KWEE Liberian Literary Magazine Jan. Iss. Vol. 0115 Feb Vol. 0215 | Page 34

Liberian Literary Magazine

LIBERIAN GIRL The play made its debut in 2015 at the ROYAL COURT

By Diana Nneka Atuona

Reviewed by

BEN LAWRENCE SEPT . 5 , 2008

Between 1989 and 1996 , the first Liberian civil war claimed the lives of 200,000 people . The country was turned on its head in a conflict of unspeakable violence and Diana Nneka Atuona ’ s assured , provocative debut takes you into this world of perpetual danger . It ’ s a brutally immersive production , directed by Matthew Dunster , in which the audience are required to stand throughout and confront the drama ’ s many horrors up close . The actors playing the soldiers shout abuse at audience members and herd them into different corners of the stage , at one point separating the men from the women

Martha ( Juma Sharkah ) is a bright , bookish 14-year-old who is forced , alongside her wise , crotchety grandmother , Mamie Esther ( Cecilia Noble ), to flee their village as rebel soldiers approach . Mamie has made the reluctant Martha disguise herself as a boy in order to avoid being raped , but this sage move gets complicated when they are ambushed . Martha is forced to join a rebels ’ unit full of trigger-happy teenage boys , coked up to their eyeballs and fuelled by dreams of glory which have been put in their heads by the Commander ( Fraser James ) who has , in reality , robbed them of their childhoods .

All of a sudden , village life seems very far away and Atuona adeptly shows how Martha ( now known as Frisky ) becomes inured to her new , volatile world . In one utterly shocking scene Frisky is forced to witness the murder of one young girl and then join in the rape of the dead girl ’ s friend , Finda ( which she of course has to simulate ). However , Atuona has skilfully created a heroine who never completely

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Promoting Liberian Literature , Arts and Culture

surrenders her femininity and we later see Frisky protecting the abused Finda who is heartbreakingly grateful for being spared further sexual violation .

The acting is uniformly strong but particular praise must go to Weruche Opia who gives tantalising glimmers of optimism as the abused but dreamily defiant Finda and , above all , to the Sierra Leone-born Sharkah . This is her professional stage debut and it is an extraordinary performance , characterised by an unerring stillness as Frisky witnesses atrocity after atrocity , hardening her body but always giving you a subtle glimpse of Martha ’ s innate kindness .

Atuona ’ s play may be rooted in a particular conflict but in its depiction of how war makes men barbarians , and women and children their slaves , it is timeless . There is no doubt that Liberian Girl won ’ t be for everyone – at times you have to look away and at others you are goaded into angry impotence , unable to intervene as another poor boy is beaten within an inch of his life . Yet it is vital to point out that it is not a depressing experience . Despite the many horrors witnessed , the residual feeling you have is of the human capacity for hope .

Liberian Girl . Play by Diana Nneka Atuona performed at The Royal Court Theatre , London UK Photo : Alastair Muir