#sfcurran

[nickihiraoka]

I’ve been blessed with friends who are just as obsessed with theater as I am. Thank you @rozee00 for thinking about me and bringing me to see @cursedchildus! What a beautiful and powerful production! Can’t wait for the next one. ❤️ #friendswhoarefamily #harrypotterandthecursedchild #sfcurran https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Tf3iaD1Zu/?igshid=jvm2red4v7fp

[tswiftisjesus]

@benlross now I have a blue tongue too from my birthday cake! @dearevanhansen @knucklesandwich @thetonyawards @broadwaycom @something.falsettos @dont.be.an.asshole #benlross #dearevanhansen #benlor #benleviross #sfcurran #birthday

[twoontheaisle]

“Eclipsed” at The Curran

Eclipsed, currently playing at the beautifully-restored Curran Theatre, is a harrowing, powerful, elemental work of theatrical art that is as disturbing as it is illuminating. If you are seeking to have your bubble of privilege popped (or at least opened up to a reality few in this very stable and very rich part of the world take the time to notice), this is not to be missed. But if you’re looking for theater that will distract you from the cares of the world, fill your heart with good will toward humankind, or plaster a smile across your face, perhaps it’s better you wait for the next revival of The Music Man or The Odd Couple. For the darkness at the heart of Eclipsed is dark indeed.

The action is set in Liberia, a country established as a colony composed of freed slaves searching for a better shot at true freedom and independence than they were likely to find in America. The colonists, however, were not interested in living on an equal footing with the indigenous peoples of the region, establishing an almost caste-driven society, with the literate freed slaves assuming the role of masters over the Africans living in the bush. This inequity was never truly resolved, but after decades of virtual dictatorship and two civil wars, Liberia finally held free and fair elections in 2005.

Eclipsed plays out over the course of several months during the final civil war, in which rebels from Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy defeated the armies of President Charles Taylor, forcing him into exile. (With significant help from the US, the UN and others, including the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement.)

Atrocities often rise in the last phases of a conflict, and so it is here. The play takes place in a bullet-ridden tin roof shack where the (never seen) commander of a group of rebels is housing (using that term loosely here) the girls and young women he’s kidnapped from the regions he’s conquered and is keeping as his wives/sex slaves. As emotionally challenging as it was to witness the action onstage (especially given the powerful performances by this brilliant cast), the play is so cunningly-wrought that to engage with it is to allow yourself to rev your empathy engine and experience the broader themes playwright Danai Gurira is addressing: power (and powerlessness), gender, identity, humanity. These are deep, complex themes, and the genius of Gurira is her ability to address them so expertly through the most elemental of motivations: survival.

As the play begins, Wife #1 and Wife #3 (the women have abandoned their names as a coping mechanism) attempt to hide the newest resident in the house, known only as The Girl, from the CO. This doesn’t last long, and the CO soon has Wife #4. Wife #3? She’s off in the bush with the soldiers, toting a rifle. When she returns to camp, she exhibits a swagger and confident bearing that is almost completely absent in the other Wives. Her AK-47 serves as a phallus to imbue in her a power her society reserves only for men.

Like the war raging outside the camp, the women’s lives could be described like those of soldiers: suffering long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. One moment the Wives are pounding cassava root or deciphering a coverless hardbound biography of Bill Clinton, and in the next a light at stage left comes on and they jump to their feet, form a line and wait at attention.  When the chosen Wife acknowledges her selection by pointing a shy index finger at herself, you can sense the dehumanizing horror of being seen as little more than a piece of meat. When the Wives return from their rapes, the first thing they do – in a heartbreakingly casual way – is dip a cloth into a basin and wipe their vulvas clean.

The cast – Stacy Sargeant (Wife #1), Adeola Role (Wife #2), Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Wife #3), Ayesha Jordan (The Girl) and Akosua Busia (Rita, a peace worker who visits the camp occasionally) – is wonderful – beautifully balanced, completely in tune with their scene partners, expressing power even in characters who often feel (or appear) powerless. The set is suitably restrained – just a plaster hut on a turntable, with the trunks of branchless trees arranged in thin groves at stage left and right. The sound design is stellar – the far off gunfire sounds different than the nearby gunfire which sounds different than the gunfire in the camp, and when a baby cries, the sound actually comes from the prop baby.

It’s not all bleak.  There’s still quite a bit of humor in Eclipsed - that the cast handle deftly and which elicited good laughs from the audience.  I missed several of these – in part because of a lack of volume from the stage/sound system, and in part because of the Liberian pidgin of the dialogue, which I sometimes couldn’t quite decode.

What I’m trying to say here is that I loved the play, but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. At least on an emotional level. I’m glad I saw it, I think it’s important. It addresses – in a surprisingly reserved, even gentle manner – a horror most people would prefer not to contemplate. Even if your empathy engine is only barely sputtering along, you’re still going to feel sad for a significant portion of the evening. And touched. And hopeful. And sad again.

So take my recommendation: you won’t like it. Go anyway.

Eclipsed is in a brief run, open only through March 19 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Street, San Francisco. Performances are Thursdays at 7:00pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm, with matinees at 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $29-$135, and can be purchased by visiting sfcurran.com, calling 415-358-1220, or visiting the box office between 10:00am and 6:00pm Monday-Friday.

(Photo by Little Fang)

[xtelle]

Another night out to the theater with my fellow musical nerds 😘😘 Saw Soft Power featuring Conrad Ricamora (HTGAWM) - such an incredibly talented cast of Asian-Americans, I was so proud. 🙌🏼 #currantheatre #softpower #sfcurran #curranmembers #softpowersf (at Curran)

[darwinplanet]

BRILLIANT! 💖World Premiere of new #Gogos musical #HeadOverHeels #WeGotTheBeat #broadway #broadwaymusical #broadwayshow #musicaltheatre #BayGottheBeat #sfcurran #shnsf #curran2018 (at Curran)

[socialsf]

#canopy @sf_curran #sunlighteffect #architecture #design #remodeling new #sfcurran #scenes #engage #discuss #havefun #theaterlife #onlyinsf #alwayssf

[tswiftisjesus]

I am just committed to this whole mission. @benlross @knucklesandwich @dearevanhansen @something.falsettos @dont.be.an.asshole #benleviross #benlross #dearevanhansen #benlor #sfcurran

[tswiftisjesus]

Not @dearevanhansen but reminded me of @benlorhansen @benlross #benlor #dearevanhansen #benlor #sfcurran @idinamenzel @ifthenmusical #idinamenzel #ifthenmusical

[tswiftisjesus]

@benlross @dearevanhansen @something.falsettos here’s me trying really hard to meet #benlross #benleviross #benlor #dearevanhansen #sfcurran god I hope this works!

[tswiftisjesus]

An open letter to #benleviross #benlross #dearevanhansen #sfcurran @broadwaycom please help me help him see it!!@benlross

[tswiftisjesus]

Okay @benlross it is really my birthday today. For the love of @dearevanhansen see this post please. @knucklesandwich @thetonyawards @broadwaycom @dont.be.an.asshole @something.falsettos #benlor #benleviross #dearevanhansen #benlross #sfcurran

[tswiftisjesus]

@something.falsettos @dont.be.an.asshole @benlross @knucklesandwich @dearevanhansen #benlor #dearevanhansen #benlross #benleviross #sfcurran

[tswiftisjesus]

Day 4. Are we there yet? @benlross seems worth it. @knucklesandwich @dearevanhansen @something.falsettos @dont.be.an.asshole #benlross #dearevanhansen #benlor #sfcurran

[tswiftisjesus]

Omg it’s so long until December 22.... hi @benlross! @knucklesandwich @dearevanhansen #benlor #benlross #dearevanhansen #sfcurran

[tswiftisjesus]

Sorry I’m doing this every day to try to see if he sees it. @benlross @dearevanhansen @something.falsettos @broadwaycom #benlor #dearevanhansen #sfcurran #benleviross #benlross #broadway

[tswiftisjesus]

@benlross don’t hate me. @dearevanhansen #dearevanhansen #sfcurran