Slavery is no laughing matter, but for Barefoot Battalion, his latest production, playwright Patrick Brown looks at the lighter side of a dark era.

The play opens on December 26 at Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.

It follows a slave rebellion in 18th century Jamaica, led by Bintu (Sharee Elise). Her associates include Bug, played by Glen Campbell; Jack (Courtney Wilson); and Jenny (Quera South alternates with Keisha Patterson).

Brown is aware of potential backlash to Barefoot Battalion given its sensitive topic, but is prepared to defend himself, saying he is in the business of making people laugh.

“I never had an issue in fusing serious topics with humour. I consider myself a part of the entertainment industry, and a storyteller, and I chose humour as the vehicle for my storytelling,” he said.

In earlier plays such as Cornflakes, Brown reflected on the contentious 1970s in Jamaica.
Guava Jelly dealt with the challenges former prisoners face, while Alligator High looked at indiscipline in schools.

With Barefoot Battalion he hopes to give history lessons many Jamaicans never learned in school, including the dynamics of a slave plantation and the atrocities which made the trade so repulsive.

While attending Kingston College in the 1970s, Brown said he was taught the “basics” of slavery and how captured Africans came to the New World. He credits voracious reading for shedding light on the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the plantation system.

“I was into Malcolm X and read books like Go Tell It On The Mountain. I was into my blackness and very Afrocentric,” Brown recalled.

The core cast members of Barefoot Battalion have featured in Brown’s productions over the years. Campbell, best known of the group, has become the face of hit plays such as
Alligator High, Lockdown, and Pigview Heights.

Desmond Dennis and David Crossgill, who alternate as Driva, and Cyprian Fuller as Yacu, complete the cast of Barefoot Battalion.