In her previous works, Lynn Nottage depicted the life of African-American women in the blinding lights of the big city. However, the Brooklyn playwright recreates in “Ruined” the bitter atmosphere of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the gruesome attacks women had to bear during the blood-spattered African civil war.
The characters portrayed in the play that opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club as a co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre are mere stage representations of real-life personas who endured numerous rapes and beatings by government soldiers. Beside physical mistreatments and abuses, these women also suffered psychological assaults that would leave their minds scarred as well.
The drama concentrates on Mama Nadi (Saidah Arrika Ekulona), the wary owner of a rainforest brothel-house, where anybody can benefit from a glass of scotch and a beautiful woman in exchange of… cash. In spite of the fact that Mama has a multihued spirit that matches her style, she is very precautious and avoids taking sides.
When a chivalrous salesman-poet (Russell Gebert Jones) brings Mama two more women, Sophie (Condola Rashad), an intelligent and good-looking 18-year-old girl who has been sexually “ruined,” and Salima (Quincy Tyler Bernstin), things begin to take a different turn at the whorehouse, helping us penetrate into the fragrant world of the women.
Despite the grave tone that dominates the play at first, Nottage’s characters don’t embrace wretchedness. In effect, the show displays an optimistic tone every now and then, avoiding to load the audience with desolate approaches.
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