Daniel Nelson

 

It began with a photo graph of ‘Black Diamond’, a Liberian woman fighter in Liberia’s civil war.

Zimbabwean-US actor Danai Jekesai Gurira was struck by the magazine picture: “I had never seen such an image.”

As the idea of a play took hold, the star of The Living Dead US TV series knew she had to visit Liberia to get first-hand evidence from women who had been abducted and forced to take part in the conflict.

What she saw and heard was far more revelatory – and shocking – than a magazine picture. Most searing of all was a woman whose 10-year-old daughter was raped to death in front of her.

The result of the visit and her imagination, Eclipsed, has had several successful US productions and goes on stage at London’s Gate Theatre from 23 April to 6 May.

It’s set in a rebel army base in Liberia in 2003, when the civil war is raging. Four young women are struggling to survive and are joined by a fifth: “With the arrival of a new girl, who can read, and an old one, who can kill, how might this transform the future of this hard-bitten sisterhood?”

It’s strong stuff, barely imaginable for a  London audience. How will they relate to a handful of “wives” who have their own pecking order in their relationship to the rebel commander? How will they relate to one of the wives who is also a soldier and inflicts the horrors that were once inflicted on her own civilian community? How will you even get audiences into the theatre to see such an apparently grim presentation?

Partly by humour. Gurira – who describes herself as Zimerican  – told Radio 4’s daily arts programme,

Eclipsed

Eclipsed

Image by Gate Theatre

, how the women on the base find a magazine with cover spotlighting Bill Clinto (the cover is torn) and joke about making him their husband.

“It’s important to find a moment of humour, and it is a tactic of survival for them,” she said.

Empathy also comes into play. “I always say I’d be one of these five women,” Gurira said in the interview. “I really question whether any of us can blame the women.”

The Gate's artistic director, Chris Haydon, has an additional explanation: “These women are certainly trapped, they are forced to be the ‘wives’ of the commanding officer of this rebel army, but they are not women who are broken internally. They have power and presence on stage, and in that social context would absolutely not be helpless.  That’s where the vivacity of the piece comes from.

“They have magnificent energy on stage and you just want to spend time with these characters. There’s one character whose values are shocking, but she still has this incredible energy, and that’s why it’s such an exciting to play to watch … five absolutely brilliant actors giving life to these absolutely brilliant characters.”

In addition, he says, “The emotional journeys that the characters go on are incredibly compelling and have a kind of universality.”

He doesn’t see most audience’s lack of knowledge about the war as a problem, because the play is written so that the specific social context is clear – “I don’t think the audience will ever feel lost.”

The Gate will also have a presentation in the foyer that will give a wider context, which pleases me because I’m always banging on about the need for theatres, and cinemas, to offer background information along with the entertainment.

Gurira, who has started not-for-profit organisation in Zimbabwe, Almasi Collaborative Arts, to train actors, writers and directors, would presumably also be pleased.  She says it’s ironic that in Zimbabwe she’s surrounded by people who have a hold on what’s going on in the world, but in the US she’s around people with a minimal knowledge of world affairs:

“My aim is to bridge that gap.”

·         Eclipsed is at the Gate Theatre, 11 Pembridge Road, W11, until 16 May. Info: 7229 0706/ http://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/

 

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