ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

 Trevor D. Rhone author of Old Story Time was

born on the 24th March 1940, he was a
Jamaican writer, playwright and filmmaker. He
started his journey into the theatrical works at
the age of nine when he viewed his first play.
Rhone had a very successful career whilst
present on this planet earth, however, all of
that was brought to an abrupt end on
September 15th 2009 after he suffered a heart
attack. During his career he was able to be a
part of the renaissance of Jamaican theatre in
the early 1970s. He was a part of some major
productions such as:
 It's Not My Fault Baby (1967)
 The Gadget (1968)
 Cinderella (1969), musical
 Music Boy (1971)
 Sleeper (1972)
 Comic Strip (1973)
 Everyman (1980)
 Old Story Time (1981)
  Two Can Play (1982)
 The Game (1985)
 Family Planning Musical (1989)
 All in One (1991)
 The Power (1992)
 One Stop Driver (1992)
 Dear Counselor (1997)
 Bella’s Gate Boy (2002)
 The Harder They Come (1972)
 Smile Orange (1974)
 Top Rankin'
 Milk and Honey (1988)
 One Love (2003)
 A SUMMARY OF OLD STORY TIME.
Every mother has one thing in common which is to
seek the best of things for their child/children. This
sentence directly relates to Old Story Time where
Mama; Len’s mother only wants what’s best for him
which in her mind means that he has to study even
if he doesn’t want to in short he has to study
forcibly and as a result is isolated from the children
of the neighbourhood, thus meaning no
socialisation, as is seen in the present day society.
Nonetheless he got a scholarship to go to a
University in England. Which I imagine was a major
relief of the mothers shoulder due to their
economic status. Len then travels the world and
obtains a PhD, landing him a job in the banking
industry, in Kingston Jamaica. Besides this his
mother also has a certain frame of mind of the
people of the black race stating in her own words
that” anything black not good.” She therefore
encourages her son to court the reverends
 daughter, Margaret who is white. He made an
attempt to however accommodate his mother’s
wishes but was embarrassed, but this led him to
meeting his future wife, the dark skinned Lois,
which one could imagine was not of his mother’s
approval. Mama has the belief that Lois has worked
obeah on her son in order to keep him at her side,
however quite contrary to the fact that Lois is
indeed dedicated to Len at such an extent that she
embezzles the bank’s money in order to support
Len whilst he is away at University. She however
pays for it as she is blackmailed by her boss, George
McFarlane. Len then investigates George’s financial
activities to ascertain whether he has schemed
Mama into a housing deal. George however tries to
use her previous fraudulent activities against her; it
backfires on him sooner than later as Len uses the
same bank slip that George has kept as evidence to
support her illegal financial activities, to trap him.
The story continues with Mama working obeah on
Lois to get her out of Len’s life. She is placed into a
 prayer circle by Lois, Len and Pa Ben to ensure that
the boomerang doesn’t get to her. The story ends
where Mama recognizes her faults over the years to
Lois and apologizes for it; she is forgiven. This story
is narrated by Pa Ben who plays an important role in
keeping peace between characters. This play sends
the message of love, forgiveness and repentance to
the audiences who view it. This play also has great
ties to spirituality both good and bad.
 SETTING/ORIGIN.
The first half of the play is set in an unnamed place
in rural Jamaica. The last half of the play is set in
Kingston Jamaica. The issues within this play have
been derived from the mid-twentieth century;
1960s -1980. The village is small but has a big
school, post-office and church as well as a river.
These aspects of the setting are very important to
the way the play develops.

 MAMA’S HOUSE
-A low bench.

 PA BEN’S AREA.
-Two old wooden chairs on his verandah.
-A piece of furniture up left stage as storage for
his tobacco.
  LEN’S HOUSE/ GEORGES OFFICE IN THE BANK.
(The areas can be freely changed).
- A coffee table.
- Four wooden chairs; this serves as a sofa center
stage behind the coffee table.
- A small table and the fourth wooden chair serve
as the office furniture in George’s bank and as
part of Len’s living room.
- The piece of furniture up left on the stage and
the wooden stool serve as a bar in Len’s house.

Once properly designed these pieces of

furniture can serve as the bureau in Mama’s
house, as well as the table in Len’s house and
also the bank. The coffee table covered with
matting can serve as the low bench in Mama’s
house.
The stage can then appropriately adorned with
wooden frames and pictures of Jesus when in
apposition to Mama’s house and which can
even be Len’s house. An old curtain can also be
 hung in the middle of the frames to suggest
Mama’s poverty. Behind the curtain books,
candle-holders and a vase are revealed.
This play is based in Jamaica during the mid-
twentieth century as issues such as class and color
manifest themselves in the story.
 THEMES IN THE STORY.
 Race and class consciousness: this is
supported with Mama’s vision to marry Len to
Margaret, who is considered a high class
woman because of her straight hair and light
colored skin. Mama thinks that any thing/
person that are black is not of any good fortune.
You see she considers the “high class people” to
a very high standard in her mind especially if
they are white.
 Religion and Obeah: can be seen where
Mama has a strong belief that Lois has worked
obeah on Len to keep him, the hypocritical part
is that none of that is true Lois love Len
unconditionally, however in turn Mama works
obeah on Lois so to pull her away from Len.
There are also various allusions to God, the
bible and Christ within this book.
 Education: is of major importance to this
society as it can be used as a tool to gain
 economic and social status in society. Mama
gives Len all the support he needs when it
comes to this field as she works very hard in the
market and sacrifices a lot of amenities in order
to educate Len. She believes that doing
medicine suggest success but is disappointed to
know that Len got hid PhD in Finance but
realizes there is much more to his job than she
considers.
 Love and family relationship: This theme
can clearly be seen with Mama’s love for her
son .Mama though wanting the best for her son
can also be misguided at times. So, wanting Len
to have a house she is encouraged by George to
invest in his “real estate” scheme. She just
wants what’s best for her son or what she sees
to be the best and unfortunately becomes a
target for George's scheme. However, her
notion of what she believes is best for Len
misguides her to accepting his wife as the
person he loves. In the mental slavery of her
 past and the notion that white is superior and
black is nothing, she sees Lois as a setback to
her son, bringing him down in society. In the
end forgiveness is given and love fills their
hearts.
 Friendship: A deep one can be spotted
between Mama and Pa ben. Every relationship
has ups and downs for example when Mama
found out that Pa Ben knew of the marriage
between her son and Lois , there was some
conflict however all is resolved putting a test to
the friendship.
 About the Characters.
 PA BEN: He is the narrator and storyteller
within this story. He keeps peace between
Mama and Len and also keeps the
communication lines between Lois, Len and
Mama open.