Amazing Grace, a modern-day drama
THE genre of gospel theatre is slowly catching on in Jamaica. Practitioners, including Dahlia Harris with her God’s Way series, show the viability of this area in commercial spaces.
On Saturday, Bible Teachers International presented Amazing Grace in front of a packed house at the Little Theatre in St Andrew.
While watching the first half of the production, one could not help but think that, despite the timelessness of the Bible story, this play would be best suited for Easter. However, the first half of the play — which depicts the Garden of Eden and the passion of Christ — brilliantly sets up the modern-day drama which unfolds in Act Two. The producers can take full credit for the thought and effort put into aspects of the opening act. The Crucifixion scene could have been tamed for younger people in the audience. That said, the body make-up on the actor portraying Christ was well done.
Having set the stage in Act One, the producers set the drama within a family showing the work of a devil through a drunk, womanising and abusive husband; the homosexual son; and, the daughter, who is contemplating suicide; all juxtaposed against a church-going, praying wife and mother.
The fact that this was a production featuring the church members ‘playing’ the characters, and not trained actors, one had to constantly reminding oneself that it was more about the message as the ‘actors’ oftentimes fell flat just repeating their lines or tended to overact, especially during the injection of comedic moments.
The message of Christ’s love and the unending work of the devil was not lost on the audience who burst into spontaneous applause at regular intervals.
The choreography throughout the production was commendable and help to lift and diversify the offering on stage. The use of colour, lighting, music, and multimedia also worked in favour of the production.
Writer of Amazing Grace, Dr Mary Banks, who is also founder of Bible Teachers International, told her audience that the play was written in 2002 and this was the first time it was being performed in Jamaica with a completely local cast drawn from her churches throughout the Corporate Area.
— Richard Johnson
