Theater Arts

“Sitting in Limbo” is a play written by Dawn Penso and Judith Hepburn who are both Jamaican nationals living in London, the play was directed by Jo-Ann McCabe. “Sitting in Limbo” was held at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination; in the Walcott Warner Theater. The moon reading featured a trio of Barbadian actors: Amanda Cumerbatch as Yvonne Campbell, Philip Eno as the judge and radio announcer and finally Loretta Hackett as Nita George, on Monday 25th February 2013.

The theatrical piece starts out with a contrast between two women, one of a fairly wealthy background and the other struggling to make ends meet this portrays a conflict between both women based on their differences which in the end both women overcame. The play about a prison warden, Nita George and prisoner Yvonne Campbell depicts a political disruption in Grenada’s annals which led to the imprisonment of Grenadian Phllis Coard.

Immured along with her husband for assassinating Grenada’s elected Prime Minister, Nita presumes that Yvonne is a greedy woman with a thirst for predominance and that she is the main reason behind all the troubles in Grenada due to her pushing her husband into the overthrow of the Prime Minister. Nita openly affronts Yvonne, while Yvonne demands that she be respected because of her position in society and the “success” she has brought upon the country.

Two years had passed and Nita’s views about Yvonne hadn’t changed but as the years went by for a total of seven years and they both opened up to each other and adapted to each other’s personalities Nita saw Yvonne as a woman with humanity and compassion. Although the play is mainly about the two characters Nita and Yvonne, the radio announcer plays a very important role, he notifies the audience about the amount of years passed and the fate of Grenada, the radio announcer practically gives viewers an idea of what was going on during the play.

The trio has done an exceptionally great job on the piece ‘Sitting in Limbo”. The use of accents added a great effect on the nationality of the characters or the origin where the incident was being taken place. The use of costume was also great because one could identify which character was which , when Nita or Loretta wore the khaki shirt and the khaki pants it gave the audience a hint that she was some sort of guard or officer or in this case a prison warden.

In Philip’s case the use of headphones gave the audience an idea that he was a Dj or a radio announcer. The use of the projection of bars gave the audience an idea that it was some kind of prison. The bars also reflected on how each woman felt inside, Nita trying to raise a family by herself in the economic struggles felt ‘imprisoned” because she wanted to live a better life, she wanted to reach for her goals but she could not do so because of the current situation but eventually ‘broke free “and decided to accept the offer her sister had given her.

Yvonne although imprisoned literally felt” imprisoned” due to the fact that deep down inside she knew what she did was wrong but her arrogance and pride got in the way ,she’ broke free” by refusing to sign a contract which could have literally freed her by denying everything she had actually done. However they were some minor imperfections which were indeed noticeable, such as the backing of the audience, Phillip walking offstage before the fade had actually begun and where Loretta and Amanda had somewhat forgotten a bit of their lines.

There were also some technical difficulties where as the fade would begin too early or a little too late but they but did not affect the theatrical piece it self. The play was a unique piece especially because it was my first time viewing a moon read play and because they tied in a fictional crisis into a play which I found very creative. The play also impacted the audience and made it an enjoyable play for them.