by Larry Smith
For the past three general elections Michael Pintard and David Wallace have put together sketch comedies lampooning the key personalities and issues in the campaigns. These side-splitting performances have played to sold-out audiences in Nassau and Freeport.
The current version is called Election 2012: What Just Happened? It explores the events and issues surrounding the most recent campaign, and effectively impersonates leading members of the PLP, the FNM and the DNA.
Pintard, the losing FNM candidate for Cat Island, San Salvador & Rum Cay in the last election, took some barbs himself. For example, recalling an actual stump speech, David Wallace (the Hubert Ingraham impersonator) declared dramatically "Pintard, I'm sending you on a mission! Only it's a one-way mission, heh, heh."
Christie ("who had the shuffle kicked out of him in 2007"), was brilliantly impersonated by Will Stubbs. It's relatively easy to imitate HAI because of his speech impediment and the fact that he actually has a sense of humour. But it's a rather more complex task to attempt the same with Christie. Nevertheless, Stubbs managed to pull it off brilliantly.
Meanwhile, the unfortunate Bran McCartney, impersonated by Tawari Rodgers, was only a bit player, which belied the DNA's key role in Ingraham's demise.
Both Wallace and Pintard are losing FNM candidates (although Wallace won West End and Bimini in the 1997 FNM wipeout of the PLP). Pintard, who lost in May by only 85 votes to now Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, conceded that the play had been delayed this election cycle because it had taken him longer to heal.
Arguably, the star of the show was Marquita Whymns, who (among other characters) portrayed the archetypal Haitian-Bahamian matriarch, Marie, cleverly massaging both Obie Wilcombe and Pakeshia Edgecombe. After assuring both Grand Bahama candidates of unswerving loyalty, she turned to her dissolute Bahamian husband and declared "We deliver same as repatriate".
The three-hour performance on Saturday (at the so-called National Centre for the Performing Arts) was sold out and the audience appeared hugely entertained by even the most banal jokes. The opening scene - featuring the "roads dem, dig up, dig up" - proved especially energising.
Aside from a few technical difficulties, like delayed musical prompts and a non-functioning stage curtain, the performance is well worth the $25 ticket price. Extra shows are being scheduled for this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so you still have a chance to get in on the action.
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