'Ruined' an extraordinary story of women, war and resiliance

November 21, 12:54 AMChicago Theatre Review ExaminerCatey Sullivan

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Chicago Theatre Review Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

    Think of something that’s ruined and you think of a pair of socks. A dress botched by the cleaners, a garden party spoiled by rain. Here in the U.S. of A., you don’t usually think of ‘ruined’ in terms of people. But as Lynne Nottage’s new drama makes absolutely unforgettable, “ruined” is also something that happens with horrifying frequency to women in Africa.
   In “Ruined,” we get composite yet intensely personalized snapshots of tens of thousands of women – females as young as 3 and as old as 93 who have been, gang raped, violated with bayonets, blocks of wood, gun barrels and broken bottles. If they’re lucky, they survive. If they’re really lucky, they make it to a doctor who can fit them with a colostomy bag.
   The physical aftermath of brutality – excruciatingly painful tearing, sterility, the loss of control over bodily functions – is only part of a ruined woman’s trauma. Survivors are routinely cast out of their communities and disowned by their relatives for bringing shame on themselves and their villages.
   As a lecture or a symposium, the issues Nottage broaches in “Ruined” would be urgent and riveting. As a drama, they are galvanizing. Under the acutely intelligent and compassionate direction of Kate Whoriskey, the cast doesn’t offer representations of a problem – they become human beings whose stories sweep you up and leave you breathless.
   And while it may seem that “Ruined” must be a grim portrait of the ugliest facets humanity has to offer, the piece is rich with humor, hope, and even love. It’s difficult to overstate what “Ruined” accomplishes. It is a play with a message, one as strong as they come, yet it is also a wholly engrossing piece of storytelling. It immerses you in the worst humans can do, and lets you out the other side inspired and hopeful.
“Ruined” is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a brothel where rebels, freedom fighters, businessmen, terrorists and miners (it’s often impossible to tell them apart) come to escape the seemingly futile civil war.
Mama Nadi (Saidah Arrika Ekulona), the tough-as-nails owner of the brothel, makes the men leave their bullets behind the bar as she dispenses beer, food and women. Survival is her only art, and she’s damn good at it even in a slippery war that is “everybody’s and nobody’s.”
    “The man I shake hands with in the morning is my enemy in the evening,” laments Mr. Harari (Tom Mardirosian), a businessman and brothel regular. Sooner or later, choosing sides will mean more than a profitable business. It will mean picking who gets to rape you first.
   “Ruined” is extraordinary throughout, capturing the evil that emerges from the Congo’s chaos and the battered souls – be they labeled terrorist or whore – all but destroyed by it.
   Yet there are two scenes that stand out as surely among the most powerful and evocative to grace a Chicago stage this year. The first comes at the top of the second act. Mama Nadi’s is full of gorgeous music, sung by Sophie (a soulful, luminous Condola Phyleia Rashad) - a ruined woman Mama Nadi agreed to take in for a handful of francs and box of imported chocolates. As the music gets louder and faster, Josephine (Cherise Boothe), the daughter of a tribal king whose village was destroyed and family murdered, unleashes a dance of unbelievable ferocity. It’s a staggering performance of anger beyond the realms of rage, of joy at being alive and of marrow-deep defiance that despite everything, this is a woman who will survive.
   The second pivotal scene comes with a monologue. Salima (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), another of Mama Nadi’s employees, describes the events that ended her life as a blissful new mother and the loving wife of a farmer. Bernstine makes the tale both difficult to listen to and impossible to tune out. One suspects the passage came from the many interviews Nottage and Whoriskey did while interviewing women in Rwandan refugee camps several years ago. Surely, no one could think of anything this terrifying, this inhumane on her own.
   “The life you remember, that you are so fond if, it’s vapor,” Sophie tells Salima, “Don’t cry. We make ourselves pretty,”
And with that, the women go back to work.
   It would be a grave disservice to paint “Ruined” as a portrait of horrors; it is so very far from that. Despite everything, it is an affirmation of life.
   There are moments of sublime tenderness, and profound, inspiring decency. It may not be traditional holiday fare. But from the darkness of “Ruined,” everything that is noble, loving and resilient about human beings shines as bright as that fabled star in the east. 
 

“Ruined” continues through Dec. 14 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $10 - $35. For more information, call 312/443-3800 or go to www.goodmantheatre.org or click here 

The Goodman has devoted a place on its website to helping organizations that administer care and compassion to women in need in the Chicago area. Click here   for more information.

Photos by Liz Lauren

Top: Condola Phyleia Rashad

Bottom: Saidah Arrika Ekulona