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Over the years, through his work as creative director at Excelsior Community College and at his production house, Stages Production, Orville Hall has directed and participated in many award-winning dance and dramatic presentations. However, one could safely bet good money on the fact that one of his most memorable roles occurred recently when he was handed a beer by a nine-foot bear.
Hall, 43, and the beautiful Kerie-Ann Lewis, more popularly known as Kiki, play major roles in the latest Red Stripe advertisement that features the nine-foot bear, the star of the company's RED campaign that has had tongues wagging locally.
"We're very pleased with the level of disruption that the new Red Stripe campaign has created. Now that Red Stripe has introduced the character of 'Red' the story will continue to evolve; and the latest instalment featuring Orville and Kiki suggests we will keep people guessing what happens next."
In the commercial, Hall plays a husband coming home exhausted from work to find his wife, Kiki, family and guests, and he goes to get a beer from the fridge. As he opens the fridge, a giant beer hands him a cold one, and as he realises what is happening, falls into a state of disbelief and eventual horror.
Hall has high hopes for the ad, which he characterises as being of high-quality and, more important, funny. "The humour element is great. I went to do a voicing and I had two of my dancers with me, and when they saw it, on seeing my reaction to being handed a beer by the bear, they laughed," he said.
Kiki also enjoyed the real-life surprise and the resulting humour while shooting the ad. "It was kind of like a last-minute thing from the audition process to landing the role. So when I got on set I still really didn't know fully what was entailed, so it was like midway through the commercial shoot that Orville said to me 'Do you know that a bear just handed me a beer?' I was like, 'A what did what'?" she said laughing.
Hall explained that the producers actually had a nine-foot fridge constructed and had dry ice inside, along with the giant mechanical bear. "I am excited about the campaign," said Hall, who has written several plays, directed music videos, and is currently scripting a production aimed at educating youngsters about our national heroes. He explained that he is very happy to see that the high quality of production and creativity demonstrates what is possible here in Jamaica.
Kiki, a producer at RE TV, believes the Red Stripe campaign shows that people are thinking outside the box here in Jamaica. "We're really appreciative of the creativity behind this campaign," she said. "I feel very honoured to be a part of this. I am so very impressed with the campaign that I feel, in Jamaican terms, 'It shot'.
In the meantime, both personalities are busy working on other projects, efforts aimed at rescuing the nation's children. Hall is currently scripting his latest project called Sam Sharpe: Freedom Fighter, a collection of dances and poems aimed at educating youngsters about Jamaica's national heroes. Hall feels that too many of the nation's youth have lost that connection with the country's rich cultural history and its heroes. "That's exactly why I am doing this," he said.
Last year, via his Theatre Expressions, Hall, who spent more than a decade at EXED, produced a similar project about Nanny, and saw the benefits of using dance and poetry to educate the youth. The production not only teaches about the national heroes, but also brings to light the evolution of Jamaican music and the role the people of the inner-city play in how the music has evolved.
Kiki has been focused on her Abstinence campaign, spreading the word through the RE TV School Tour. She is also a strong advocate of doing more to empower personal development of the nation's children. "We have to add more to the curriculum, it can't be all focused on scholastics and we're not focusing on building confidence, and our kids not knowing what they want after they finish school."
