Theatre critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "Ruined", now up at Everyman Theatre through March 8th.
Actress Dawn Ursula can be counted on to invest her characters with passion and grit -- whether playing the beleaguered daughter-in-law in “A Raisin in the Sun” or a maid with Hollywood ambitions in “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” at Everyman Theatre last spring. But as the protagonist in Everyman Theatre’s newest production, Ursula delivers her most gut-wrenching, heart-rending portrayal yet. The play is “Ruined,” the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner by Lynn Nottage, who also wrote last season’s “Vera Stark.”
This time, Nottage is in far more frightening territory. The playwright traveled to Africa to research the subject of “Ruined.” She interviewed women who had been sexually assaulted in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. In a remote town there, Ursula’s fictitious character, Mama Nadi, runs a brothel. Like the playwright’s original inspiration -- BertoltBrecht’s “Mother Courage” -- Mama Nadi is, first and foremost, a survivor.
She survives as a businesswoman. And she brooks no flak from the men who patronize her establishment – not the soldiers, who must leave their bullets at the bar; or the salesmen, who keep her supplied with liquor and condoms -- and not from the women who work for her. She’s convinced that these women – shunned by their villages and families after being assaulted – are better off with her than they’d be at home. Mama Nadi takes care of them, but she takes care of herself first.
Ursula plays Mama Nadi as a woman who is fierce, tough and brave -- qualities she has combined into a shell shielding her emotions. She walks with a proud stance, her chin held high, her voice forceful and confident. There’s no room for sentiment, certainly no room for romance. Even in the face of imminent danger, Ursula’s Mama Nadi seems in control, invulnerable. '
Eventually, Mama Nadi’s shell starts to give way, and long-suppressed feelings emerge. It’s a difficult transition to make credible. Ursula achieves it by releasing her character’s tenderness in a way that’s so tentative and conflicted, it’s almost unbearable to watch.
Jason B. McIntosh, who plays the character that inspires this change, isn’t up to Ursula’s level, in part because of a distracting, wavering accent. The play begins when he brings Mama two new girls to employ. One, a tall waif named Sophie, is his niece. He tells Mama she’s smart and sings beautifully, but she won’t be able to do the same work as the others. She has been “ruined” by the militia. Reluctantly, Mama questions her, and takes her on.
Zurin Villanueva’s poignant Sophie is like a fragile bird. One of the few missteps in director Tazewell Thompson’s production is that Sophie adjusts to her new life, singing and serving at the bar, too quickly and comfortably.
In almost all other respects, Thompson’s direction propels this harrowing drama with assurance. By incorporating one of the theater’s aisles, he refuses to allow the audience to distance itself from the troubling action. Designer Brandon McNeel’s outstanding set creates Mama’s establishment out of scraps of corrugated tin and old doors; the walls, like the women inside, are society’s discards.
This is the third production I’ve seen of “Ruined,” beginning with the 2008 world premiere in Chicago. Even so, it took time to decompress after Everyman’s intense rendition. That’s high tribute to this grueling account of suffering, struggle, inhumanity, and the moral, physical and emotional fiber it takes to survive these conditions.
Editor's Note: In an earlier version of this review, we referred to the actor Jason B. McIntosh as "James B. McIntosh". We regret the error.
