Ringplay Productions

The purpose of theatre, so it’s said, is to hold a mirror up to reality so that we can see ourselves. In two hours of performance, Ian Strachan’s Diary of Souls, produced by Track Road Theatre, does just that.

Track Road Theatre has been around for the better part of twelve years, providing Bahamian audiences with political commentary on relevant topics. In this production of Diary of Souls, the company has truly come into its own.

The play was inspired by a true event — the sinking of a captured Haitian sloop en route to Nassau on July 10, 1990, and the burial by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force of the 40-odd dead migrants in a mass grave on Bitter Guana Cay. The story follows four characters whose fates have become intertwined — three Haitians stranded on the island, and Ishmael, a Defence Force officer who is haunted by the incident. It is a tale about liberation and forgiveness, and about the hate that makes both fragile.

When we first meet them, the Haitians — Pòl (Ian Strachan), Ti-Twàn (Clarence Rolle) and Sylvi (Juanita Kelly) — are coming to terms with their fates, while Ishmael (Matthew Kelly) is being treated by a Doctor (Demetra Rolle) for post-traumatic stress disorder. Scenes switch between the two situations, and gradually Strachan reveals the parallels between them. The Haitians are stranded on the island, not living and not dead, unable to move forward or back. Ishmael is in the same situation; he cannot change the past, nor can he move on into the future. But their stories are not simply parallel, they are linked; Ishmael’s healing depends on the Haitians’ forgiveness, and their futures depend on his strength.

When the lights come up, we are confronted with two worlds. On stage left is the stylized, presentational universe of the island, a kind of earthly limbo in which the three Haitians find themselves. The unreality of this space is underscored by the set, which consists of a series of hanging vertical white banners and some sand, rocks and tree stumps. On stage right the realistic, representational psychiatrist’s office is figured by a typical dressed set — painted walls, framed diplomas, chairs, and a table, an embodiment of claustrophobia. As the action moves back and forth between the island and the office, Strachan’s characters take shape, and the political message of the work gains power.

Strachan’s writing, as usual, is intense and lyrical. He seems most at home with the presentational style of the island. We are drawn into the Haitians’ world. Pòl, Ti-Twàn and Sylvi are people who have plans and fears of their own, and their words invoke a reality for Bahamian audiences that is different from, and somehow better than, our own. We identify with the three of them — Ti-Twàn the womanizer, Pòl the activist, and Sylvi the young woman who knows more about destiny than any young woman should — and their fates become our own.

If there is a weakness in the writing, it lies in the characterization of Ishmael, the Defence Force officer who is haunted (literally) by the Bitter Guana Cay incident. The plot turns on his redemption, and to feel its full impact the audience has to identify with him. But his character somehow misses the mark. Like the Haitians, who are archetypes of a sort, Ishmael represents the Bahamian conscience; he is Strachan’s vision of us as we should be. But he is also a man. His torment must be more than symbolic; it must be real. At times, Strachan does not resist the temptation to use Ishmael as the mouthpiece for his political views. While these are, as always, wickedly entertaining, in places they work against the character of Ishmael, whose transformation is central to the play.

Indeed, as the play unfolds, the Haitians’ world is more attractive, more accessible to us, than the Bahamian world. While this may be part of Strachan’s strategy — by getting us to identify with the Haitians, he reveals to us our own shortcomings — ultimately it works against the whole. The more mundane environment of the psychiatrist’s office renders the exchanges between Ishmael and the Doctor a little too stiff to touch the audience. At times Strachan’s irony sits uncomfortably with the pain and confusion that Ishmael must feel. The Doctor, on the other hand. is little more as the typical soulless scientist who believes in nothing but therapy, needles and pills. The ending suffers as a result. The audience must wait for Ishmael’s redemption, for his coming to terms with the horrors he has seen; but when the Haitians have made up their minds, forgiven their enemies and are ready to move on, the play appears to be over.

The production, however, more than makes up for these shortcomings. Track Road’s reputation is built on a tradition of presenting strong plays, but past productions have been workaday and lacklustre, and have not lived up to the promise of the writing. With this Diary of Souls, however, Track Road seems to have licked that problem.

The set, designed collaboratively by Matthew Kelly, Ian Strachan and Ira Turner, has a functionality and elegance that has become rare in Bahamian theatre. The lighting, designed and run by Michael Reiach, complements it perfectly. Ira Turner’s sound, executed by Chad Rolle, helps move the narrative in both a symbolic and a practical way. The songs selected, a mix of Haitian and Bahamian pieces, provide commentary on what has come before and give hints of what is yet to come. The play flows smoothly from scene to scene, sparing the audience those deadly black silent moments that too often accompany scene changes. If there is anything that I would change about the production, it would be the slideshow at mid-point. Not only does it interrupt the arc of the story with a fat dose of political realism, but the very beauty and simplicity of the set — the hanging banners — render the slideshow frustrating, as each slide is fragmented, projected onto three or four separate screens. The same information could have been mounted on poster-board in a lobby display, and the impact of both the play and the slideshow would have improved.

Ian Strachan and Juanita Kelly turn in solid performances as Pòl and Sylvi, and Clarence Rolle as Ti-Twàn is particularly good, despite his tendency to ham it up for laughs. Demetra Rolle as the Doctor and Matthew Kelly as Ishmael have a more difficult task, based on the writing of their characters, but they build a partnership between them that works. Demetra Rolle’s ability is perhaps wasted on the one-dimensionality of the Doctor, but in her cameo as Lizette, Pòl’s wife, she is given a chance to shine. And in Ishmael, Matthew Kelly turns in the best performance of his career. Ishmael is not an easy part to play; he is alternately cynical and desperate, and must ultimately achieve some kind of peace. Kelly is best when playing the bitter, jaded side of the character.

As a director, Strachan has matured considerably. He has brought together the disparate elements of the production with more than simply a mind to move bodies on stage, and the result is Track Road’s best production to date. If there is any area that could still stand improvement, it is in his direction of the actors. He misses the opportunity to guide Matthew Kelly, Juanita Kelly and Demetra Rolle as the Doctor to explore all the subtleties of their respective characters, something that Clarence Rolle and Strachan himself are able intuitively to do. This, however, does not detract from the overall impact of the play.

Like much of Strachan’s work, the subject matter is weighty and the issues raised intense. The play forces Bahamian audiences to confront not only the humanity of Haitian migrants, but our own inhumanity in the face of their suffering. By acquainting us with the Haitians’ world, their hopes, dreams and tragedies, and by presenting our actions through their eyes, Strachan teaches us about prejudice and hypocrisy. In his world, it is we Bahamians who need forgiveness for our indifference, for our irreverence for human life.

It was gratifying to attend a drama and to see a full house. What was not so gratifying, however, was the behaviour of some of the audience members, who treated the production as they might a movie, or a television show, and who became restless in the absence of commercials. It is clear that new audiences are far too unfamiliar with the protocols of live theatre. Perhaps this is the fault of the theatrical community, which has allowed a generation to be raised with little or no exposure to live theatre. That said, I am sure that Diary of Souls provided them all with an unforgettable evening.

Ian Strachan’s Diary of Souls continues at the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts this coming weekend. Shows start at 8:00 sharp. It is an important play by an important Bahamian playwright, and I encourage everyone who has not seen this version to attend.

Nicolette Bethel
Commissioned by and originally published in The Tribune

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