A Review of Ruined

          Playwright Lynn Nottage confessed in an interview for the Arena Theatre, that when she first went out to Congo in 2004, she was looking for a story to tell, but she wasn’t sure “what” story yet. Ruined takes place in the Congolese Civil war, a “war about women”, which Mrs. Nottage has came to know about just by interviewing Congolese women. Since 1988, Congo has been ravaged by on and off again armed conflicts , which saw the death of over 5.5 million people and silently destroyed the lives of thousands of women. The acts of violence are mostly hidden by the government, which is afraid of additional revolutions by the soldiers.

           Before audiences experience the show, director Isis Misdary shares her mission of “Ruined” in the pages of the program. “This is why this play. And why this play now” Misdary writes. “Congress failed to renew the Violence Against Women Act, but it has also stalled on the global version, the International Violence Against Women”, Misdary states with a clear and important agenda.

           On the Fordham stage stands a military tank, which will not only be the place where all of the scenes will take place, but also where the actors change and prepare for their upcoming acts. The choreography of the scenes gives a rough effect to the play, which suits its difficult plot, but interrupts its flow. The scenes are very emotionally heavy, and are all characterized by a sudden end, which increases even more a sense anguish through the audience. There is no backdrop or walls, everyone can see straight back to the pipes and electrical boxes on the interior of the stage. This is meant to represent the ruggedness of the situation, yet it is hard to mesh the scenes which are supposed to take place in African suburbs with the cinder block background. However, the set is not the point of the production and that is very clear from the start.

          “Rape is a weapon of warfare to gain territorial control through displacement and to establish a stranglehold of fear in the villages” Misdary explains behind the scenes of the rehearsal of one of the most emotional scenes of the play. This scene sees the character of Salima, one of the most “ruined” women of the play, explaining the story of her rape to a younger “ruined” girl, Sophie. The play takes place in a prostitutes’ shed run by the apparently strong figure of Mama Nadi, whose past, not too different from the ones of the other women, will be revealed only at the end of the play. Salima, whose destiny is the most tragic, is what kept the play alive. Her performance, by Fordham Lincoln Center Senior Mayaa Boateng, leaves the audience holding its breath, speechless in front of all her despair. Salima will in fact represent what being ruined really stands for. 

         The play is mainly named in reference to how girls that experience genital mutilation are colloquially referred to as "ruined" ones. Yet oftentimes, the brutal acts go beyond rape to purposeful mutilation. The victims of this violence, not only are destined to a physical violence, but also to a psychological one. As Salima explains to Sophie, often women are banned from their family and husbands because representing dishonor. The characters each represent different ways they are all "ruined" and some even demonstrate the power and courage it takes to overcome it. 

          Due to strong sexual content and the harsh language of the play, it is surprising that this play has been accepted to perform at a Jesuit University as Fordham is. Students indeed, had mix feelings about this. Some of the most conservative did not appreciate some of the directors choices from rape scenes on stage to near nudity. But others feel that it is important for Fordham to address such important human interest issues; bringing these difficult subjects into an art form makes them more digestible and most importantly, learned of.