Haiti is not known as a land of riches, but there is a high value placed on its traditions of storytelling. The Last Tiger in Haiti is an attempt to capture that richness on stage, with evocations of Haitian-style storytelling eventually superseded by a tale of misused memories that co-opt actual lives. It's an intriguing dynamic set up by playwright Jeff Augustin, a Miami native of Haitian descent, but the results are often unfulfilling in ways that are curiously different in each act.
The first act is set in a shack in Port-au-Prince where five youngsters live in a kind of indentured servitude to a comparatively prosperous family, farmed out by their own parents because of desperation, neglect, or wishful thinking that a better life is available. They are restavecs, part of a Haitian practice this is now outlawed but still widely in use, and these boys and girls of different ages and backgrounds form an uneasy family in which communal storytelling is the one activity that can quiet the ongoing wrangling.
It's pretty much a slice-of-life rendering, with bits and pieces of each character's stories revealed along the way. The most vivid of the characters are the youngest and oldest, as 11-year-old Rose clings to 18-year-old Max as a surrogate parent, a role he appears to embrace even as the approaching day of his emancipation remains his main focus. Max is also the master storyteller, calling out the requisite "Krik?" that requires "Krak" from the listeners before the story can begin.
But not even the centerpiece story about a metaphorical encounter with a tiger is particularly compelling, and the surrounding dialogue is only mildly flavorful. The adolescents are played by adults, and while Clinton Roane, Jasmine St. Clair, Reggie D. White, and, especially, Andy Lucien as the determined Max are fine, only Brittany Bellizeare as little Rose is convincing as a youngster.
Unfortunately, Bellizeare is not so convincing as the grownup version of the character, not able to temper the glibness that the playwright takes beyond the bounds of a credible character. Rose now lives in a luxury high-rise condo on Miami Beach, a celebrated author thanks to her memoirs of her life in Haiti as a restavec, and who is having her first reunion with Max after a decade. She expects him to be happy since she made him the hero of her book, but Max delivers a twist that upends much of what we thought is true. Lucien is particularly powerful in these confrontations, although he maintains an accent that can be a challenge to decipher.
Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody with a focus that can be fuzzy especially in the first act, the production is a shared world premiere with La Jolla Playhouse, where it opened in July. Since then, Haiti has had yet another calamity befall it, Hurricane Matthew, and it would be nice to report that The Last Tiger in Haiti offers a glimmer in the saga of this hard-luck country. But it's just not the case.
The Last Tiger in Haiti will run through Nov. 27 at Berkeley Rep. Tickets are $29-$97. Call (510) 647-2949 or go to berkeleyrep.org.