Why ‘Eclipsed,’ Danai Gurira’s Broadway Play, Is Groundbreaking
Eclipsed, Danai Gurira’s heartbreaking play about women conscripted into sex slavery during the Liberian civil war at the beginning of the 21st Century, isn’t like anything else on Broadway at the moment. It may have star power – with Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o in a pivotal part and Gurira, who’s also known to many for her role on The Walking Dead — but it is relentless in its depiction of the brutality of war and how women are treated. This is not a light evening of entertainment.
This year’s theater season could be seen as a direct rebuke of Hollywood’s #OscarsSoWhite fiasco, with Hamilton featuring a multi-ethnic cast, and a handful of other shows with color-blind casting choices. But Eclipsed is also making history as the first all-female, all-black production in Broadway history.
In fact, the West 45th Street section of Broadway’s theater district is the home of many shows featuring African-American actors. “We call it the Chocolate Block,” says Pascale Armand, one of Eclipsed‘s stars, explaining that she has to wait until her show closes before she can plan to check out the revival of The Color Purple, nearby.
She shared with Rolling Stone what it’s like to be a humorous counterpoint in an unflinching drama about war and why she hopes Hillary Clinton (or Beyoncé) come to see the show.
Obviously the play contains really tough material, but your character Bessie, a.k.a. Wife Number Three, also gets some of the biggest laughs, so how do you deal with that intensity but also the humor?
Well, I guess the thing for me is to just always play the reality of the situation. My intent or objective is never to play for laughs; it’s about the reality of the circumstances that she finds herself in. There’s this crazy Stockholm Syndrome that is completely embedded in these women’s lives. Bessie’s pregnant; she’s hungry; she’s bored. So when the food comes, she’s going to eat like it’s her last meal. When the radio comes? What, oh my God! She’s going to get down.
When the structure that she’s living in is threatened by this new woman who comes into the compound [Nyong’o’s character], she’s got to find a way to make herself look pretty. If all Bessie’s had is the wigs, and this new woman comes in, and when they line up, she doesn’t get chosen, it’s harrowing for her. Her only purpose is to be a sex slave. If she’s not the one being chosen, it’s scary. Plus, she’s already pregnant, and she’s getting bigger.