By Carol Davis
LA JOLLA, California –There are some things we like to sweep under the rug because they are too painful to grasp, understand, think about or are just out of whack with our sense of right and wrong. Take for example what’s going on in Darfur, or Liberia (read Danai Gurira’s play Eclipsed reviewed last year) and now in the Democratic Republic of Congo as witnessed in Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Ruined, currently in a stunning and broad staging at The La Jolla Playhouse as directed by Liesl Tommy. (It is co produced with the Huntington Theatre Company and Berkley Repertory Theatre.)
When Sherman said ‘War is hell’ way back in theU.S. Civil War he couldn’t even have imagined what it would look like in the 21st century. Warring factions in the Congo fighting over animal, vegetable and mineral rights that don’t hesitate to take women down with them is the currency of the day in their civil conflict. It’s not that they kill them outright; they just gang rape them and leave them for dead or ‘ruined’ for life.
Take for example the young and vulnerable Sophie (Carla Duren) who was working out in her garden when she was brutalized over a five-month period and then mutilated with a bayonet so badly that she walked with a limp when she was brought into Mama Nadi’s (Tonye Patano) refuge or safe whore house and bar. It is here also that other survivors Salima (Pascale Armand) and Josephine (Zainab Jah) are being kept ‘safe’ from the animals in the jungle.
That doesn’t mean to say though that Mama Nadi the Mother Courage figure doesn’t have her own set of rules and pecking order for the girls and her customers. One of them being that when the warring soldiers enter her brothel they have to empty weapons and show their money. The other is that she gets to pick which of the girls will become the play object for the men.
In the meantime she fends off all advances toward her by the romantic and dubious courting of Christian (Oberon K.A. Adjepong) for reasons unbeknownst until the final scenes. In them one can feel the hope of life coming back to both only through the tears and anguish of what was.
Soldiers come and soldiers go filling up the colorful spaces of Clint Ramos’s panoramic set that focuses on the brothel and bar surrounded by plush jungle growth, all pretending to be king of the hill and/or looking for something or someone.
Often it was hard to tell the difference the between the warring factions of Commander Osembenga (Adrian Roberts) and his men and the rebel leader Jerome Kisembe (Wendell B. Franklin) and his men. All including Salina’s persistent and demanding husband, Fortune, (Jason Bowen) are excellent.
They come for their daily dose of information, drink and women. We the onlookers are led into believing that their lives are normal by the every day occurrences we see. Only when violence suddenly does break out and becomes invasive and violent again as the girls fight back not to be the next victim, are we jarred back to their reality. Through it all we do learn something about each and of how they came to be at Mama Nadi’s.
Playwright Lynn Nottage traveled to East Africa and interviewed Congolese women who were more than willing to tell their story. It is against this background that we learn more about some of the horror stories and the hope Nottage found in their attitudes. In her words “My play is not about victims but survivors.” Not an easy task this, since over 200,000 females have been reported raped in the last decade, according to director Tommy’s notes.
The production at the Playhouse is everything one can want to see and feel in this Pulitzer Prize winning play including drama, humor, original music (setting the tone by Broken Chord live on the stage sung and danced with deep conviction by the women), enough tension to keep us in suspense and just enough lightness to let it go.
Carla Duren’s Sophie is especially effective with her beautiful voice. Jah’s Josephine rattles everyone out of their sense when she dances out of control, letting the dance speak the words she cannot say, only to stopped by Mama. No words could have taken its place. Duran’s Salima is another study in excellence. Hers is a quiet buildup to unpleasant actions that follow. With her husband in hot pursuit and she damaged goods and pregnant, nothing good follows.
Others include Tonye Patano’s bigger than life Mama Nadi who sets the terms, protects her wards and keeps peace between the differing factors about as long as she can manage. The scenes that build between her and Christian are as charming as is Adlepong’s presence. He is easygoing with a twinkle and a smile ready to please. Both are damaged goods ready for a new beginning, if it’s out there.
Kathleen Geldard’s costumes are right on target; Lap Cui Chu’s lighting most effective and Steve Rankin’s flight design makes every move look so natural.
“Ruined” is one production that falls in the must-see category.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: November 21st –December 19th
Organization: La Jolla Playhouse
Phone: 858-550-1010
Production Type: Drama
Where: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla CA 92037
Ticket Prices: $31.00-$66.00
Web: lajollaplayhouse.org
Venue: Mandell Weiss Theatre