Da Kink in My Hair is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. Marion J. Caffey was the director and chorographer of this produced at the NAC, which premiered on October 21st. I choose to see it opening night, as I find that is when an actor really shows their guts. It is the first time they hit that stage, and thus is the time to show boldness. Marion J. Caffey's production of Da Kink in My Hair captured all the horror of a world that black women face on a daily, well still managing to keep enough lightness to be enjoyable.
Da kink in My hair follows the life of Novelette, the Caribbean Canadian owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. This particular play functioned like story theatre. The central theme
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were women of colour dealing with the racism they face, with small input of a white woman who also deals with racism. This play was extremely topical for modern audiences and covered a plethora of topics that are important for the global community to talk about. This play was an emotional roller coaster with strong performances and stirring monologues by the whole cast. If I’m going to perfectly honest… the first song was weak. It reminded me of the productions I would do in high school, where my high school drama teacher would get frustrated with our lack of emotional depth. The first song in a musical set up the tone of the play, as much as I wanted to feel happy and jovial about the play, I felt a lack of energy and pitch. I was about to see all I could think was that Trey Antony was the only one who kept my attention there. The setting and costumes were done by Cory Sincennes, which were colourful and bright. The costumes made sense for each character, supporting their stories, for example Sherelle wore a women’s business suit, and when she began to lose her mind in her monologue she threw her jacket off to emphasis that she’d had enough. I especially appreciated the ending costumes where the women came out in costumes to support the character Stacey-Anne. Their colourful costumes were in reference to the Jamaican roots that al the characters had. with such dark plots it is important to liven the story and doing it with costumes and setting is very intelligent way of doing it. The set itself would’ve been fine, if it had just stayed the way it was. It was bright and colourful, and threw back to the Jamaican roots. The story took place in a salon so I guess it supported that idea. But I’ve never seen a salon change like a chameleon. They brought down this poster down that was full of black celebrities with different hairstyles. It was a lovely set piece, but they took it away, then brought it back and than took it away again. It was distracting and served no purpose that I saw. The same was to be said about this giant “Letty’s” sign. These slight changes did not support the story in any way. The lighting and the music were dancers in this production. The lights matched the music tempos, at the beginning the lights were not used very much but gradually their use increased, until we were in the depths of monologues and I noticed its use to differentiate between when the plot is going on and when a character has a soliloquy. It was bright during the large musical numbers with neon lights that flashed bringing an excitement to the performance. At other times, for example during Sherelle’s monologue the lights were used so simplistically that there was a beauty to them. My only problem was at the end of Sherelle’s monologue they really went crazy with the lights, and I think it would’ve been better if they’d kept that simple. Shout to the casting director, who clearly cast everyone correctly especially Miss Enid, Brenda Phillips which was clearly a perfect pic for this role.
From comedic timing to stage presence, Phillips is clearly a seasoned actress who knows this role well.
Tamara Brown also fully embraced her role. Her performance of Patsy felt like the most topical point in the play. Her grief felt so real that I hope that white Americans come see this play. It might shed some light on the complex racism that black people face. If there is a reason to tell people to go see this play, it is this monologue alone. Tamara does an emotional performance that should be seen by everyone, whether the audience is black or white.
By far the strongest performers were Lennette Randall, Brenda Phillips and Allison Edwards-Crewe. A special shout to the addition of Suzy as a character, which I will talk more of later.
Lennette Randall was an interesting performer, losing her mind on stage was a pleasure on stage as Sherelle. Her loneliness could be felt by anyone in the audience, the lighting helped raise her up as well. They had her in a spot light, and the spot light got gradually smaller. I wont spoil the ending of her monologue, but I felt it was powerful enough to make an impact but not dwelled on. It was a tasteful way to show that aspect of
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life. Nia whom was played by Allison Edwards-Crewe, has less than favorable feelings for her deceased mother, who always preferred the sister with lighter skin. I found Edwards-Crewe had the most realistic performance. Edwards-Crewe’s character was the only one that felt like a real person to me. I understand that this play isn’t realism, but you have to be realistic to a point otherwise its just not relatable. Allison Edwards-Crewe was extremely talented and was by far my favorite, energetic yet contained her performance out shone most others. Sharmaine played by Krystle Chance, a celebrity black character was a double whammy when it comes to controversial subjects. She was a representative for the black community and the LGBTQ+ community. Her performance was beautiful, but paled compared to others. It was respectable in its own way but didn’t measure up to every other monologue. All aspects of race were tied in, focusing on the women's perspective including white women's perspective.
The daughter of a prejudiced Southern father, Suzy played by Rae-Anna Maitland tells the story of her mixed race child and the racism her son and her face. While many of my fellow classmates argue that this didn’t have a place here I felt that this was one of the most relevant monologues, and my only problem with it is that it wasn’t told from the perspective of the child. There are many children of mixed race who need representation and to feel like they belong. Other than the fact that this monologue wasn’t from the perspective of the child, a least they got a shout out, which sometimes is all some people can hope
for. I hope that people go see this play. Many people might say that this play missed a lot of things when it comes black culture, especially a male perspective. The only reason I say this, is because when I attended the play, attended the play with my boyfriend. The first thing my boyfriend said upon exiting the theatre, was “I don’t why I was in there, they were all women. Where were the men?” My first thought was “I don’t know, but I’m perfectly fine with them not being there.” Well probably not completely fair, a women’s perspective has been under represented in most aspects, so had no lost of love for the lack of testosterone. I personally found this play emotional, witty and a topical piece of theatre. I want to tell everyone I know that they need to see this play. Every single person.
It shows that there is no difference between white and colored people, but it’s so hard for people to get past the physical features to realize that we are all equal. Ethel was right when she said two colored men would help two white women, and those white men knew she was right. Those men knew Ethel had a point and now they had no choice but to help her and her friend. When Ethel was in the hospital, she had two doctors who mistreated her leg injury. Her wound was severely infected because the two doctors never helped her, and her leg could have been amputated.
As far as acting, the performers were able to convey the feelings they needed to. However, some characters such as Ol' Cap'n played by Dick Lambert and Luttibelle played by April Curry, seemed more committed and engaging in their roles than others. A crucial factor in April Curry portraying her role so well was her vocal talent far exceeded that of any of the other major performers. She had an amazing voice that I was dazzled by from curtain up to down and left me craving for more. This almost compensated for my disappointment when it came to the ensemble singing to the soundtrack. Many performers were dependent on the cd and were not confident as to when to begin or stop singing, which dampered many moments of the performers. Another element of acting that I enjoyed was the exaggerated use of cooning throughout the duration of the performance that brought characters to life, and enabled certain moments to seem real.
I could see how Harold Hill’s tactic changed from something along the lines of ‘to deceive’ to ‘to woo’ around the song “The sadder but wiser girl”. Marian Paroo’s tactic also changes from ‘to avoid’ to ‘to love’ around “My white Knight”. These actors also projected extremely well, as I could hear everything being said. They articulated well too, which I believe must be hard for them as every character had a southern accent. The actors easily incorporated their character’s goals into their acting and onstage
The strikingly accurate portrayal of the life of an African American family in the 1950’s did a great job of keeping the interest up. The director’s mise-en-scene gave the film a believability that is rarely achieved. They did this through the well staged apartment that the film takes place in for the majority of the screen time. The cramped and cluttered home sets the stage for the actors in the film to truly live into their characters. The actors did a brilliant job of portraying the wide breadth of emotions in this film. Their engaging personalities kept the film alive and vibrant the
When it came to the dialogue of the production and the understanding of it the performers again did an excellent job. Their gestures and vocal elements all aided in the production’s success and were all fittingly used by the characters. For example, when Lala was talking on the phone with Peachy she casually twirled the phone cord in her hand, leaned against the banister and childishly flirted with Peachy.
This was a trying experience the child was enduring. Thus, changing the child to be cold and bitter mainly towards the father. She is experiencing an internal battle of hating her own father. Where as in “Blue Winds Dancing,” it describes a young Indian boy away in college that doesn’t know what group of people he identifies with. He is concerned he doesn’t fit in with the whites located in the big city or with his Indian heritage back home. He feels anxiety in the white civilization because he feels like an outcast and he can’t seem to bring himself to mimic their behavior. He feels he is constantly reminded by whites that his race is less than. He expresses the frustration by quoting the
In the recent past year or two, a woman’s natural hair has become a big thing. Before, African American women, to be specific, were so disgusted by their hair. They would do anything in their power to change the “nappy” aspect of their hair to “beautiful”. They would use relaxers very so often and hot combs.
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