GET THAT HOPE – REVIEW OF 2024 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Get That Hope is a new play by Andrea Scott that received its world premiere in the Studio Theatre of the Stratford Festival. It is the author’s first play to be produced at Stratford and that is good news.

The play may be described as “Scenes from the life of an immigrant Jamaican family in Toronto” and it should resonate with the experience of many other immigrant groups. As the lights dim in the theatre, we see a man on the stage, facing the audience and we hear what sounds like the land acknowledgement message and then we are asked to stand up for the national anthem. We are not sure about what is going on but we dutifully stand up. Music starts playing and the man sings the national anthem of Jamaica.

The singer is Richard Whyte (Conrad Coates), a proud Jamaican living in Toronto with his wife Margaret (Kim Roberts) and their son Simeon (Savion Roach). Richard has a daughter from a previous marriage, Rachel (Celia Aloma). Millicent Flores (Jennifer Villaverde), an immigrant from the Philippines and a caregiver who lives upstairs is also present. 

                        Conrad Coates as Richard Whyte in Get That Hope. 
                             Stratford Festival 2024. Photo: David Hou.

The family lives in a small living room and kitchen in Toronto’s Jamaica Town. It is poorly airconditioned and the couches are covered with plastic, a hallmark of immigrants’ protection of their furniture. The set and costumes are intelligently designed by Sarah Uwadiae.

Fissures in the family relations emerge quickly and as may be expected almost all the members of the group have problems. Richard is the eternal optimist trying to keep the family together. But he is unemployed, accused by his daughter Rachel of being an unloving father. He is uncertain of the way he will survive when Rachel, the only working member of the family, leaves. Coates tries to “get that hope” despite serious obstacles. 

Rachel offers to buy a condominium with earnings from three jobs. But the developer goes bankrupt and she runs the danger of losing her substantial deposit. There is tension between her and her father and Margaret her stepmother. Revelations show that her hatred of them is unjustified.

Simeon, a former soldier suffers from PTSD caused by a horrible incident while he was in a combat situation. He is unemployed, uncommunicative and unfriendly. He is having an affair with Millicent but she rejects the idea of living with him. Roach presents the gruff, unlikable misfit well.

 Millicent is perhaps the least dysfunctional person and we look to her for the voice of reason.

The issues of the dysfunctional Whyte family unfold for about an hour and a half and Scott puts an end to them rather quickly without much of an explanation or resolution.  No doubt we are to take some of the revelations as redemptive but I am not sure to what extent that is developed. One of the issues of the performance is that it was not always comprehensible. I am not sure if it was simply the accent or the use of Jamaican patois but there it was. There was some rumbling that sounded like an earthquake or thunder but I did not understand what it was.

The lives of immigrants in Toronto matter a great deal and they simply do not get the attention that they deserve. We owe a debt of gratitude to Andrea Scott for her salute to immigrants from Jamaica.
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Get That Hope by Andrea Scott opened on August 10 and will run in repertory until September 28, 2024, at the Studio Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press