Waters don't run deep enough

Water has long been associated with temporal and spiritual life in various cultural traditions, but Christopher Rodriguez's attempt to marry these traditions in his Trinidadian-based parable is neither thirst quenching nor uplifting. Part of BITE:00, his play draws on polymorphous African spiritual traditions and the stricter parameters of Catholicism. However, his magic-realist efforts to turn their spiritual water into theatrical wine fall short of the miraculous.

The central story is the homecoming of Joel, a talented young writer born with a placenta or "veil" over his face, gifting him with second sight. Despite numerous attempts to kill Joel, his musician brother Garth now wants him to write lyrics for his rapso (rap and calypso) band. The trouble is, Joel can't and won't write until he has integrated the ghoulish demons warring in his head.

The writing is obviously rooted in a personal-desire catharsis and transfiguration. Rodriguez is also sensibly wary of self-indulgence and seeks to view wider themes from the twin intellectual towers of universal interconnectivity and ancient proverbial wisdom. But there is too much isolated soliloquising and not enough drama. Meanwhile, gnomic lines such as "the spirit must give itself willingly to redress the past" fail to irrigate the soul or moisten the imagination.

What impresses most is the bold attempt by directors Philip Osment and Wendell Manwarren to raise the writing to a higher level through ritualistic devices and elegant tableaux, woven together with rapso music and drumming. Also, Salvatore Forino's design suggests existential game-playing with a tiered set reproducing the squares of a chessboard. On this, Jon Linstrum sheds atmospheric lighting, while bursts of 3canal's music and Dave Williams's more persistent drumming help bring matters to the boil.

Committed performances also demand that the play be taken seriously. Lesley Ann Wells and Alicia Richards as the good and bad angels stalking the left and right spheres of Joel's brain are both cheeky and rambunctious. In her turn, Melanie Hudson adds pathos as his hand-wringing mother. Meanwhile, Nicholas Pinnock has the seemingly impossible task of humanising the prosaic and even sanctimonious leading character, Joel. But despite all their efforts, the still waters of Rodriguez's play simply do not run deep enough.

Clear Water