Six Funny Quickies – Love Games

Kingston, August 13, 2007:
Patrick Brown’s hilarious comedy revue, Love Games, is currently playing at the Centrestage Theatre, New Kingston, where it began its run in late July. Produced by Jambiz International as their 2007 summer production, Love Games is easily one of that company’s funniest productions in the past few years.

In a phrase, it is downright hilarious, able to produce no holds barred, straight from the belly laughter. Though it has no satirical bite, Love Games grabs love by the scruff of the neck, shakes it around and decides that love is a cheater’s game.

Described as a collection of six (6) “playets” (presumably the fancy term for sketches) Love Games mocks the ideas of fidelity and trust as its numerous couples discover that they are engaged in convoluted arrangements and none of them can be trusted to be what they appear to be. The players in these love games range from apprentices to the seasoned professionals.

In the main, the sketches are bound together by soliloquies in which the various characters explain their reason for being in the game of love, for which there appears to be no clear rules, other than that cheaters rule. These reasons are varied moving from simply because they can be in the game, for the thrill of the game, and one woman claims she is doing it for her health. The soliloquies in Love Games allow the production to fill its audience need for involvement as the characters not only speak about their own motivations, but also make the audience complicit in their love games. Though the comedy throughout is strong, the sense of dramatic irony that undercuts the final ‘playet’ might render it an audience favourite.

The script is hilarious; the cast is energetic, involving and funny. Additionally, the work is well directed, by Trevor Nairne and Patrick Brown. Love Games stars Glen Campbell, Camille Davis and Courtney Wilson along with Maria Walters and Noelle Kerr who alternate.

Campbell’s wonderful sense of comic timing gets its best outing since Cindy-Relisha and the DJ Prince. With much practice under his belt for tackling multiple roles in one production, Campbell gets a chance to go for physical and subtle comedy throughout the production.

Davis and Wilson are also becoming Jambiz staples, particularly since their very successful outing with Vibes where both shone brightly as rising talents. In Love Games they live up to their growing reputation. Wilson is proving to be an interesting character actor, though he has a penchant for going over the top, which is given a little too much leeway in Love Games, depending too heavily on characters with physical defects for humour. Walters also performs well despite resorting to too much screaming in her final sketch.

Though the set is largely unimpressive, but uses the limited space well, Love Games, in a single moment, presents some very good use of make-up, lighting and sound for very dramatic effect. However, capturing a decent representation of dreadlocks seems to elude them, and Brown remains caught in a Rasta stereotype that is unbecoming of his skill and experience.

At the end of the evening, however, Love Games is a delightfully hilarious romp presented as six funny quickies.