Daren A. Herbert, Tony Ofori, Jamie Robinson & danjelani ellis in Moonlight Schooner | Photo by Dahlia Katz
I was seated directly behind playwright Kanika Ambrose at her second play opening this season. I’m a stickler for the right timing, so I never got my ideal chance to fan-boy out like I wanted to. I’ll just admit it here: I’m so fully invested in her craft and find her work consistently compelling. Her writing is well observed, capturing the rhythms and ethos of her characters and the communities they inhabit. I fully believe each of these people and care for them deeply too.
A Necessary Angel Theatre Company production, presented in association with Canadian Stage and Tarragon Theatre, Moonlight Schooner is the sort of human snapshot that Ambrose’ excels at. Echoing The Tempest, we open dramatically on a violent storm where a handful of Black sailors are tossed about and stranded on a Caribbean island. Set on May Day in the late 1950s, we witness these men find conflict and camaraderie as they negotiate their sense of purpose and personal dignity amidst the ravages of colonialism.
Furthering the lyrical ties to Shakespeare, the eldest amongst the men, Shabine (Jamie Robinson), a former smuggler with wife and children back home, is something of a scribe, writing down his reflections in poetic asides that establish a melancholic through-line. His temperamental polar opposite, Timothy (Daren A. Herbert), is a cocky hot-head—fluctuating dynamically between an understated generosity of spirit and reckless abandon.
The two younger men flounder between the two extremes. Lyle (Tony Ofori) is still living with his very proper mother, Janine (Nehassaiu deGannes), on a plot of land they own, though he longs for adventure. He has invited these shipwrecked sailors into their home, much to his mother’s chagrin. The youngest, Vincy (danjelani ellis), is the most impressionable, an exuberant bundle of pent-up, still-developing ideas of masculinity, whom we first meet in an absolutely abject state—hungover and heaving violently into a bucket.
Alcohol is one of several distractions from their uncertain prospects for a satisfying life. Their urgency is palpable as they embark upon a wild night on the town—full of drink, music, and a beautiful young woman they each gaze upon longingly in the moonlight. As they peacock at her in their own way, we understand how they want to see themselves.
This unseen woman, essentially a girl, plays a rather large part in our imaginations as a torrid evening progresses through to morning. My hackles were raised early by some ominous foreshadowing during their car ride home and my anxiety peaked as the episode played out. Ambrose elliptical dialogue dances elegantly around the ghastly implications as Sabine’s guilty conscience and sense of decency clashes with the other men’s appetites and entitlement—an ugly reality forged through oppressive circumstances and the subsequent resentment.
Ambrose slips a little into a contrived device towards the end here, within the established conventions of this play anyway, where Janine speaks directly to this imagined young woman. It feels rather stagey, though their mutual desperation is effectively conveyed and deGannes sells the pathos of this mannered woman whose eccentric formality has been amusing up until this awful point.
Director Sabryn Rock’s production is an assured balance of fanciful style and naturalistic performances. I appreciated the graceful way the men fall into formation to behold the object of their lustful affections or bobble along in their mimed car rides. Shannon Lea Doyle’s set is deceptively crude with vaguely nautical elements and evoking a coastal atmosphere.
Herbert, Ofori and ellis play supporting roles as well. Herbert paints a funny and touching portrait of Shabine’s wife. Ofori’s turn as a local shopkeeper is also colourful and amusing. Each portrays these women authentically, without any campy, tongue-in-cheek self-awareness. They both also shine as a pair of crooners in a club, where the playful lyrics of their songs poke at some of the story’s concerns.
Des’ree Gray’s costumes work beautifully in tandem with Ambrose colloquial dialogue and the gorgeous Caribbean dialect. In addition to being an insightful story and persuasive rendering of history, Moonlight Schooner is a whole vibe. Amidst the more joyful moments of their fraught alliance, these guys have some dark, exasperating moments together, and I loved them through it all.
Moonlight Schooner
November 21 to December 14, 2025
Berkeley Street Theatre
(26 Berkeley Street)
1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Nehassaiu deGannes & Tony Ofori in Moonlight Schooner | Photo by Dahlia Katz