Theater Review: Miracle In Rwanda Is A Story of Hope
“This is a story of hope,” says Immaculée Ilibagiza (played stunningly by Malaika Uwamahoro). And so begins, Miracle In Rwanda, a true story and gruesome tale of fear, loss, ethnicide, and inhumanity. Playing off-broadway at Theatre Row, in honor of its 25th anniversary, Miracle In Rwanda is a must-see because it makes you re-analyze what is hope and bravery. So many times we pray for strength, but the life of Immaculée shows such a virtue can only be achieved while you are facing others’ weakness and your worst fears.
As we watch Uwamahoro Ilibigiza reenact living 3 months in a tiny bathroom with 7 people locked in, sleeping on each other and keeping painfully silent so as to avoid the roaming soldiers trying to kill them, you will say, “Oh, I couldn’t that.” They could not bathe or talk or even leave because outside that little bathroom was one of the worst atrocities ever in human history: the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. From her father’s determination to save his only daughter from impending doom to a hesitant priest, unsure if he is willing to die to save those he reluctantly helps, Ilibigiza makes Immaculée a chameleon. She is a brilliantly mindful woman that embodies the people that saved her and the ones that tried to kill her, which is so telling of the human experience. We are, simultaneously, molded by those that love and hate us. Both forces molded Immaculée into a woman that can forgive and heal unlike many.
Written by Leslie Malaika Lewis and Edward Vilga, this tale in brutal in context but regal in essence. As Malaika transforms her body to represent a soldier seeking to end Immaculée, you are transfixed by the actress’ ability to become a completely different human being, but one that is connected in changing her character’s life forever. Ilibigiza is Immaculée, and director George Drance magnificently uses a simplicity and lighting to build a near apocalyptic feel; salvaged only by Immaculée’s angelic spirit and visions. Nearly a million Tutsi were brutally slaughtered, and Miracle In Rwanda does not hold back in the devastation and abominable cruelty that was caused by human beings. Yet, its religious subtext is a driving force in amplifying that the human spirit is supernatural. As Immaculée so nobly recounts the utter destruction of her life, you are moved to believe that humanity is limitless both in evil but also godliness..
As my friend blubbered under her breathe, “She’s so brave,” I realized she was not only crying from Immaculée’s devastation, but also in admiration of her resilience; one we all pray to never need. I never want to know that my entire family was brutally macheted. I never want to meet their murderer and see if I even have an ounce of mercy to forgive him. I never want to leave my country, and have to learn to fend for myself, with no emotional support, in a nation that is as foreign to me as I am to it. Yet, Immaculée had to do all those things. It made me think of the migrant children currently locked in cages or the ethnicides occurring Burkina Faso and Mali. Would they grow up to have their stories told like Immaculée? Everywhere children are experiencing traumas brought on by others’ inhumanity, and I pray they have the strength to make it into art like Immaculée did. That is my hope. For More Information On Miracle In Rwanda Click Here .It is playing at Lion’s Theatre In Theatre Row Till May 11. Located410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036
