Oliver Samuels' `Eve' a roaring success! And it's good to see theatre productions back at Ruth Seaton James too innit?! The legendary Jamaican actor, director, writer and producer came to Bermuda with a simple plot and lots of laughs to entertain a packed house last week.

Eve is a one-set play consisting of two acts and six scenes designed to make the audience holler an' bawl 'til de roof comes down! And it almost succeeded too.

The plot alone was nothing to speak of, but the dialogue and the situations that emerged from the plot were pure gold! See, Eve (Elizabeth Brown-James) is a fifty-something Jamaican higgler who is being pursued by Justin (Oliver Samuels), a man she once knew before he left Jamaica for England 20 years ago.

Eve has a 27-year-old daughter (Vickie, played by Denise Hunt) who is married to a drunk who has lost the deeds to their house. Justin buys the deed to Vickie's house and cuts a deal with her; she must get her mother to agree to marry Justin in return for the deeds. You follow so far? If you do, I'm sure you can imagine the hilarity that ensues. Add to that mix the peculiar situation of Vickie's long lost father, Solomon King (Volier Johnson) who has just been released from a 20-year prison sentence and wants very much to return to Eve's and Vickie's lives. The two encounters between Justin and Solomon alone were enough to keep the audience rolling in the aisles for quite a while.

The three main characters were dynamic and played with a great deal of style and flair, but Solomon King was a flat character whose main purpose was comic relief, which Johnson provided with an exclamation point!! Solomon was easily the funniest character, and this is important in a comedy, people, but in relation to the main plot, he seemed unnecessary. This says nothing of Johnson's portrayal! Don't get me wrong, Volier Johnson was fantastic, but his character's only purpose was to fight with Justin and make Eve say things like "Yu no see fire yet!'' Speaking of Eve, Elizabeth Brown-James was spectacular as this feisty leading lady. She ran the gamut from terrified to tender, with a big barrel of saucy in between! She dropped more old sayings than your Tantie Nellie on a Friday, and each one brought a roar of recognition from the packed house. I heard audience members finishing her sentences for her on many, many occasions! Brown-James expertly portrayed the straight character who allowed the story to revolve around her with the coolness and reserve of a woman who has seen all she must.

Denise Hunt was stunning as Vickie! She played perhaps the most dynamic character, whose home life made her depressed as well as extremely excitable.

Two children, a drunkard for a husband and a derelict mortgage can do that to a person, huh? Hunt carried it well and made us feel her plight through all the laughs on more than one occasion.

Justin was somewhat of a tragic character. A man who bordered on the ridiculous because of his insistence on speaking in a ludicrous British accent, and incessantly complaining about how his own people "tief'' too much. He made it hard to root for him because his only appeal was in his bank account, until he started to think with his heart and not his head (it works both ways, people). Right at the end, just when Eve was about to write him off forever, Justin broke down and revealed that his love for her and Vickie was strong enough to give Vickie the deeds and leave if he had to. That was the clincher! Happy ending ensued ... .

Oliver was brilliant! (what did you think I'd say?) This was a good show. It was hilarious as promised on the poster, but outside of the comedy it reached no higher than interesting. Solomon left and nothing was resolved between he and Vickie (who found out that he was her father during the story), Eve and Justin went to his cabin in the woods for a two-day break and Vickie got her house back (I would guess until her husband finds a way to lose it again). In short, the ending was a bit abrupt ... I guess we'll just have to wait for the sequel.