O Freedom, the one-man show, performed by Jack Waddell, is based on the true story of fugitive slave John W. Jones (1817-1900).

On a stage with a set consisting simply of antique furniture consisting of a chair, table and hat rack, the performance began with a male figure in the wings with a cane, silhouetted. He then began in a powerfully resonant and beautiful baritone to sing an old spiritual and slowly approach centre stage.

Jack Waddell, as John Jones, captivated the audience from his first spoken words and, with perfect characterization and a wonderfully expressive face and precise and fluid movement, kept our interest completely until the end.

Animatedly, he recounted the story of his escape from slavery with his brothers, made all the more difficult and wondrous because there was no underground railroad at that time. We were told how they swam across a cold, deep and wide river, encountered slave hunters and braved a forest, with "midnight all day", where they were attacked by a wildcat.

Interspersed with humour and suspense and sudden perfectly timed and executed singing of spirituals or portions thereof, the description of their flight to freedom, which filled the first act, seemed to be far less than the thirty minutes in telling.

Well known is the fact that spirituals were often used by slaves to communicate plans for escape and the progress of flight. Hearing songs like "Steal Away" and "I'll Fly Away" sung in context magnified their purpose and beauty and imbued them with new emotional profundity and intelligence.

In the second act we were told of John's education, active involvement in the underground railroad and his job as sexton of Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York during the Civil War. He personally buried every one of the nearly 3,000 Southern captive soldiers who died in the prison camp and in this way made his fortune. He was able to use part of this money to bring his two sisters to New York after the abolition of slavery.

"O! Freedom!" is an inspiring story of a great man, similar to many that we have heard and witnessed on the stage. It is the performance and writing that make it so powerful and personal. With a masterfully written script and obviously good direction Jack Waddell brought this unsung hero to life.

William David Brohn and George Guilbault's musical arrangements, consisting of soaring choral singing, added an almost cinematic quality to particularly moving moments, as in the recounting of John's first paid job.

Suddenly the angelic voices provided backing music to his singing, evoking the same hugeness of emotion that swirling strings and symphonic swells add to movie moments. This idea was repeated at other times to most stunning and stirring effect.

John also invited the audience to sing and clap with him in some of the more upbeat numbers as he kept time with his cane. He even encouraged us to just let ourselves laugh hard after particularly humorous occurrences.

The deceptively simple lighting added to the experience and the subtle clever change from a yellow wash, used during the first act and part of the second, to a white wash transformed the character and aged him in front of our eyes.

The only disappointing aspect of the entirely entertaining and uplifting performance was the audience numbers. Not many people turned out to witness this great creation. Randy Horton, Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs was in attendance but many of the usual patrons of local theatre were absent at this one night performance. I was a bit surprised at the small numbers because the piece had a strong Christian theme and such theatre is usually very well attended in Bermuda. Those of us who did attend were in the presence of greatness.

Alan Smith