Most of us would love to pretend that closets are only for the storage of clothes but inadvertently, a few skeletons may end up in there as well. In Karl Hart’s ‘Secrets’, theatre goers learn that some skeletons are best left in a locked closet- provided there is only one copy of the key.  

The two hour long play reveals a worst case scenario of what can go wrong when persons have secrets which they have kept hidden for so long that they almost start to believe their own lies. Directed by Karl Williams, ‘Secrets’ as the name suggest surrounds concealed information which devastated not just one, but two families when ‘all hell breaks loose’.

The play starts and immediately one gets a sense that something is rotten in the city of Kingston. A cloud of mystery hangs over the Edwards family. In debt and still spending, Miss Rosie (Fae Ellington) is ill and in need of surgery and her husband George (Fabian Thomas) tries to get her to agree to borrow the money from his good ‘friend’ the widow Margaret Sutherland (Gracia Thompson). 

Margaret’s only child Ricky (Tesfa Edwards) works for his uncle George along with handy man Stanford (Peter Heslop) and is hard pressed to keep George’s auto sales business afloat while keeping the creditors at bay. Unbeknown to everyone, Rickey falls in love with the one girl who is off limits to him and the revelation of who is his love interest brings everything to a boil and the facades come tumbling down, one after the other. 

The initial first scenes started a bit slow but the use of dramatic irony gets the plot across smoothly and when audience members figures out exactly who has done what, they hang on to every word that falls from the lips of the actors as if they were manna from heaven. There was good acting all around from the five member cast with Fae and Peter leading the charge.

There was generally good use of the small theatre space. The effective use of  the small stage to contrast the difference between a middle class living room and a disorganized auto sales office is another tribute to Hart as a director.   Secrets, now playing at the Pantry playhouse in New Kingston, is well worth your money.

Theatre goers are not overly burdened with ‘seriousness’ as the comedic elements kick in, thanks in large part to Peter Heslop’s character. The cantankerous yet caring Stanford at times steals the spotlight as his use of ‘old time’ patois coupled with his facial expressions are as MasterCard phrased it - ‘priceless’.