Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave) is making her New York stage debut in ‘Eclipsed,’ a play by Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) set in 2003 during the Liberian civil war, about four captive wives of a rebel officer.
Charles Isherwood, New York Times: a riveting, superbly acted production…I hope Ms. Nyong’o’s starlight draws audiences to this detailed and painfully moving exploration of the brutality and dehumanization that seem to be endemic to African conflicts.
Adam Feldman, Time Out New York: 4 stars. Directed by Liesl Tommy, all four of the actors portraying these women are superb; Nyong’o is as radiant as one would expect from this rising star, but the others shine as brightly.
Marilyn Stasio, Variety: The playwright’s argument is that women may be politically powerless, but they have other assets — like moral strength, dignity, and compassion — to draw upon in order to survive man-made wars without giving up their own humanity.
Elizabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: Nyong’o’s performance is unassuming and sensitive…Show is overly talky, with some of the scenes overstaying their welcome, and deploys a last-minute plot twist out of a soap opera. But when the show works, it quietly, powerfully describes how women survive during wartime
Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News: Three stars. How does a sincere but preachy play that’s been making the rounds in the U.S. and Europe since 2008 finally get to New York and become a must-see?…Star power.
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: Eclipsed pulls us into and holds us captive in a vivid world whose stark horrors are rendered with unflinching honesty and delicate poignancy — all the more so because they are treated as an everyday reality, often viewed with surprising humor.
Brendan Lemon, The Financial Times: 3 stars. Gurira, who stars in the boomingly popular TV zombiefest The Walking Dead, writes roles that are, in their emotional richness, anything but zombie-like. The luminous Nyong’o creates a stirring portrait of a teenager awakening to her potential, while Pascale Armand as Bessie and Zainab Jah as Maima excel as women on more righteous paths to power.
Robert Hofler, The Wrap: What’s equally impressive about her powerhouse portrayal in “Eclipsed” is how Nyong’o handles moments of extended silence and joy: the shades of discovery that cross her face when she haltingly reads from a biography of Bill Clinton,
Click on any of these photographs by Joan Marcus to see them enlarged
You neglected to mention the cleaver use of T-shirts in this powerful play. Such powerful acting. I was in the last row of the theater and was nevertheless transported to Africa..and completely devastated.