Native culture, colonialism clash in Goodman's 'Convert'
The heart of Danai Gurira's drama "The Convert" is a tragically powerful Pygmalion story showing a young woman caught up in a soul-testing clash pitting ancient African traditions against Christianity and Western colonialism.
Now at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in a co-world premiere production seen earlier this year at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, N.J., "The Convert" is another winning drama from Gurira. Best known for her acclaimed plays like "In the Continuum" (looking at the effects of HIV on two American and Zimbabwean women) and "Eclipsed" (about women caught up in the recent Liberian Civil War), Gurira this time draws from a chapter of European imperialism in Africa for "The Convert."
"The Convert" focuses on two sets of characters in 1895 in what is now modern-day Zimbabwe. There's a trio of thoroughly Western-educated Africans who aspire to be seen as peers with the dominant British colonists (either to convert the locals to Christianity or to benefit financially from their labor), and an extended native family that ends up having (or causing) tragic dealings with these three.
The convert of the title is the young woman Jekesai (Pascale Armand). With the help of her aunt Mai Tamba (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) and cousin Tamba (Warner Joseph Miller), Jekesai flees from her uncle (Harold Surratt) who wants to marry her off to a polygamous old man for a sizable profit of money and goats.
Jekesai finds an initially safe haven in the thoroughly Westernized home of the fervent Christian catechist Chilford Ndlovu (LeRoy McClain), who promptly overrules her uncle's hierarchical plans and sets about teaching the young woman to speak English and to become a Christian. He even changes Jekesai's name to "Ester."
But the less-than-honorable businessman Chancellor (Kevin Mambo) calls into question Chilford's unbending missionary zeal. Chancellor's haughty fiance, Prudence (Zainab Jah), also plants seeds of doubt in Jekesai when she starts encouraging her not to forget her traditional language and cultural roots.
Over the course of three acts, all the characters' constructed identities get severely tested when the native uprising of 1896 breaks out. The benefits and bloody hypocrisies of Western colonialism come into stark relief as everyone involved faces a conflict of conscience and divided loyalties.
Gurira creates compelling characters in "The Convert," who are neither all good nor all bad. Director Emily Mann masterfully steers her outstanding ensemble to deal with the play's complexities and to ratchet up the dramatic tension when passions frequently boil over.
If there are any drawbacks to Gurira's drama, it's when you see scenes spoken in English by the characters when logically they should be played out in the native language. And "The Convert" can be a bit of a haul for some people to sit through with a running time of three hours and 15 minutes with two intermissions, though the play's length was a nonissue to me.
In "The Convert," Gurira and her fellow artists show both the positives and negatives that came about with Western intervention in Africa. But rather than pit all the blame on Europeans, Gurira presents relatable black characters who must come to their own conclusions about the benefits and drawbacks of adopting Western ideals.
"The Convert"
★ ★ ★ ½
Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.org
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday (no evening show March 25); through March 25
Running time: About 3 hours and 15 minutes with two 15-minute intermissions
Tickets: $12-$42
Parking: Nearby pay garages
Rating: Violence and brief nudity