Before It Hits Home - Linda Paynter Productions - City Hall, October 28-30.

A play which truly hits home, with not one, but several bleak messages on the physical and emotional aspects of AIDS, unfortunately ended its three-night run on Saturday evening.

Unfortunate, because this City Hall production was, of necessity, seen only by a tiny fraction of the population. And even for those who did turn out to see Linda Paynter's fine production, it was probably, in most instances, a case of preaching to the converted. The people who should have seen this play -- the naive, the ignorant, the prejudiced, and the entire youth of this Island -- were, in all probability, the very people whom the play, for one reason or another, would never reach.

Written by American playwright, Cheryl L. West, "Before It Hits Home'' was staged recently in New York and Washington. It centres around a black, bisexual jazz musician, Wendal, whose revelation that he has AIDS sweeps those nearest and dearest to him into a maelstrom of furious shock and denial. It is the story of how all these characters (including Wendal) react, which provides the fascinating focus of this play. It is not for the squeamish and although the language might offend some, it does, whether we like it or not, reflect the real language of real people expressing anger and pain.

Director Patricia Pogson managed to inspire a cast, more inexperienced than she normally employs, with her own passion and purpose: her characters became believable and spoke their sometimes comic, sometimes harrowing lines with conviction.

This is a long play, especially with the two superbly rendered jazz numbers from Wendell (Shine) Hayward's mellow sax. The decision to run the play straight through without an interval was a mistake. Although this was presumably to keep the momentum going, the play is neatly divided by the author himself into two acts with the apparent intention of emphasising the equal importance of Wendal's two different worlds. Also on the debit side, there were some rather long pauses between scene changes which slowed the sense of relentlessness that should pervade the play.

This was a world, marvelously portrayed by the author, where wry humour has always been a powerful weapon in coping with misfortune. As in tragedies through the ages, West has skillfully employed humour as an antidote to the sheer misery that echoes through this play. At times, there was the feeling that he was almost too successful: the first night audience had become so accustomed to the idea that this might be a comedy after all, that they seemed almost as reluctant as the characters to face the reality of the drama before them. Perhaps it was just nervous laughter that broke out as the father launched into the final scene with his son.

Showing the same magnetism that he brings to the musical spotlight, Shine Hayward stepped into his first major acting role with impressive ease. He traced movingly, the shift from horrified disbelief on learning of the fatal diagnosis, the anger, through to the longing for acceptance from those he considered his loved ones. This was a heartfelt performance, just as potent in the silent moments as he reacted to the reactions he was invoking around him.

Shawnette Purnell, who took on the role of Wendal's mother, is new to the stage, but as the story unfolded, her initial diffidence disappeared and by the time she reached the climactic scene where she abandoned her "immoral'' son, she was impassioned indeed.

Donald (Big Daddy) Gates has long been one of Bermuda's favourite performers.

As Wendal's father he gave a towering performance, big in voice and big in heart as he brought magnificently about, the dramatic twist in the plot. For it is comical, possessive and prejudiced Dad who finally comes through, the only one who can turn his back on the bigotry around him to look after his son until the painful end.

Besides directing, Patricia Pogson also took on the dual roles of Wendal's luckless fiancee and that of Angel Peterson, the angel of death. As always, she was easily able to switch from the bewilderment that gradually invades the trusting soul of the fiancee to the world-weary and street-wise smartness of Angel.

Ayo Johnson also played two roles, that of the somewhat flimsily drawn character of Wendal's male lover and then, the he-man sergeant who considers even a hug between him and his brother Wendal to be strictly a no-no.

Although little more than a cameo role, Connie Dey brought her own brand of professionalism to the role of the doctor. Maybelle, the friend of the family who never seems to go home, was played by newcomer Lucinda Robinson and the cast was rounded out with an engaging performance from Demetrous Byrd as Wendal's teenage son and Carolyn McNally as the nurse.

Few who saw this play could fail to have been moved by its last scene. Hearing the agonised howl from the father as his son drifted through hallucinations to final death, it became very obvious that a play like this is worth a thousand posters and TV ads in attempting to educate the public (especially the young) about AIDS. In an enlightened world, "Before It Hits Home'' would be compulsory viewing for all secondary school students. -- Patricia Calnan.