Stage One Productions was formed last year to bring international black theatre to Bermuda with its Drama Fest. Despite a trio of excellent plays, two of which starred `Roots' actor John Amos, and Antonio Fargas, the direction of the group did a complete turnaround this year with the decision to mount a locally produced drama.

The subject chosen is a fascinating one, dealing as it does, with one of Bermuda's most precious traditions, the Gombeys.

Based on a true incident, in which, in 1831, an advertisement was placed in The Royal Gazette offering a reward for the return of two slaves who had run off with the Gombeys, author Kensley McDowall has woven a lively fiction around subsequent events as it affected the families of the runaways and their owners.

`Drums of Passion' marks one of the few serious attempts to produce a drama that is truly Bermudian, drawing on what little `folk' heritage we have (or have preserved) and, in this aspect, marks a milestone in our local culture.

Mr. McDowell has done his research well and it was a nice touch to include snippets of historical facts on the Gombey dance and musical origins and techniques, and the old parish `rhymes'. In fact, there were many nice touches throughout: genuine moments of wry humour were effective in illustrating the underlying bestiality of the entire `slavery' concept, and he also managed to present a more balanced view than we have been used to, lately. Through the wife of John Waldker, the slave owner, he reminds us, for instance, that many white people were bitterly opposed to slavery.

Kensley McDowell himself describes this play as "a work in progress'' and, as such, it lacked the essential polish that one might (but never should) take for granted in a show that is mounted, at great expense, at City Hall. Again, this production underlines the crying need for some sort of smaller theatre where aspiring playwrights, directors and actors can experiment. For the fault with `Drums of Passion' is that it contains the kernel -- but only the kernal -- of an interesting piece of theatre. With several re-writes, and a ruthlessly professional director using an experienced cast, this play could indeed stand further performances.

Written in two acts and divided up into 13 separate scenes (with interminable `pauses' in between that virtually destroyed any sense of flow), there was almost too much action crammed in. More worrying, though, was the sense that the director, Irving Ingram, had not quite made up his mind just where this playing was going. Partly through some strange casting decisions, the essentially tragic story of the white wife falling in love with one of her slaves had the audience (I'm sure, unintentionally) in stitches -- especially when they were finally murdered for their behaviour, to appear in the last scene, gazing serenely out, over the frolicking Gombeys below, draped in voluminous, ghostly bed sheets.

The entire play should have been far more tightly written, and the overall length could have been easily shortened by opting for symbolic, rather than actual scene changes. The evocative opening scene where Tom Moore's jungle was portrayed by a dusky blue light and a couple of `tree stumps' was more than adequate; as it was, the sets depicting interiors and exteriors became unnecessarily elaborate.

The acting ranged from good to diabolical. Again, director Ingram seemed to have little discipline over a cast that indulged in moments of apparent amused embarrassment -- whether this was due to the story line, or just the idea of actually performing on a public stage, was never quite clear -- but rather disconcerting for people who had shelled out $20 to $25 to see this play.

Carlton Burgess and Leonard Simmons brought sensitivity and humour to their roles as the slaves, as did Inola Hull and Aprille Choudhury as their wives.

Brian Foster played slave owner, John Waldker; with a long history of stage appearances behind him, it was painful to see him, not so much nervous, as line and tongue-tied to the point where he seemed to have not the faintest idea of the text, even when it was being frantically `fed' to him by his long-suffering Mrs. Waldker, somewhat coyly played by Norma Nielsen. John White, in the smaller role of their son, turned in a fine performance, while Mandy Lowe, as their daughter, provided an object lesson in why strictly amateur over-acting can be an excruciating experience for the luckless onlooker. Couldn't the director at least have prevailed on her to stand, or even sit still, for 30 consecutive seconds? Denny Richardson's Gombey dancers provided a rousing and colourful finale to this thought-provoking, if rather less than perfectly realised piece of Bermudian drama.

PATRICIA CALNAN REVIEW