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‘Pantomime’ is a serious laugh
By David Brooke Derek Walcott’s ''Pantomime,'' now playing at the Payomet in Truro, serves as an example of how comedy can make people feel more comfortable with one another and understand their prejudices. The two-actor play stars Tom Wolfson as Harry Trewe, a British hotelier in the Caribbean and Gustave F. Johnson as Jackson Philip, his kind servant who was once ''a serious steel-band man'' in Trinidad. Trewe is down on his luck and spirits during the slow winter season and plots a means to garner more guests with a pantomime version of Robinson Crusoe. But there’s a twist: the races are reversed. Trewe, an ex-vaudeville actor, is to play Friday, and Jackson is to play Crusoe. Jackson agrees after some prodding, but his imagination takes things to a more serious area, delving into larger concepts such as the relations of masters and servants, race, prejudice, loss and loneliness and lots more. The set design fits with the characters’ tone, which is at once both lighthearted and serious. Lawn chairs, bamboo screens, and palm trees give the play a relaxed atmosphere, while a rock representing a cliff rests at the front of the stage reminding viewers the characters are only one step away from a dramatic end to it all. The social commentary comes off effortlessly with Johnson’s animated portrayal of Jackson. His character is a boisterous sort, always ready to speak his mind and take part in energetic physical comedy. In one scene, Johnson is so excited to pantomime the Crusoe character he “swims” across the stage trying ever so hard to breathe and paddle across the wooden floor. As in any good comedy duo, Wolfson plays Harry Trewe as the straight man and the comedy foil to Johnson’s lively character. Both actors play off each other nicely, which makes the transition of comedy to ethical dilemma seamless for the most part. For example, Jackson suggests that the black islanders were the shadows of the British Empire on which the sun never set. Trewe can only respond to Johnson’s comments with “it’s pantomime, keep it light,” and warns at the rate they’re going, “we might commit art.” At times the meaning of the play is muddled by the change between serious dilemma and comedy. The switch can be so abrupt one can only imagine the author was sticking the ideas in wherever he could. Vernice Miller’s direction, while inventive in its kinetic energy, sometimes adds to the muddled nature by changing the scene so drastically it’s difficult to follow the mood of the play. Sunday’s performance was a preview, though, so the play has time to improve over its remaining three-weekend run. Overall, Walcott, who won a Nobel Prize for literature in 1982, finds enough laughs and raises the right questions to leave the audience well satisfied.
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