Marcia Fearon as Gloria and Raidge as Jim have developed a complex scheme to leave Jamaica and come to America in Two Can Play at Providence Black Repertory Company through Nov. 11.

John Deputy

The lure of life in America has Jamaicans Jim and Gloria packing their bags. But emigration plans result in some interesting wrinkles in their relationship.

That basically sums up Two Can Play, the Trevor Rhone play now at Providence Black Repertory Company, a show that has its amusing moments but is pretty lightweight.

It’s not that Jim and Gloria aren’t likeable characters, it’s just a little hard to sustain much interest in their predicament. The play opens with the couple lying in bed in their small house in Kingston, as gun fire crackles outside. Jim, played by Black Rep veteran Raidge, is freaked out, and popping Valium as he tries to get a grip.

Their two children have already moved to America and Jim and Gloria are now thinking about joining them. But how to go about it?

That’s when they come up with a convoluted plan to divorce, marry Gloria off to an American, then remarry after Gloria becomes legal and divorces her new husband. The thing is, she’s not willing to take Jim back without some changes in their relationship.

But it’s not until the end of the play that things become interesting, that the couple begins to confront some of their marital issues. The first half of the play is all about set up, all about planning to move. And that’s about as enthralling as a limp TV sitcom.

On the other hand, we get to know Jim and Gloria pretty well. Rhone, the Jamaican playwright who wrote the screenplay for the 1973 film The Harder They Come, has a nice feel for the vicissitudes of married life, with the ups and downs of a relationship. And that tends to make up for the thin story line.

Then there are convincing showings from the two-member cast, Raidge, the sometimes Hip-hop artist, and Jamaican-born Marcia Fearon, who, of course, has the island accent down cold. Raidge and Fearon enjoy a relationship of well-worn grooves. They seem like veterans of the marriage wars, exasperated at times, but always able to forgive and move on. Or so we are left to believe.

The play is not real clear about what’s in the future for this couple. We are only privy to their desire for a new life, but never learn what happens to them. When someone comes looking to buy their home, Jim shoos that person away, saying it’s no longer for sale. Could it be that they’ll stay in Kingston, where by the end of the play things seem much rosier? The gun play of the first act (what was that about?) has ceased at this point, and Jim and Gloria seem tuned to the same wave length. But one never knows.

As a Jamaican, Rhone has an interest in indigenous theater and home-bred characters. But there is a lot about this play that speaks to couples everywhere. It’s just that as theater it’s kind of flimsy.

Two Can Play runs through Nov. 11 at the Providence Black Repertory Company, 276 Westminster St. Tickets are $20, $10 for students and seniors. Call (401) 621-6123 or log onto www.arttixri.com.

cgray@projo.com