I am tempted to joke that the glowing, intelligent reviews of Lynn Nottage's 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning drama, "Ruined" nearly ruined the experience for me. No disrespect is meant. It is that their explication of the plot/the script nearly discouraged me from going. From what I'd read I didn't think that I could face the play in a room full of other people. My timidity about sexual violence depiction might have kept me away the way it keeps me out of movie theaters. Others I spoke to likewise expressed uneasiness about "putting themselves through it.” I'm so glad I went. My understanding of the world and of myself has broadened. The greatness of the play for me, however, is the specificity. This is a particular place in a complex, particular time and place -- the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The character of Mama Nadi, the central protagonist of “Ruined” may become a tour de force part for African and African-American actresses. Portia owns it right now. This is, happily, Mama Nadi’s play just as it is Mama Nadi’s bar-bordello. With frightening clarity Mama Nadi asserts her claim to this spot in the Ituri Rainforest and asserts herself in the drama. She is the hub of the play and it is around her that the other spokes will revolve. Portia is truly wonderful. She is in full, glorious charge of the part. An accurate measure of the progress through growth and understanding for a character and for a performance is perhaps the measure of the progress of one's feelings about the character and the performance. I began with feelings toward Mama Nadi that developed, changed, were challenged, redirected and resolved.
Because I am mature enough to know that the self-assurance and authority she shows in the first act is hard won, I am not surprised by the beats that unfold in the play's climax. Every turn seems the right one -- no falseness. In fact, I was listening for lofty words and I never heard them. I heard real words -- real, beautiful expression of the deep feelings of the characters, as well as, clear, unequivocal language about events in their lives. The performance of Russell G. Jones as Christian is unforgettable. His wonderfully expressive face opens a window to his character’s tenacity, his constancy, his humor and his unabashed hopefulness. He helps us toward the finely crafted denouement. All of the cast are skilled in the use of humor. There is never too much of it. There is pathos in the life tales of the women of Mama Nadi's and there is a passage - an emotional -- transition for each which is neither ham-handed nor formulaic. The individual talents of Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Salima, Cherise Boothe as Josephine and Condola Rashad as Sophie ably embellish a well written, well directed production.
Cherise Boothe's dances incorporate myriad elements of what I think of as Africanesque, tribalesque dance and the movements of pornographic enticement that we generally refer to as gyrations. In her climactic moment she appears to become a gyroscope -- her arms and legs spinning around a seemingly unstable axis. If there is a flaw in "Ruined" it is that Josephine is not given her full moment of self-awareness.
Quincy Tyler Bernstine's Salima put me in mind of a kind of cabbage flower -- a low-growing ornamental that opens as it grows to reveal a larger, more colorful, more nuanced head. The revelation of her victimization is squeezed out gently and, by the time of her climactic event, we have seen and felt her move to the center of the drama.
Condola Rashad's portrayal of the physical mutilation of Sophie feels right. There are surprises in this character, too. She is not a "one note" victim. Her performance is contrapuntal and harmonious and more lovely than you expect. Rashad's singing is wonderful and, as with the dancing, is integral to the drama.
The original music by Dominic Kanza was a particular delight. The guitar performance of Simon Shabantu Kashama was scintillating and comforting. Director, Kate Whoriskey, as with all of the theatrical/interpretive elements, employs music expertly-- using it to help us relax into the text, provide accompaniment to the action, but not overwhelm or distract. The set was great and the lights were crisp and purposeful.
In “Ruined,” the sheroism is in the specificity. I heard such in the testimonies of Women from the Democratic Republic of Congo who spoke at the tribunals of the Center For Women's Global Leadership at the World Conference Against Race held in Durban, South Africa in August 2001. Women, women, women from around the world spoke of their own and their sisters' rape, mutilation, torture, abuse, neglect, incarceration, discrimination and vulnerability to disease and famine. This play is a special tribute to the women from the Congo who shared their stories.
On the way to Manhattan Theater Club for “Ruined” I had a good dinner at Zuni: New American Cuisine at 598 9th Avenue at 43rd St. in Manhattan. Nice ambience, pleasant service and good food. I had the cornmeal chicken breast with collard greens and sweet potatoes. I give this spot four tourmalines.****
---Tourmaline
