NEARLY four decades after it was first mounted at the Barn Theatre in the Corporate Area, the play Night Work made its comeback on the local theatre scene.

Written by veteran writer and actor Hugh King, Night Work opened at The Theatre Place in New Kingston yesterday and is directed by Pablo Hoilett. It stars King, Zandriann Maye, and Grace Ann Watson.

King had taken what he refers to as a journey directed by the Holy Spirit, which saw him living in isolation and seclusion in the hills of rural Jamaica for the past two decades. Once he was back in the ‘land of the living’, King was contacted by Hoilett.

“It was the work of the Holy Spirit. I was told to go down from the mountains and tell the people,” King told the Jamaica Observer last evening.

“Pablo got in touch with me, and told me that his wife suggested that he make contact and get the script for Night Work so it could be remounted.”

Finding a script was another hurdle.

During his years in isolation King had parted ways with his material and, therefore, the hunt was on to find a copy of the work first staged in 1978. Hoilett made contact with with past cast members, the likes of radio personality and actress Rosie Murray. After a week of searching he came up blank.

“Once I realised a script was nowhere to be found, I told Pablo that I had writted it before and I will simply do it again. I gathered my pencil and paper and after a week, I presented the handwritten script to Pablo. It took three days of typing to complete the manuscript, after which Pablo and I edited over the phone. What you have is a production that is 95 per cent close to the original. The whole thing, plot, sub-plot and counterplot all just came flowing back to me,” said King.

He notes that persons who saw the original in ’78 and the remount in 1983 will not be disappointed, as his new audience will be drawn into what he calls “a compelling story”.

For King, it was a rush of emotions seeing his work back on a local stage.

“It was extremely moving for me seeing the work come to life again. I have a cast that gives more than expected; I am just fascinated. Plus, for me, going back on stage was a little frightening. My last 20 years have been a solitary existence so I hardly spoke. I really had no voice, and during the rehearsals I became hoarse easily,” he said.

Night Work is a Pygmalion/My Fair Lady story which tells the story, of a university sociology professor who finds a prostitute and is intent to make a lady of her. Past staging have seen the likes of Rosie Murray, Charmaine Hemmings, Val Morris and the late Travis Spence.

The play is set to run at the Theatre Place for the month of May before hitting the road during June.

King is perhaps best known for his role in Body Moves, another of his productions from the 1980s, which was made into a film and also starred Rosie Murray and Ronald Goshop.