MLIMA'S TALE (previews)

[Relevance81491]

Posted: 3/27/18 at 9:50am

The new Lynn Nottage play starts at The Public tonight.  Anyone know why there is zero buzz on this?  I would think a new work from a playwright of Nottage's stature would begin previews with more anticipation.  Atleast the premise sounds intriguing.... 

 

This season, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage returns to The Public with a new drama as moving and incisive as her Broadway debut play Sweat, heralded by The New York Times as a “vital contribution to contemporary drama.”

Taking us on a journey that starts in a game park in Kenya and goes around the world, MLIMA'S TALE is the story of Mlima, a magnificent elephant trapped in the clandestine international ivory market. Following a trail of greed and desire as old as trade itself, Mlima leads us through memory and fear, history and tradition, and want and need.

Obie Award winner Jo Bonney (Father Comes Home from the Wars) directs this poignant new play that reveals the surprising and complicated deals that connect us all. 

 

Early reports are appreciated as always

[cjmclaughlin10]

Posted: 3/27/18 at 12:37pm

Just lost the First Preview Lotto did anyone win?

[cjmclaughlin10]

Posted: 3/27/18 at 11:45pm

Bump because I’m dying to hear thoughts!!!!

[wolfwriter]

Posted: 4/8/18 at 10:02pm

Thought this needed a bump, now that the play has been running a bit.

Has anyone seen this, yet? The premise sounds so original and it's Lynn Nottage, so that's reason enough to be intrigued.

Would love to read any thoughts.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/9/18 at 10:32pm

I saw this tonight and very much enjoyed it.

The structure of the play is essentially that of "La Ronde" (or "Hello Again") - a deliberate choice, which Eustis even notes in the program. Sahr Ngaujah plays Mlima, one of the oldest and most famous elephants in Africa. In the beginning of the play, we hear him speak in beautiful poetic language about his life, his family, his community. In the beginning of the play, he is killed by a poacher, and his tusks are cut off for the ivory. Then Ngaujah essentially plays the tusks of Mlima, which are also, in a deeper sense, his soul and his essence. As the tusks trade hands on their long journey through the ivory trade, Mlima haunts each corrupt person, and marking them as guilty (I won't spoil how this is portrayed onstage, but it's very powerful).

It sounds heavy-handed, and I suppose in some ways it is, but it is also handled with such beautiful finesse and depth, I never felt like I was being beaten over the head. It's a simple premise and simple ideas ideas are being communicated - I definitely wouldn't call this a complex, groundbreaking message. But I think where Nottage really succeeds is in giving this creature a soul. She doesn't TELL us that elephants are beautiful animals who shouldn't be killed. After all, we all already know that intellectually. She makes us FEEL it in our core. She gives Mlima an etherial, almost divine power, so that his murder and exploitation feel like something viscerally wrong, something impure in nature.

Bonney's direction is simple, but potent, and filled with beautiful touches. The use of live incidental music and sound effects (produced by a single musician to the side of the stage) was excellent.

Ngaujah's physical work is highly impressive, and stunning to watch. Though he speaks relatively few words in the show, and his stage-time isn't even as hefty as the other three actors (who play all the other roles), he still feels like a leading role in a way.

I would definitely recommend seeing this one, especially if you follow Nottage's work. I have no idea why there isn't more buzz for this, but hopefully this post will help spur some on this board!

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 11:37pm

Rave from Brantley

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/theater/mlimas-tale-review-lynn-nottage.html

Odd how “Carousel” got a Critic’s Pick when Brantley went on at length about its faults, yet for this, he never says a negative word and the Critic’s Pick deal is nowhere to be seen...

[sorano916]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 11:55pm

Sally Durant Plummer said: "Rave from Brantley

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/theater/mlimas-tale-review-lynn-nottage.html

Odd how “Carousel” got a Critic’s Pick when Brantley went on at length about its faults, yet for this, he never says a negative word and the Critic’s Pick deal is nowhere to be seen..."

It's a Critics' Pick. 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 9:48am

Lovely - I swear, those seals come and go so quickly. It wasn’t there when I read the review. Congrats to Notage and the cast.

[TBone]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 9:49am

I saw the last preview yesterday afternoon, and really enjoyed it. I'm glad to see such a great review from the NYT!

Updated On: 4/16/18 at 09:49 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 2:02pm

TBone said: "I saw the last previews yesterday afternoon, and really enjoyed it. I'm glad to see such a great review from the NYT!"

I was at the last preview, as well. Made a day of the Public and caught Miss You Like Hell at night.

[TBone]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 4:37pm

haterobics said: "TBone said: "I saw the last preview yesterday afternoon, and really enjoyed it. I'm glad to see such a great review from the NYT!"

I was at the last preview, as well. Made a day of the Public and caught Miss You Like Hell at night. "

I'll be back to see Miss You Like Hell, next sunday - I bought my ticket right after Mlima's Tale!