kapRUINED

“Ruined” was a heart wrenching play about the abuse of women’s bodies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The play itself was very gripping because Lynn Nottage wrote it to inspire someone to help women in Africa from the shock of these atrocities. By the end of the play, one of the main characters was dead, Mr. Harari had stolen a very valuable diamond from Mama Nadi, and Sophie was raped again. But throughout the terrible ordeal, love still blossomed between Mama Nadi and Christian. The main idea was the usage of women’s bodies as war grounds by soldiers in the War of the Congo. The soldiers would capture women, bind them like animals, and rape them over and over for months. When they return to their homes, they are shunned like they had chosen that life. No woman ever chooses to be raped. If a woman was mutilated during this time, she is “ruined.” In the play we follow two women who have been ruined, hence the name of the play, and two women who were raped repeatedly. The main set included a bird cage, which was inherited by Mama Nadi when its owner died. The bird represents all of the women in the whorehouse. They were disowned by their families and are now forced to be prostitutes just to be safe, like they are caged in Mama Nadi’s brothel. Love is another theme: the love between Salima and Beatrice, her daughter, the supposed love between Fortune and Salima, and the love between Christian and Mama Nadi. The first two had their loves taken from them, but we are given hope for Mama Nadi. We are also given hope that Christian will help Mama turn her brothel into a store, so the women will not have to exploit their bodies to make a living anymore.

The stage was not very elaborate, but it was effective. The main set consisted of two tables made of wood-- one brown with one leg in the center and one painted gray with four legs-- a bar made of wood painted a dark brown with two wooden barstools, a platform at the back, and a birdcage covered with a bright yellow sheet all with a black backdrop. The bar was stocked with empty glasses, empty beer bottle, cigarettes, and fake liquor which the audience could not see but they were brought out to make it look like a real bar. They also pretended to smoke on stage and play Mancala to add to the effect. Sophie preformed on the platform when there were customers, but rarely mingled with them. The birdcage was an interesting addition because it is only referred to a couple of times, but it had literary significance in representing the women’s feelings. The other set which was the “back” of Mama Nadi’s place was just three beds made of crates with blankets over them and pillows. To portray the path leading to Mama’s place, the actors used the stairs to the left of the audience and there was a door frame to “enter” the stage. The audience could then see what was going on inside and outside of the whorehouse at once—like when Fortune was waiting for Salima, which had serious ramifications when he saw the rebel leader leave Mama’s place and then told Commander Osembenga. There was one set that consisted of a gray bench, maybe outside. This was the simplest stage setup in the play but it housed one of the more dramatic scenes. Outside on the bench Salima told Sophie the story of how her baby was murdered and she was captured, raped, and bound for five months only to be turned away by her family after this trauma. Not having a lot of scenery added to the play, because there was nothing to distract the audience from the action.

The costumes were supposed to be present day Congo or at least near past Congo. With the budget the costumes were representative of the people wearing them and the times at which they wear them. The daytime costumes for the girls in the brothel were a black or white shirt and a patterned sheet turned into a skirt. Mama’s daytime clothes were a long tunic and a long skirt made of oranges, light reds, and yellows with her hair swept back into a clip. Their nighttime clothes were less traditional. The girls wore sun dresses like ones seen around a college campus on a sunny day, and Josephine wore a tight miniskirt and a tank top. Josephine is portrayed as the most successful prostitute, which is why she has a more alluring costume. Mama Nadi wore a pretty shirt and skirt combination with a tighter top than earlier in the day but still not revealing. The shirt had a straight neck with three-quarter length sleeves and a skirt that was straight then flared out again both of which were white with blue dots and blue accents. The audience always knew when it was night and the main business was happening based on their clothes. During the day when Mama was wearing warm colors, she had more of an attitude and emanated the power of a strong, independent woman. At night when she was in a cool color, she was more docile in order to appease the costumers, even if she was not happy about it. Also, whenever the rebels were in the brothel, Mama would always wear a red bandana around her head to show support then quickly hide it when government officers came in. Christian was wearing a ratty suit with brown jacket, green shirt, and tan pants for most of the play. At the end he comes back with a white suit and a nice tan shirt to ask Mama to be his wife. She was also wearing a nice new outfit of creams and oranges. The nice outfits in this scene show that there was still hope for a future-- that everything was not decaying. Most of the men wore military outfits: the rebels were wearing a black shirt and pants with red bandanas and government based soldiers wore camouflage. Mr. Harari wore a nice shirt to show his social status of a rich white man just looking for a good time away from his family. The lighting in “Ruined” definitely helped the play’s effectiveness. When an actor was on the stairs, a light shone on that person to make sure the audience knew something was going on. I would never have looked in that direction if the lights had not told me to keep looking. Most of the lights were white, but the backdrop was black so it was still a contrast. The only time there were colored lights was when Fortune was outside with Mama Nadi and then the Commander and the lights simulated rain through spotty blue lights. It was not too much light to overpower the scene. My favorite lighting moments were right after the big fight between Mama and Christian when all the lights faded except for one spot light on Mama that faded at a slower pace to show the pain that had formed on Mama’s face. The same effect happened at the end of play, but this time on Mama and Christian holding each other instilling hope for the women. However, if the lighting crew had done this at any other point in the play or more than two times, it would have detracted from the effectiveness of the play. The audience cannot feel intense emotion after every scene in the play or else everyone would be numb by the end and would not feel the appropriate sadness. In between scenes, the music or sound effects indicated what was to be expected in the next scene. During the play, Sophie and Mazima performed a song that had a catchy tune with an acoustic guitar and bongos while Sophie sang. If the next scene was mainly about the girls in the whorehouse, the music in between the scenes was the song performed during play but without words. If the next scene was about the war, the sounds of gun shots would be played. The gun shot sounds increased at the play went on, because the fighting was getting closer to Mama’s house. In general, the acting was very good and they all seemed to master their accents. Adetinpo Thomas as Mama Nadi portrayed her character as forceful with a soft spot, especially for Sophie because she identified with her. She had a couple of slip up in her lines, but she also had the biggest part and, therefore, the most lines, so her mistakes can be forgiven. However, when she yelled with her accent, I usually could not understand what she was saying. I was impressed with Autumn Reeves (Josephine) because she had to dance around the room by herself and take off her shirt in front of the whole audience. It takes a brave person to be able to do either of these things and pass it off as everyday happenings and not like she is in front of an audience. Jennifer Latimore (Sophie) was a very good singer, but occasionally was able to give off the innocent air that she was supposed to have. Usually it pulled through when she saw her uncle but I did not really feel the scared eighteen-year-old that I would have expected. Salima, Adedolapo Adekunle, did a very good job. While she was telling her sad story, she manages a tear even though she is awkwardly close to the front row. Elliot Dixon as Christian brought most of the humor to the play. He was charming as he walked through Mama’s door, never dropping that smug smile, and hilarious as he was dancing around the room and then caught by the Commander. The man who played Fortune’s cousin (maybe Ahamadu Muhammad) stumbled over his lines a lot throughout the night, but it was not bad enough to really detract from the play. Everyone else did a good job but nothing very notable, but they all interacted well with each other. In the scenes where people were at the tables but the main action was elsewhere on the set, the actors got along with each other and made it look authentic. The climax of the play was when Sophie and Mama Nadi were being questioned by Fortune and the Commander and Salima comes in with blood down her skirt and dies proclaiming that her body will no longer be fighting grounds. This scene could have easily turned cheesy from Salima’s line, but the actress was able to keep things completely serious and the play intact. The only scene that I felt awkward during was the one where Salima was hiding from Fortune and tells Sophie her life story. I was on the second row and I felt uncomfortably close to the bench, and then Salima got up and it was still weird. Then Mama Nadi came out and acted like it was raining and put her hand out, which would have been fine if it was not directly over someone’s head in the front row. Being so close helped the emotion flow to the audience but it made me feel uncomfortable and not pay attention to an important part. Living in a college town in America, one can feel distant from all the terrible things happening around the world. “Ruined” was a rude awakening to true monstrosity to the treatment of women. Everyone should know about it to be awoken from the dream world we live in.