Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

While the passionate playwright Trevor Rhone may have completed his final act on Earth, his creative torch is still being carried on today with the staging of the award-winning Two Can Play.

Rhone's best-known works are The Harder They Come, Smile Orange and Old Story Time, but the University Players are roping in a new generation of theatre-goers and bringing back memories for older audiences with six performances of Two Can Play. Rhone, whose creative works have received high acclaim around the world, died on September 15 after suffering a heart attack.

The University Players began the revival of his play yesterday and continues through to Monday, October 26 at Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona. Two Can Play won the award for Best Jamaican Play in 1982 and tells the story of Gloria and Jim, two Jamaicans trying to escape the unrest of the 1980s' political war in Kingston. The couple try their wildest schemes to escape the gun crime and establish residence in the United States.

The recently revived play features performances by 2008 Actor Boy Award nominees, Nadean Rawlins and Alwyn Scott, and is directed by Brian Heap, who also won this year's award for Best Director.

Heap told The Sunday Gleaner that since the revival of the University Players in 2003, this was the first time that a Trevor Rhone play had been staged.

Significance

Two Can Play holds significant meaning for Heap who knew Rhone personally.

"The first play I did in Jamaica back in 1974 was Rhone's School's Out and that was my introduction to theatre in Jamaica," said Heap. "I was also in a revival of his production called The Game."

Heap said the University Players approached Rhone's family after his death for permission to revive the play, which will be a tribute to the playwright's memory. As such, the play will stick to its original format. When asked about the family's reaction to the play, Heap said, "they were pleased. One of the things that they liked was the fact that we asked people to come this Sunday (today) to the McSyl Basic School in Bellas Gate where Trevor was born. He recently wrote an autobiography called Bellas Gate Boy and he committed himself to helping the basic school. So the benefit performance was something pleasing and tangible to them."

In a previous article published in The Gleaner, it was noted that the McSyl Basic School was named after Rhone's mother, Rosomond McCalla, and his aunt, Mercella 'Syl' McCalla. Neville Rhone, Rhone's older brother, further told The Gleaner in the said article that they were raised in Bellas Gate district where Rhone had recently purchased land and helped start McSyl Basic School.

"He said it (the basic school) was a dream come true for him," Neville was reported as saying. "He said wherever our mother and aunt are, they are pleased."

It is a possibility, according to Heap, that members of the family will be present at the benefit performance.

Rhone's Bellas Gate Boy is also scheduled to be featured at Harvard University within the coming months.

Heap said the revival of Two Can Play is a relevant one, as the play still speaks to issues in today's society. "I think it's an interesting piece, set in the 1970s at a time when the problems are similar to today. We're going through a recession and there is a lot of violence in society, while then the violence was mainly political and at the time you had people running away. It resonated cause that is going on today. I think it's one of his major works and there have been a few memorable stagings with Charles Hyatt and Grace McGee and it was one he had done abroad as well. It's an important play for the fact that Trevor Rhone found a Jamaican voice; the dialogue between Gloria and Jim is very startling," Heap said.

The most recent University Players' appearance by Rawlins and Scott, who play Gloria and Jim, was in the group's memorable production of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters which was presented earlier this year. For Heap, the staging of this play is important so that a new generation of students who have never seen Rhone's work will get the chance to experience it as well.

"It's very accessible, very funny and provides a lot of food for thought. We need the next generation to be aware of Trevor Rhone's work," he said.