How can a playwright capture the tragedy of something like the Rwandan genocide without alienating the audience? The full title of Sonia Linden's compelling documentary 2003 play, "I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me By a Young Lady From Rwanda " is far too long to fit on a marque, but does capture the special essence of her piece. What the author, who's worked with refugees from these massacres now living in the U.K. has done, is concentrate on the act of recovery from such a horrific situation by writing it down, by purging the raw memories by turning them into words on a page.
In Juliette, the refugee, played by Dorcas Evelene Davis she's created a composite of a middle class Rwandan girl, the sole survivor of her family's massacre, who's written a book--in her own language, detailing the conditions in her country which led up to the bloody rivalry between the Tutis and the Hutu, the two main "ethnic" groups. As a foil, there's the ever dependable Owen Doyle as Simon, a British poet and frustrated post-modern novelist who's working with refugees for an aid-agency.
At the beginning, she imagines that he will be some sort of distinguished writer who will respond to her effort as the title suggests. Simon, a good-hearted soul known only for a few poems, soon realizes that her personal story will be the only way for her book top be published. As Juliette slowly pours out her personal tale, mostly in monologue interspersed with confrontations with her new friend, he comes to realize the futility of his own big book, but starts writing better poetry.
Director Weylin Symes, Stoneham's founder and artistic director, presents the play with notable economy on a simple but strong black and white set by Richard Chambers. A few bits of black skeletal furniture, occaisionally shifted by the actors, are set well forward against a backdrop which has a huge white tarpoline hanging by one corner against a brick wall, for a constant reminder of contrast. The production has resisted adding multi-media details, using sound by David Wilson to enhance some key scenes.
The "...Young Lady From Rwanda" is easy to watch if not to listen to as we are reminded of the horrific violence wrecked on the Tutsi by their Hutu neighbors. But it's a lesson not to be forgotten even as the world watches the barbarity currently savaging Darfur on the opposite side of Africa. The small hope this play offers for salvation somehow seems too little. Linden's approach to the subject, using only two actors whose personal stories are revealed in a series of monologues and simple scenes works. The tragedy builds to a climax with a parallel track of hope, slim but palpable, even worth more than one viewing. Stoneham has a varied season--their next show is Agatha's Christies' classic who-dunnit "And Then There Were None". But their efforts at serious drama have equalled any in the area.
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