Ibsen News and Comment
The Journal of the Ibsen Society of America 
Volume 26 (2006)  Pages 15-16.

Photos by Kim Dunbar

This, the first production by the recently formed Rebel Theater Company, was clearly in line with the announced goals of the company, among them "reworking the classics to fit the American experience" and drawing "upon the talent and identity of all world cultures." Thus the setting of Ghosts is shifted from late nineteenth-century Norway to late twentieth-century Jamaica, with the striking mixture of races that can be found on that island. The adaptation closely follows Ibsen's original, but scenes, lines, and situations have been strikingly updated, with surprisingly successful results. Captain Alving's (here Andrews') ghost, played by black actor Arthur C. Toombs in whiteface and in a white, rather Arabic costume, hovers at the stage edges throughout. punctuating the action with a hand-held drum. He is invisible to the others until Mrs. Alving seems to see him during her famous speech about the ghosts, after which he moves more and more directly into the action.

 The ghost is supported by three "Orphans," (Ngozi Anyanwu, Rory Clarke, and Sabrina Diana Colle), all young black actors in whiteface, who constitute a kind of chorus, providing a lively Jamaican

 "I have never seen this acting choice before, and loved it."

 vaudeville number to welcome the audience after the intermission; standing before three large crosslike structures to mime reactions during the final scenes; and from time to time breaking into the lyrics of the Jamaican National Anthem, whose words serve as an ironic support for the social ghosts represented by the Pastor: "Eternal Father, Bless our Land, / Guard us with thy mighty hand, / Keep us free from evil powers, / Be our light through countless hours, / To our leaders. great defender, / Grant true wisdom from above, / Justice, truth be ours forever, / Jamaica, land we love, / Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we love." Manders (here Pastor Mattison) is lovingly portrayed by Mickey Ryan as a charming but rather simple British vicar type, the only white character in the play. He makes a perfect foil for the wily black trickster Jabingy (Engstrand), broadly played by Rodney Gilbert. The scene between then when Jabingy cons Matti- about his past is brilliantly played and inspires deserved applause from the audience. When Jabingy makes his final exit, his sailor's home assured by the defeated Mattison, he dances off in triumph, his bad leg revealed as another con. I have never seen this acting choice before, and loved it.

An important subtext added to the play by Jamaican relocation is the Rastafari movement. Jabingy is closely associated with Rasta, and from it derives his dreadlocks, his use of marijuana (at point Mattison typically and fatuously advises him to "just say no" to drugs), his resistance to colonialist racism, and most of his language and references. Much of the musical background of the production comes from reggae music, with its strong Rastafarian connections.

Mrs. Alving (Mrs. Victoria Andrews) is powerfully and convincingly interpreted by a Chinese-American, Sharon Tshai King, whose elegant and aristocratic bearing perfectly indicate the importance of social appearance to this suffering woman. Oswald (Barrington), like his father, is a delicate black, who confesses to his mother than he has contracted Aids. There is a stunning moment near the end when he asks her to close her eyes while he strips to his undershorts, revealing a thin body covered with ugly, raw lesions. He then spreads his arms to reveal this ghastly spectacle to his horrified mother while the ghost of his father stands behind him, echoing his pose with arms similarly outstretched.

Not all of the innovations are this successful. The closing scene is too extended and too complicated. Mrs. Andrews rejects, then embraces her son, refuses to give him the pills, and then seems to force them upon him; she seemingly chokes him to death when the pills work too slowly, then tries to suckle him after he has apparently died, and at the very end is herself attacked by the ever-hovering ghost of her husband. It is all too much, too cluttered. and too confusing, but so many of the surprises in this innovative production were effective and illuminating that this less than successful ending can readily be forgiven

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