How does a sincere but preachy play that’s been making the rounds in
the U.S. and Europe since 2008 finally get to New York and become a
must-see?
Star power. And Lupita Nyong’o, whose heartbreaking work in “12 Years a
Slave” won her an Oscar, and Danai Gurira, a writer and actress now
famous as the zombie-mauling Michonne on “The Walking Dead,” deliver a
double wallop of the stuff.
Between them, they’ve made tickets for the show at the Public Theater
hard to get. But it’s worth trying, especially for Nyong’o, whose
gripping and assured work oozes emotion and anchors this production.
Like Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined,” this drama follows women in the crossfire
of African civil war. In 2003 Liberia, captive women lead bleak lives
as unofficial wives of a rebel general. They’re job is to give sex on
demand. Awful. But they’re alive. Sort of.
Amid the horror, humanity flickers. It’s there as Helena (Saycon
Sengbloh), a bossy mother hen, and Bessie (Pascale Armand), competitive
and pregnant, try to hide a 15-year-old girl (Nyong’o) from the
predatory officer. Eventually, the girl, who, unlike the others, can
read is spotted — and becomes another sex slave.
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| Nyong on stage |
Another wife is Maima (Zainab Jah), who’s no longer used for sex
because she’s become a rebel fighter. Steely and merciless as the AK-47
she totes, she kills without conscious and captures girls for the rebel.
With dreads and a deadly weapon, she’s like Michonne. And Nyong’o’s
character falls under Maima’s thrall at enormous cost.
Slices of life don’t get much bleaker. Shards of humor come through as
the girl reads from a book about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. And a
ray of hope comes with Rita (Akosua Busia), a peace worker. Too bad
Rita is so stiffly drawn and there to provide exposition and the show’s
rather abrupt ending.
Fine performances under Liesl Tommy’s sensitive direction help
compensate. And it’s fitting that last image seen is Nyong’o’s face —
harrowing and haunting as it should be.
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