Eclipsed

Eclipsed is playing at the Public Theatre located at 425 Lafayette Street. It runs two hours with one intermission. The play closes on November 29. 2015.

Lupita Nyong’o won an Academy Award in 2014 for Twelve Years a Slave.

The play takes place during the Liberian Civil War.

The stage is a one room hut that three women are living in. There are bullet holes all over the walls. One of the war lords has made them captive his sex slaves. Wife 1 Helena (Saycon Sengbloh) dictates what is to be done in the room. Wife 3 Bessie (Pascale Armand) is concerned about her hair. They are hiding The Girl (Lupita Nyomg’s). She is discovered by the war lord and made Wife 4.

Each women was abducted at a young age. They have forgotten where they are from and their original name. Many girls that are capture are raped by several men at the same time.

Wife 2 Maima (Zainab Jah) is not welcome by Helena. Maima has joined a rebel force to kill the war lords. She convinces the girl to join her group.

While they are away Rita (Akosua Busta), from a rescue group is trying to coax them to leave. They are reluctant to leave especially wife 3 since she just had a baby. Ruth hangs around because they said the newest member was young. She was hoping it was her daughter. What happen to the women you will have to see the show. There hints of their life at the camp, like little food, sexual abuse and other injustices.

They show will haunt you for a couple days. But it is still worth seeing.

In the playbill they give you is a “Timeline of Contemporary Liberian History”. It will give you a better insight on what was going on if you have forgotten.

The cast all deserve awards.

The only problem was sometimes I could not understand there accent.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on the recent photos for this and other shows.