“Feminine Justice” opens at Bliss
Live theatre is back in Belize and the much-needed break from TV movies is a most welcome development. The latest offering on the Bliss Institute stage is entitled “Feminine Justice”. News 5’s Janelle Chanona has more.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Domestic abuse, be it by a man or a woman, is no stranger to the Belizean society. The latest play to hit the local theatre scene focuses on just that, with the hope that it might make the heavy handers think before they act.
Diane Haylock, Director, Belize Theatre Co.
“The story line, there’s this professional couple, a psychiatrist and a university lecturer and they are in this abusive relationship. The husband in this case is the abuser and it’s basically the relationship between them. There comes a point in time when he has an accident and he nearly dies and he meets up with God and God gives him a chance to live again, except he has to fulfil or meet certain challenges.”
According to the actors, the characters, as written by Jamaican playwright Basil Dawkins, are complex personalities dealing with a serious issue in a way that at times, will make the audience laugh.
Vanessa Tillett
“The parts that are serious are strong enough to come across as what it is. It is a problem and we do have to deal with it, but apart from being humorous, the parts that are serious are really strong. If you’re looking at just the humour then that’s all you’re going to get, but if you come to see the play, you’re here to see what the play is really all about, then you’ll get all the different aspects of the play.”
Michael Coye
“I think at the end, they will have sympathy for him because he changes a lot. I don’t to give away anything but he does change a lot.”
Coye says the action scenes weren’t as easy as they may look.
Michael Coye
“The fight scenes for me were difficult because a lot of it is particularly violent. The abuse scenes where I’m actually abusing my “wife” weren’t exactly fun, but the main thing in the fight scenes is safety, so that was always my concern. If anybody would get hurt…because at the time at the performance you have a lot of adrenaline going and I’m kind of scared that I might really hit the person. So it just takes a lot of control and timing.”
Another part of the play that will take timing will be the physical aspects, that is the setting. The set and lighting designer promises the audience more than a few theatre tricks.
Robert Eubanks, Set and Lighting Designer
“It means a lot of spectacle as far as the supernatural scenes go when you have heaven and hell. And it also means a lot of sort of realism when you are in the home setting and also the colours and everything in the set speak towards the action and the plot of the play.”
And in the midst of all the preparation for opening night, the company is looking to recruit aspiring thespians.
Curtis Gillett
“At the end of it all, you come out smiling. It requires a commitment, dedication, a lot of strong will power and basically just telling yourself that I want to do this and I can do it.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
The play runs December sixth, seventh, eighth, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth at the Bliss. Tickets are twenty dollars opening night and fifteen thereafter, available at the Belize Arts Council and other outlets.
