Curtains for Mo, Joe & Flo
ON August 5, opening night for Mo, Joe & Flo, Glen Campbell admits he felt a few knots in his stomach. After almost two years away from the stage, performing in front of a live audience was unnerving, even for an actor of his experience.
Campbell and his castmates, Courtney Wilson and Sharee Elise, quickly got over their COVID-19 rust and it has been smooth sailing since. Written and directed by Patrick Brown, Mo, Joe & Flo is scheduled to close Saturday at 8:00 pm at the Courtleigh Auditorium in St Andrew.
“There was some apprehension, we’re all human; a bit of self-doubt. Yuh don’t know how the audience going to respond after being away for so long,” said Campbell. “It’s live theatre in a COVID-conscious environment, yuh don’t hug people who come to the show anymore, yuh don’t shake hands that willingly, yuh bump fists an’ dem sort of things. It’s a little different, it’s a little cautious steps forward but wi a step forward nonetheless, wi naah hold back.”
Campbell, Wilson and Elise are stalwarts of Jambiz International, a company operated by Brown and Lenny Salmon. They have featured in numerous hit plays including Straight Jacket and Windscream Posse.
Brown assumed the director’s role after the death of Trevor Nairne, the company’s creative force, in May.
In Mo, Joe & Flo, Campbell plays Mo who along with Joe (Wilson) are robbers who stumble into Flo (Elise) while on one of their escapades.
The London-born Campbell made his debut in a major play 41 years ago in Louis Marriott’s New Jokers. Although other serious roles came, like in the 1986 pantomime River Mumma, he gained a following as the bug-eyed police officer in the music video for Fab Five’s Ring Road Jam.
He first collaborated with Brown in 1988’s Friends. Two years later, came his career-defining role as the bumbling Titus in Brown’s Titus In Town which aired on the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.
Campbell, who was conferred with the Order of Distinction in 2019 for outstanding contribution to Jamaican theatre, still gets a thrill working on stage after over four decades.
“I don’t know if words can adequately explain the rush and excitement it was being on stage in front of a good-sized audience on opening night, and the entire run so far. I had, literally, goosebumps when I heard the first big laughter from the audience, it was amazing. My fellow cast members, they feel the same way, it was like being home again,” he said.
