Pulitzer Prizes for drama are usually awarded for plays that reflect American life, yet Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, a remarkable and hard-edged tale of civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its collateral damage inside a bar/brothel caught in the crossfire, won the 2009 Pulitzer for its view of the human — and inhuman — condition that knows no national boundaries.
Despite its frequent flights of poetic language, Ruined is a brutal theatrical experience. True, the violence occurs offstage, but that does not prevent Nottage from describing it in harrowing detail, placing the words in the mouths of characters that she makes us care deeply about.
Increasing the impact at GableStage, where the play is receiving a gut-wrenching and eloquent area premiere, director Joseph Adler has gathered a large, impressive cast that brings the armed conflict and personal turmoil to vivid life.
Nottage, whose Intimate Apparel was another triumph for GableStage six seasons ago, visited the Congo to do research for a play that would focus on the untold story of the abused and battered women just beyond the armed conflict. What she returned with was this towering work, which uses Bertholt Brecht’s anti-war drama Mother Courage and Her Children as the template for this more multi-dimensional African saga.
At the center of the tale is Mama Nadi (a magnetic, maternal Lela Elam) owner of the way station where government troops and rebel soldiers alike stop by for a cold beer or a hot hooker. Mama is too much of a businesswoman to choose sides, preferring to keep her head down, make a buck and concentrate on survival.
Early on, she is visited by black marketeer Christian (a poetic Robert Strain) who persuade Mama — against her better judgment — to take in two teenage girls, Salima and Sophie. Frail Salima has a tragic back story of constant sexual abuse by the soldiers who captured her and kept her around for their amusement, a chilling tale which Trenell Mooring relates with haunting effectiveness.
But what was done to her pales next to the damage inflicted upon Sophie (Jade Wheeler, barely recognizable from her recent button-down cool in Race). She is truly “ruined,” having been raped and mutilated by a soldier’s bayonet. No longer fit to earn her keep with her body, she sings for her supper in the bar, accompanied by the African accompaniment of guitarist Verdi M. Mayer, Jr. and percussionist Maracuja.
No such physical limitations restrict willowy Josephine (the limber Renata Eastlick), Mama’s chief profit center, who we see drumming up business for the backroom with sensuous tribal dance moves in the front. Also impressive in the large cast are Marckenson Charles as Salima’s persistent husband, determined to stand vigil outside the bar to reunite with her, Sheaun McKinney as seething rebel leader Osembenga and a subdued David Kwiat as a trafficker in the gold and diamonds that have made the Congo worth fighting over.
As usual, director Adler stages matters for maximum visceral impact, without sacrificing any of Nottage’s poetic flourishes or quiet moments. Design credits are first-rate, from Lyle Baskin’s bar set, with jungle foliage peeking through the porous walls to Ellis Tillman’s alternately vibrant and drab costumes and Jeff Quinn’s artful lighting.
It should come as no surprise that GableStage serves up Ruined with such a gut punch. The script plays to Adler’s strengths and he shows why his theater has become such a reliable purveyor of must-see theater for the past 14 years.
RUINED, GableStage at the Biltmore, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables. Continuing through Oct. 7. Tickets: $37.50 – $50, Call: (305) 445-1119.