10 – 11 June

If a funky reggae party is your thing, then beg, steal or borrow one of only twenty tickets left for tonight’s performance of Rush at the Bristol Old Vic. For a full-on celebration of Jamaican musical heritage you won’t find better – this is a glorious pageant of ska and reggae hits played by the impeccable JA Reggae Band, underpinned by a truthful but witty political whistle-stop narration of the island’s history.

Rush – A Glorious Jamaican Journey, to give the production its full name, lived up to its title. After a pulsating opening overture that left the audience on a high with Bob Marley’s Jammin, former Teletubby narrator John Simmit took us back to a time when the indigenous Arawak people lived in tranquillity on the island until their ‘uninvited guest’ Christopher Columbus turned up in 1494 and claimed it for Spain, turning the place over to slavery before the British took over in 1655 and ruled for over 300 years.

The night would be punctuated throughout with key moments in what Simmit made clear was a ‘shared history’ with Britain: from the Maroon mutinies of 1729 and 1795; a contested end to slavery in 1834; the Morant Bay rebellion led by activist Paul Bogle in 1865 to the answered call for ‘invited’ immigrants after the war to help staff the NHS and public transport, with many arriving on the Empire Windrush in 1948; to the race riots of 1958 and the birth of the Notting Hill Carnival; the Race Relations act of 1965; Enoch Powell’s River of Blood speech in 1968 and the growth of the National Front in the 1980’s; and on till the final government loan compensation scheme to former slave owners was finally paid off in 2015. Extraordinary individuals such as activist Claudia Jones and RADA student Louise Bennett were celebrated along the way.

Despite the countless setbacks, the racist attacks and discrimination endured by West Indian communities in Britain, Jamaican music flourished both as an outlet for protest and an affirmation of shared humanity. Simmit was there to take us through the development of the Jamaican catalogue as it grew from early ska to Rock Steady, Dancehall and Lovers Rock, later dub and Hip Hop while referencing its roots to gospel music. On stage, the JA Reggae Band with its eye-popping pedigree of musicians paraded a sizzling sampler of hits, while a mixed audience, black/white, old/young was absolutely up for it – there was dancing and swaying in the aisles and galleries while choruses were joined with relish.

And to add to Simmit’s dialogue, we had DJ Ken McLean our DJ and backing singer for the night – a bean pole of a man wearing a black Zorro hat, shades and a tailed conductor’s three-piece suit around which his long dreads swung about like whipping tails. His spring-loaded long arms and legs pumped all night like a demented daddy long legs as he set the place ablaze dropping tunes, working the decks that sat atop a seventies gramophone cabinet, a key component of West Indian UK domestic culture, complete with its lit drinks compartment, pineapple ice bucket and glass fish! As a ‘hype’ man, you won’t find better than McLean!

Our singers for the night, the fabulous, gold-bedecked Janice Williamson and the smart-suited Daniel Bowen-Smith got us underway with John Holt’s I’d Love You to Want Me, while the show was signed stage-right by Cherie, whose expressive manual articulations added greatly to the literal meaning of the words. There followed a glittering back catalogue: I’m In The Mood For Love with a heartfelt sax solo from Anne Tinsley; The Skatalites Ska Ska Ska; Jimmy Cliff’s Miss Jamaica; Millie’s My Boy Lollipop; Bob & Marcia’s Young, Gifted and Black; Desmond Dekker’s 007 and The Israelites; Eric Donaldson’s Cherry Oh Baby; Boney M’s Brown Girl in the Ring; Toots’ Monkey Man leading ever onwards to a stirring version of Marley’s One Love.

While this Jamaican musical journey will put the smile back on your face, its political legacy is a story that will continue to resonate as the first planes taking refugees to Rwanda begin to taxi on the runway. If you don’t manage to get a ticket for tonight, check out the Rush Theatre website for other tour venues – this is unmissable!

★★★★★  Simon Bishop  11th June 2022