Our Lady of Kibeho, Theatre Royal Stratford East

[Steve]

Apart from a slightly anti-climactic ending, that leans into a tragic history for it's full impact, this is, for the most part, mesmeric! The story of 3 girls who claimed to see the Virgin Mary in Kibeho, Rwanda: the writing, acting, directing and singing all coalesce perfectly to create the most spooky, electric, alive and thrilling theatre I've seen in ages! A must-see.

Some spoilers follow. . .

A decade before the genocide of the Tutsis, by the Hutus, in Rwanda, a Tutsi girl claims to be having visions of the Virgin Mary.

Like in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, events get more and more infectiously hysterical, as visions, visionaries, and their messages from beyond, multiply, but unlike in the Miller, we're very much on the side of the girls, and more open to believe them. One of the best things about the production is that openness, both to the fact that they may be telling the truth, and also to the fact they may be lying.

But regardless, we like them: intelligent yet uneducated ground-zero visionary, Alphonsine, is a persecuted underdog, played with angelic yet mysterious inscrutability by Taz Munya; beatific wide-eyed Anathalie is played with immense warmth and generosity by Liyah Summers, and best of all, is the wily selfish Marie-Clare, who Pepter Lunkuse humanises utterly, making her every capricious whim at once both infuriating and understandable. Her charisma is such that you can't take your eyes off her, much as Samantha Colley was equally compelling in the Old Vic's "The Crucible," playing this character's evil doppelganger, Abigail Williams.

Katori Hall creates so many great three dimensional characters around these girls, from the suspicious nun, to the sly Bishop, to the kindly Priest, to the Vatican Investigator, to the confused father of one of the girls, and somehow juggles them all so that the story is always compelling and coherent, even as ideas and motivations are deeply explored.

At the end, the fever pitch of the play dissipates, and is replaced by talk: talk that leads us towards thinking about the history of genocide that will grip Rwanda a decade after the events decpicted here, talk which feels simultaneously important, yet emotionally anti-climactic, given the electricity of what has come before.

Nonetheless, this is such a good play, directed and performed with ferocious intensity and immediacy. Wonderful!

4 and a half stars.

[jek]

I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as Steve but I do wonder if that had a lot to do with the audience I saw it with. We went to neighbours' night the performance when Stratford East give discounted tickets to those who (like me) live in the vicinity of the theatre. While there is humour in the play (and as someone who went to a Catholic girls' school that was wholly appropriate - Mary O'Malley with Once A Catholic shows just how ripe for humour Catholic girls' schools are) it was like the audience were determined to laugh loudly at everything. It felt like there was no room for reflection within the performance. Beautiful music and design though and some lovely performances. I thought that Lyn Gardner's review was about right:
stagedoorapp.com/lyn-gardner/review-our-lady-of-kibeho?ia=268
Certainly worth seeing - especially if like me you live a less than ten minute walk from the theatre. But it wasn't the night that I was hoping for.

[peterjd]

I went to see this after being very impressed by Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, where, after its transfer to Trafalgar Studios, I was lucky enough to get front row seats which suited the intimacy of the motel room setting.

Our Lady of Kibeho was also excellent and I'd strongly recommend it as well worth seeing. The setting seemed fairly authentic when I think of some schools I've visited elsewhere in Africa. The story carries one forward as events develop out of control of the varied authority figures that surround the girls. The acting is strong and the play well directed. Music contributes positively to the mood.

Spoilers follow:

SPOILER: Click to show

The play presents the events at a school boarding school as would have been seen by witnesses; hence leaving the reality of what happened open. As more girls claim to have visions of the Virgin Mary, those around them have understandable doubts as to whether they may be faking it for attention or suffering hysterical hallucinations, especially since the girls are far from angelic. Indeed one is previously shown as a school bully. However, investigations and subsequence developments add credence to their story.

I thought the brief glimpse of the future genocide at the end could profitably have been dialled up by a notch or three, but that's the only minor criticism.

[showgirl]

I really enyoyed this at the matinee yesterday and it was well worth the trip out to Stratford East. This despite some really annoying (rather than terrible) audience behaviour: a persistent female seat-kicker behind me who did not respond to repeated backward glances indicating discomfort and irritation; a small boy on one side of me who was very fidgety despite admonitions from the man on his other side and so much rustling and rummaging from an elderly man at the front that the nearest usher noticed and seemed poised to intervene.

To my relief the school party in the row in front (in uniform, so either not on half-term or required to dress up and attend regardless) was wonderfully well-behaved apart from one stray mobile ringing.

So it was a tribute to the writing and production that it held my interest; indeed it was spelllbinding at times and I recommend seeing it if you are able to.