Mlima's Tale at Westport Country Playhouse - A Review

Dedicated to community theatre actor Richard Damaso, with best wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery

Westport, CT - Westport Country Playhouse has opened an impressive production of the play MLIMA’S TALE written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. The 80-minute work that is presented without intermission was precisely directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, who stood watching in the back of the house very close to my seat for much of opening night. The Westport theatre has the honor of launching the first production of the play since its world premiere Off-Broadway last year.

MLIMA’S TALE, based upon the article ‘The Ivory Highway’ by Damon Tabor, is a truly powerful theatrical fable about the life and death of an African elephant. It tells the tale of a magnificent and beloved Kenyan elephant named Mlima hunted for his coveted ivory tusks. As traffickers maneuver the illicit ivory market, from Kenya to Vietnam to Beijing, the beautiful animal's invincible spirit follows their path of desire, greed, crime, and corruption.

The presentation is almost lyrical in nature.The artistic director/director helpfully notes that the script is written along the lines of a turn of the century sex play by Arthur Schnitzler entitled LA RONDE, a play which some readers criticised as glorifying the spread of veneral disease. Both playwrights interlock the scenes (mostly featuring two actors) by having one character from each scene reappear in the next. When the character of Mlima marks the next link in the shameful chain with a chalky powder, we know that the scene is over.

“What Nottage’s characters show as they travel from Africa to Asia in a series of deft short scenes is as sickening as a disease. It is the disease of illegal capitalism. Each two-character transaction places the soul of the slaughtered elephant Mlima at greater risk. Through background deals between poachers, venal customs agents, illegal ivory carvers in Vietnam, and high-end shoppers in Beijing, the soul of this magnificent Kenyan elephant is reduced to the immense tusks that have been hacked from his face in death. Then those tusks are reduced to trinkets. This is the tragedy of MLIMA’S TALE." - Mark Lamos

Jermaine Rowe, who appeared in the Playhouse’s production of MAN OF LA MANCHA, takes on the role of Mlima. The actor has appeared on Broadway in THE LION KING and with the Dance Theatre of Harlem; the latter experience was evident in his graceful moves as the beloved elephant before his demise and as his spirit thereafter.

It was fascinating to watch the other three actors in the cast almost shape-shift into a whopping 20 characters. The equally talented actors that played those widely different roles included Jennean Farmer as Player 1, Adit Dileep as Player 2 and Carl Hendrick as Player 3.

Ms. Farmer, the only woman in the cast, has appeared in the film SMILE and in television’s FBI and ONE TREE HILL. She was perhaps most memorable as a very rich Asian woman, but she also was convincing as the male characters she covered in her debut at the Playhouse.

Mr. Dileep (DISGRACED at Guthrie Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, “Billions” on SHOWTIME,) who shares that he was born in India, grew up in Singapore and currently lives in NYC, took on distinct accents, stances and looks for his various characters in his Westport Country Playhouse debut.

Mr. Louis (1984, THE CHERRY ORCHARD on Broadway) did the same with characters that could not have been more different in his debut at this venue. The three actors made for a very cohesive, if small, troupe.

I loved the quick changes that happened on the stage with the assistance of stage hands clad in black. The highly-rehearsed moves of both the actor and the dressers was complete with a hand mirror to check the makeup. I found it fascinating to watch this peek behind the scenes. I found myself following the advice that Mlima offers in the opening scene of having to “listen with [my] whole body” so that I did not miss any of the finer points in the script.

The scenic design by Claire DeLiso worked beautifully with the all-important projections carefully designed by Yana Birykova. There were quotations of wisdom that matched the flow of the story well. There were significant tech issues with the projections on opening night, but it soon became apparent that the performance could not have continued without it. It proved to be well worth the wait.

“Thunder is not yet rain.”

Fabian Fidel Aguilar worked some magic with the ever changing costume design; Isabella Byrd designed lighting that added much to the overall look of the ballet-like changes. Michael Keck was the composer of the incidental music. Jeffrey Page was the choreographer of the intricate movement and Michael Rossmy served as fight director/intimacy coach. Samantha Shoffner was in charge of the numerous props and Julie Foh was the (presumably very busy) dialect coach.

The African-American playwright, who is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, is now an associate professor at Columbia School of the Arts. She won the Pulitzer Prize for two of her plays, RUINED and SWEAT. In 2015, Westport Country Playhouse produced Ms. Nottage’s play INTIMATE APPAREL.

MLIMA’S TALE was originally developed and produced by The Public Theater. The play runs at Westport Country Playhouse from October 1 – 19. There is some strong language in parts and several very graphic photos of dead elephants after the removal of their ivory tusks that are hard to take. The performance includes theatrical fog and strobe effects and herbal cigarettes are smoked on the stage. Remember that the 80-minute play is presented without an intermission.

Nancy Sasso Janis, writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, posts well over 100 reviews each year. In 2016, her membership in the Connecticut Critics Circle began and her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted not only in the Naugatuck Patch but also on the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook page.

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