The Love List Review

Title: The Love List
Starring: Munair Zacca, Clive Duncan and Nadia Khan
Written by: Norm Foster
Directed by: Pablo Hoilett
Reviewed by: Mary Hanna

“Sexy! Ambitious! Trust Me! Sense of humour! Well versed!” The list goes on for ten points that make the perfect woman of Bill (Clive Duncan) as he wrestles with his best friend Leon (Munair Zacca) to construct her personality to specifications. The friends are caught up in an uproarious comedy when the love list takes on flesh and blood with the arrival of Justine (Nadia Khan). All the action is within Bill’s apartment and the door becomes a gateway to reality and unreality as the perfect woman appears and disappears through it. Bill and Leon are flummoxed, watching the changes in Justine’s personality with the changes they make on the List. This comedy is hilarious and beautifully acted by all three cast members. Justine in particular embodies her role as fantasy queen and shrills or giggles or bursts into copious tears (“Insecure!”) as the men struggle to find the perfect balance on the List. The idea is to have perfection and have a real human woman too… an impossible feat, as Leon wisely concludes in the last scenes of the play.

But the friends learn a valuable lesson: Leon comes to appreciate his estranged wife and plans to woo her back again; Bill learns he must be more flexible, and sets out to learn to dance to have proper dance with Rachel, the new lady in his life. Both men have had a lair-raising lesson with the phantasmagorical Justine seducing, lecturing, whimpering, banging the pots and pans as she cooks with excessive gusto in a hilarious kitchen sequence. Nadia Khan is extraordinary in her role, beautifully cast as the mercurial Justine whose character is no firmer than the piece of paper it is jotted on. Khan is able to switch from one character trait to another with conviction and charm, zeroing in on the comic points of each change and timing perfectly her zingers and come-ons. This multi-talented actor also does television, radio and print ads locally and abroad. She plays Sam in the popular local soap opera Royal Palm Estate. She is right at home in the highly energetic part of Justine and wins the audience’s heart with her considerable charm just as she captivates Bill in her several guises.

This comedy is adapted and directed by Pablo Hoilett, veteran theatre man who has presented so many fine events to appreciative audiences. Hoilett is aided in his task by solid work of his two lead male actors. Munair Zacca is in fine fettle as the spoiled and cantankerous writer, Leon. He provides wonderful support for Clive Duncan’s Bill as changes sweep through the shabby apartment depending on what has been written on the list (“Likes my friends!”, “Loves kissing me!”). Nadia Khan whirls and giggles on the stage, drawing laughs with almost every speech while Munair Zacca and Clive Duncan give supporting action that signals the next change to come.

Munair Zacca has dedicated over 40 years of his life to Jamaican theatre and television. He won Best Actor in the 2006 Actor Boy Awards and he plays “Sonny T” in Royal Palm Estate. Clive Duncan is an actor with 25 years experience in stage, radio and television. He has performed in pantomimes and roots plays like Man and Woman Problem. He also has appeared on Royal Palm Estate and as Mr. Suave on the reality TV show, Jamaican Barber Shop. Both actors are natural on the stage, maintaining a brisk pace and working off each other’s energy. They are convincing as best friends, energetic and appropriate to the ages they play – aging men who are still seeking love, egging each other on and creating havoc with the Love List.

Pablo Hoilett has created a warm and vital space with the movements around the set that signal magic space for the entrances of Justine. She is a dynamic presence when she is with the two men. Nadia Khan is full of magic and hilarity as she whacks up carrots for dinner with a wicked knife, or as she sings (“She likes singing!”) or weeps in front of the two men. The actors work together with no strain and bring the script to life in Bill’s apartment. Leon lends gravitas, and Bill constantly opens new doors for action. I don’t want to give away more of the plot as the working out of the story depends on watching actors move from credulity to suspicion to fearful interpretation of reality. They are perfect in this arc, sharing moments of revelation with the audience. A slightly over-long moment is the discussion around ‘perfection’ and the role it plays in human relationships. This could be shortened so that the pace does not drag at this point near the denouement of the play.

This comedy is played for full belly laughs with Bill and Justine weaving magic around the more skeptical Leon. It can be enjoyed by everyone of a given maturity and it is presented in enjoyable surroundings at the new theatre, The Theatre Place. The play will run for a while. It has one short intermission and starts on time. Enjoy!

“In The Love List she plays Justine, the apparently ideal mate composed from a list of preferred qualities. The rub is that it’s those qualities which start to rub the wrong way and, when Justine discovers the list, she counters with one of her own,” … more

“Spanning a week and some days, the story of The Love List begins with Leon (Munair Zacca), the writer, giving Bill (Clive Duncan), his statistician friend of 25 years, a 50th birthday gift: the opportunity to end his seven-year relationship drought by finding a mate for him through a ‘reader woman’. But first Bill has to make a list of 10 of his preferred character traits in a woman. The result? Justine (played by Nadia Khan), a cosmetic marketing agent,” … more

For ticket information, please call 908-0040. Check out the flyer below.