Inc. -- Drama Fest '94, presented by Stage One Productions -- City Hall Theatre -- May 11-13.

As the huddled figure leaps up into the light, sword slashing and stabbing through air that reverberates with a deafening sound of cannon, we are swept into the larger-than-life, 18th century world of Toussaint L'Ouveture. But shades of the prison wall, the barred windows, and a sudden cough that racks this proud body, poignantly underlines the fact that the warrior is merely reliving his past. For his tragic island of Haiti, has had, like Camelot, but one shining moment. This, undoubtedly, was during the brief reign of this man, known as the Angel Warrior of Haiti.

In a virtuosic one-man tour de force, famed American actor Antonio Fargas brings thrillingly alive, the enigma of Toussaint the warrior, ruler, emancipator, lover, husband, father, and poet. For in playwright Audley Haffenden's hands, at least, Toussaint was all of these things.

It could have been no easy task for the author to condense all the events of this remarkable character's life into the time-frame of roughly 75 minutes.

Haffenden, however, has succeeded, with a brilliant economy of words that still manage to resonate with waves of alternating fury, wit and tenderness.

All of these qualities are reflected in Fargas's portrayal, a portrayal enhanced by a richly resonant voice, and a seemingly towering, yet always elegant presence that totally dominates the stage.

One-man biographical monologues are usually a predictable affair: reflections on past glories and misadventures, a few props conveniently sparking off certain recollections, the writing or reading aloud of letters sent and received.

Toussaint's story, however, has the appeal of `blood and guts' excitement and suspense, where slave uprisings, burnings, executions, battles and betrayals walk hand in hand with a man who woos his young Susanna with a bunch of yellow buttercups. Toussaint reflects the irony of his career that peaked with his being proclaimed `the black Napoleon', to his present situation, that of a dank prison cell in the Jura mountains of France.

The story, a true one, is remarkable. Born a slave, Toussaint managed to learn how to read and write, studying Plutarch and Caesar to prepare him for his `divine' mission to free his fellow-slaves.

Promoted to coachman and then overseer, he bided his time, eventually emerging as victor in a series of uprisings; unlike his more impetuous fellow countrymen, Toussaint had learned the art of strategy and was able to manipulate to his advantage, the predatory ambitions of the French, Spanish, British and Americans.

Earning then, the name of `L'Ouverture', ("I was the opening''), he brought the only, albeit brief, period of prosperity and peace that Haiti has ever known. Slavery was abolished, agriculture and education improved and roads were built.

"Black, white, mulatto, working together for the first time,'' he recalls with pride. Betrayed by his own people, he was eventually captured by Napoleon's army and shipped back to France where, in 1803, he died of pneumonia in a dungeon, just months before Haiti gained independence.

The contents of an old chest, the only mementoes allowed him in his cell, spur his memory.

But in the hands of Fargas, they release a torrent of passion, flourishing the tricorn hat, he becomes positively Napoleonic in stride and gesture, pausing to talk to his only friend now, a little rat to whom, he confides, he talks "eyeball to eyeball''.

There is a moment of grief as he clutches the bloodstained shirt of his nephew, General Moyse. Having led a massacre of whites, Toussaint ordered him shot, and relives the agony of that decision as a distant drumroll heralds the sound of execution gun-fire.

Although he had been captured, the French had been unable to cut down the tree of freedom that he had grown: "They only caught a branch''.

Hats off to Stage One Productions for bringing this stellar attraction to Bermuda. Fargas, internationally known through his appearances on `Starsky and Hutch' and innumerable films and other TV shows, reveals a perhaps even greater talent for the live stage.

This was a memorable performance, and one that all `wannabe' actors, in particular, should rush to see.

Tonight is your last chance.

PATRICIA CALNAN ANTONIO FARGAS -- is unforgettable in Stage One Productions' "Toussaint: Angel Warrior of Haiti'' now playing at the City Hall.