children (Oliver's Posse), child delinquency (Sheep in Wolf Clothing) and people living in the Riverton city landfill in Easy Street.

Midnight At Puss Creep has one show on weekdays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.

There are two shows on Sundays.