Our Lady Of Kibeho- Page 2

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/7/14 at 8:02am

I'm deaf in one ear and had no problems whatsoever. Although, I WAS in the front row...

[LarryD2]

Posted: 11/7/14 at 8:53am

I have great hearing, and was sitting relatively close to the front (third row, aisle), yet I found it difficult to clearly hear much of anything that didn't take place downstage center. Given what a large portion of this play is staged in the sides, aisles, and walking spaces of the auditorium, I feel like I missed a good deal.

[macnyc]

Posted: 11/16/14 at 11:14am

I really loved this. I hadn't planned on seeing Kibeho, but a friend wanted to go because her cousin raved about it, so I went with her. I'm really glad I did. It's great to be completely caught up in a show. I don't consider myself a particularly spiritual person, but the events that the play depicts, which took place in Rwanda in 1980 and 1981, really moved me.

I loved how the audience is completely brought into the playwright's world. That was helped along by wonderful production values and highly effective staging. I really felt I was in a girls' school in Africa. As previous posters stated, the whole theater is utilized. The movement kept the play from becoming static. The set was simple but very clever, and it transformed with a few moves. I particularly liked how the roofline flipped, so sometimes you were on the outside of the building, sometimes inside it. It's subtle, but it worked. Projections of Rwanda's lush hillsides add to the mood.

This is a play with heightened dramatic moments, and I loved that as a change from plays where people sit on a sofa and talk. Kibeho has lots of amazing stage tricks that are very effective but not over the top. (If something is a ghost story, I want to see a ghost at some point, dammit! And if you've got miracles going on, I want to see them. I was very satisfied.)

I had problems hearing only the bishop and one or two other spots. The accents/dialects, though, were another story. I had adjusted pretty well to the African accents only to have an Italian accent introduced by a character from the Vatican sent to document the events. That may just be a personal deficiency of mine though.

As others have stated, this is a very ambition undertaking. Katori is mixing up matters of faith and lack of faith, spirituality, tribal hostilities, individuals stretched to the breaking point, the state of the Catholic Church in Africa, and probably a couple more that I missed. I thought the acting was great across the board, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this fascinating show.

I think Our Lady of Kibeho opens today, so it will be interesting to see how the critics react.












Updated On: 11/16/14 at 11:14 AM

[Tom-497]

Posted: 11/16/14 at 11:04pm

It just got an extremely positive review from Isherwood.
NYT Review