HARARE US-based Zimbabwean actress, Danai Guriras sun is shining in the USA, where her play Eclipsed has been received well. Gurira, who starred in the award winning movie, The Visitor, has been hailed as the creative mind from Zimbabwe that adds a spark in the USA film and theatre industry. It has been a fairytale for me. I love this moment in my life. My play Eclipsed has been well received. I think this is a sign that Zimbabwe has a talent to be tapped, said Gurira.
Written by Gurira and directed by Hallie Gordon, Eclipse is about the effects of the Liberian Civil War on the women who must service the warlords rebelling against Charles Taylor. Gurira was also one of the two gifted young performer-actresses who created “In the Continuum,” a powerful work about women and AIDS that was seen at the renowned venue, Goodman Theatre.
“Eclipsed” is set in a rebel army camp in Liberia in 2003, where Arenas’ Helena (also known as Wife Number One) must both protect and keep in line her fellow “wives,” all stuck in a forced harem of shared danger and mutual competition. The other “wives” take different survivalist tacks: Bessie (Sheppard) takes care of her baby and understandably worries about her well-being; the pragmatic Maima (Perry) becomes an armed rebel herself.
But much of the play is focused on the youngest of the group, known as The Girl (Collins), who has yet to define herself or her tools of survival, and for whose innocent soul the other wives battle even as she makes her own choices and mistakes, Gurira explains.
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