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From caterpillar to swan Death of a beauty saleswoman, Old Joint Stock **** JJ is a hard, ruthless, Jamaican
businesswoman complete with hair weave, lightened skin , elocution,
permed eyebrows, and a complete disregard for everything but herself and
money. She is a self made woman, much at the expense of
others, and in the well manicured, nourished and nurtured hands of
Debbie Tracey, who wrote and stars in this one woman play, JJ is
also very funny. Tracey manages to populate the piece with a whole
host of characters and stereotypes full of hang-ups and foibles as we
find out about first husband Darren, Jamaican through and through with
accent so strong you could almost smell the ackee and saltfish. Then there was Barry, spiv, wide boy, a lovable –
at least at first - sarf London rougue and millionaire, at least so he
implied, club owner. We have the Nigerian help, illegal, subservient
and with a degree in business administration to make her useful, and
cheap, when she wasn't cleaning or running errands. Exploitation being
part of her job description. JJ's career had started as a host on the Disney
show in Jamaica, the most popular children's show on the island seen by
more than . . . 700 viewers. To get the job she had ruined the career, and
probably the intestines, of an eight-year-old rival, with a friendly
does of laxative. In the main it is laugh a minute stuff as
Jacqueline Jones, international beauty entrepreneur and wannabe star
tries to explain why her life is going down the pan with spiv husband
Barry on the run from the taxman and her hidden accounts trying to
escape to join him.
We are even treated to her oh so short career as
a diva, first nurtured by Barry, who had links with show business as he
knew Bonnie Tyler's manager's accountant, and them her career was just
as quickly ended by him. JJ could never understand why although having
seen it I can honestly say her version of Simply the Best does
tend to resemble Tina Turner doing the Haka. There is a poignant and more serious moment
though when she talks about being one of the few black kids in school
after her parents arrived here from Jamaica. Darkie, blacky,
nignog were among the names she was called along with a teacher asking,
in all seriousness, if she knew who her father was. It was refreshing though to find a play which
takes a sideways look at race and stereotypes in an open and very funny
way, which is as it should be. Did you know for example that all
Nigerians, oh why stop there, let us be honest, all Africans,
dream of being West Indian? It's a fact . . . according to JJ. Or did you know that nappy hair and black skin
makes black people scary (think Spice girls advises JJ) so a
decent hair weave and a skin bleacher are essentials for the up and
coming young black executive – such as JJ. Had Debbie Tracey been white then I suspect the
PC stormtroopers would have been hissing racist and suffering apoplexy,
instead though we were treated to some closely observed musings, some
clever lines and a lot of laughs at the expense of how we see ourselves
and others and how they see us. Directed by Steven Luckie and produced by Sharon Foster it even has Janice Connolly, Stockport housewife and mum of five superstar Barbara Nice, advising on comedy and characters - entertaining stuff. To 03-09-11 Roger Clarke
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