Helena Allum

This is a tale 'bout the other side “the other side of town”.

The kind of place where decent people, look left, sneer, then spit on the ground

The kind of place where the very point is that any number could play

That is the place where they say the preacher tell Jesus Christ “Don't let me catch you in there”

On the other side of this town we come upon The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club , with some colourful characters that we can't help but like. At the entrance there is a preacher man with hymn book and collection plate, not a model of virtue himself but always ready to point out the errant ways of those around him.

Then there is Singh; always drunk, always in debt and always having a story to tell about how he came out the better in some exchange with someone.

Prune Face Jean is the matriarch, the one who looks after the young girl in her charge and under whose no- nonsense exterior we suspect is a caring heart. She knows how to deal with the customers in her club, and they know how far they can push their luck with her.

Delilah the newcomer to the club is mysterious. We know that she has some stories to tell. We develop a soft spot for her too because we sense some sadness in her life.

And then there is Sheila from South she of the mini and the red of the mouth . She spends some time sewing costumes. She is a feisty one, aware of her power over the men but not abusing it. There is what is described in the programme as a “singing chorus” and a “movement chorus.”

The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club is a calypso musical. It began its run at Queen's Hall on February 8. It is written and directed by Tony Hall with lyrics and music by David Rudder.

The characters seem familiar to us. We've met them, maybe not at a club, but we've seen and heard and judged them.

So much happens between the characters in one day at this club. But in all the interactions among them we can hear a line from another of songwriter's calypsos: “ a sturdy people who can still smile a mile of love into their pain, put their shoulder to the wheel and their God will do the rest, and in the end they'll pass the test .”

When we hear a bit of their stories we wonder whether we would have “passed the test” in the end under similar circumstances. Mista Nation, a former calypsonian has become a vagrant preacher. Singh tries everything to get his rum even without money.

Prune Face Jean works hard and cares for Sheila when she had no one to care for her. And perhaps Sheila has learnt from her aunt: she now stands by Delilah when she seems to have no one on her side.

The chorus at one time sings: Baby Girl we just got to survive this existence/Don't they know that we're born with a natural resistance?/They think they coming they think they coming to slaughter Before they come half of them they done drown in the water.

In this pre-lenten season the play's religious references would make a good Lenten meditation. The lyrics of Sheila tell so much of the story: I seeing saint/The righteous seeing sinner./They seeing doom/I seeing winner. /They seeing Magdalene /I seeing Madonna./ They seeing ole paint/I see Mona Lisa./They seeing poison/I seeing wine.

While we may not agree with all the sentiments expressed in the lyrics, they would nonetheless be good words to meditate on.

Do we tend to preach to Jesus, telling him where we must and must not find him?

The songwriter later asks How do you fuse the virtue and the vile now? The design of the staff, the dollar sign and the cross at the top of the bed must ask the same question.

Errol Sitahal and Conrad Parris got my vote for outstanding performances. The Brand new Lucky Diamond Club is one I would like to see again so that I can hear again all that I missed out on first time around.