Play by Lynn Nottage
Huntington Theatre Company
A co-production with La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Boston University Theatre
January 7 – February 6, 2011
Directed by Liesl Tommy
Choreography by Randy Duncan
Scenic design by Clint Ramos
With Tonye Patano (Mama Nadi),Oberon K.A. Adjepong (Christian), Pascale Armand (Salima), Jason Bowen (Fortune), Carla Duran (Sophie), Wendell Franklin (Jerome), Zainab Jah (Josephine), Joseph Kamal (Mr. Harari), Kola Ogundiran (Laurent), Okieriete Onaodowan (Simon), Adrian Roberts (Commander Osembenga), Alvin Terry (Musician 1), Adesoji Odukogbe (Musician 2).
Set amidst civil war in contemporary Congo, Ruined centers on the comings and goings in a whorehouse managed forcefully by a middle-aged woman named Mama Nadi. She has a retinue of “damaged” young women, victimized with violence and sexuality in demonstrated, and in unmentionable and unspoken, ways.
One of them tells, in a long soliloquy, the story her rape, the murder of her child, and her abduction. Indeed, her husband, who has scorned her as a result of this “disgrace,” comes looking for her, and the torment of his appearance forces the most significant climax of the play. Another young woman, Sophie (Carla Duran), has an unspoken damage that portends surgical reparation, perhaps enabled by a merciful turn of the diamond trade. And Mama Nadi and her vulnerable suitor, Christian, explore interpersonal amends in the face of their own marked – but not consistently visible – challenges of ruination. Is love possible amidst all this tragedy? The play suggests that it might be.
The play, though affecting, is written passionately but not particularly economically, both in its abundance of characters and in its narrative scheme. Though the scene of a whorehouse with varieties of soldiers and rebels coming and going suggests the need for a significant cast, the numbers seemed a bit high for what emerged. And a more focused narrative could have transformed an affecting piece into a great one.
The most successful elements of the staging were the dance numbers, beautifully choreographed by Randy Duncan. They truly conveyed a sense of the joy amidst the horrible mess. The sentimentally tinged denoument, which tried to provide some of that joy, paled by comparison.
It was a miserable evening weatherwise and the performance was delayed by half an hour to accommodate late cast arrivals. The audience was small, which portended a weak response. But, in the end, about half of the audience rose to their feet in applause.
and audience to African women living in the shadows of war.”
– Playwright Lynn Nottage on Ruined.
Certainly, this is a moving subject and a play which tells important stories. It is heartfelt and penetrating, and, given some tautening, it could convey its message even more brilliantly.
– BADMan
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