Glenn Gould Studio, July 24, 2009

The actress clearly stood up for African women and women in general and their struggle for equality, respect, and justice, when she orated from the back of the theatre:For people of every race, acknowledge who I am — mother of man, mother of Africa, mother of the world — strong as the Baobob tree.

Curtain up on Julia, a stay-at-home housewife and mother of three growing school age children, and her husband, Jamba, who believes housework has no value, as he pounds the table with his fist at dinner time and verbally abuses her in front of the children.

Although the family is African, this central scene could be from any kitchen sink drama from anywhere — in fact, Agostinho’s play is so universal that it misses out on fully delivering its own message.

In theatre, you must be ’specific’, and specific in this case would mean that the play would immediately have shown the audience What? Where? and When? something is happening to any character at any point in the play.

But this was not the case.

Certainly the casting took care of the believability matter (actors looking the part), but as for the specifics of showing — Where? at What Time? in What country and What Culture? was the action taking place? — no answers came from the stage. So splinter scenes like the boy-girl, boss-secretary, boss-girlfriend, ‘player’-girl and ‘player’-husband-wife scenes — as they were performed on this specific night — came off like swift and skit-like episodes you’ve seen everywhere. Often about the ‘war between the sexes’, the (neverland)  scenes were entertaining, but they were overly familiar, like a punchline that keeps getting repeated in your ear.

But — in terms of fufilling the many requirements of inspirational community theatre — which, after all, is largely about the social forces of encompassing and including, rather than separating and defining, we have to say that “Baobob Youth Theatre Group” unquestionably brought it all back home.

In its over 2-hour long production — filled with brief dance, song, recitation, oration, and drumming interludes as part of the play — you had to appreciate the obvious dedication, hard work, and talents of both the cast and crew and the administrative and publicity staff.

And more importantly, on the way home, you thought again about the play’s need to be more ’specific’.

Here’s one example. If the play was more specific, it could have touched, even a little, on an arguably more interesting matter, that of the characters largely being black Angolans from Angola, a Portuguese colony in West Africa.

And this would have contributed further depth and specifics and richness to the characters’ already dilemma-filled dialogue.

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Baobob Youth Theatre Group
Angolan Youth Association of Ontario (AYAO)
Cast
Asina Badrua — Julia
Agostinho Neto — Jamba
Sauro Agostinho — Chivuala
Gilson Rodrigues — Tetembua
Sauro Agostinho — Frank
Teleka Bowden — Massoche
Kia Cummings — Leila
Destiny De La Darantaye — Meco
Fernanda Da Costa — Jessica
Antonia Pascoal — Marta
Debbie-Ann Eccleston — Karen
Marsha Brown — Ms. Matilde
Special Guest Artist — Ruth Mathiang

Sauro Agostinho
Founder and Artistic Director

www.baobabtheatregroup.com

David Fujino
Toronto
July 25, 2009