THEATER: Liberia ‘Eclipsed’ by all-female cast

An all-female cast in a play that’s not about menopause or private parts is an event in itself. That Danai Gurira’s world-premiere drama “Eclipsed” features striking women characters committing fierce acts of heroism in the midst of war is a cause for celebration.

Woolly Mammoth’s production, directed by South African native Liesl Tommy, is about as good as it gets. The acting is astonishing, the set design by Daniel Ettinger a spooky and unsettling rendering of the African bush, and Veronika Vorel contributes an evocative aural collage of Afro-pop and battle sounds.

Miss Gurira is familiar to D.C. audiences as one-half of the acting-writing duo (along with Nikkole Salter) who appeared at Woolly in “In the Continuum” in 2006 and also for her role in the popular indie movie “The Visitor.” Intrigued by a photo of female Liberian rebel fighters toting AK-47s while wearing fashionable jeans and tops and in full hair and makeup, she traveled to Liberia to interview survivors of rape and kidnapping as well as soldiers and aid workers. (By the way, after many years of civil war and genocide, Liberia now has Africa’s first female president, a change brought about largely through the efforts of female peace workers who advocated for stability at great risk to their lives.)

“Eclipsed” sheds light on five women, three of whom are the abducted wives of a Liberian rebel commander. As in the hierarchy of a wealthy Chinese family, the women are known first only by their ranking. No. 1 Wife (Uzo Aduba) is the oldest and has been in the compound the longest. She rules the pregnant No. 3 Wife (Liz Femi Wilson) and newcomer No. 4 Wife (Ayesha Ngaujah) with an iron fist, and there is plenty of rivalry and squabbling among the three. Yet the play’s warmest and most affecting scenes show the women engaging in domesticity amid sexual abuse and squalor: fixing one another’s hair, listening to No. 4 read from a biography of Bill Clinton and idly chatting while preparing food.

No. 2 Wife (Jessica Frances Dukes) has fled the compound to become a ferocious, glamorous rebel soldier. She recruits No. 4 into the army — and into the banality of violence, to harrowing effect. Their lives are further shaken when a peace worker, Rita (Dawn Ursula), arrives at the compound. She urges the women to look ahead to a future without war and to the past — in particular, using the names their parents gave them — that links them to who they really are.

The acting is so strong you almost forget some of the inadequacies of the script, especially with the character of Rita, who seems more of a symbol or figurehead than a woman. Miss Dukes is a revelation as the warrior Maima — a strutting, glittering amazon whose power lies in her refusal to bend and her resolute reinvention of herself. Miss Ngaujah, as her pupil, is achingly effective as a lost young girl easily lead by others. The patriarch, Helena, is beautifully played by Miss Aduba as a person whose identity has been quietly eroded away by years of drudgery and maltreatment, a contrast to Miss Wilson’s portrayal of wife Bessie as a firecracker of attitude, entitlement and sputtery energy.

“Eclipsed” illuminates the darkness of the women’s plights, but it also reveals the light within them that stubbornly refuses to die out.

RATING: *** 1/2

WHAT: “Eclipsed,” by Danai Gurira

WHERE: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW

WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Sept. 27.

TICKETS: $27 to $62

PHONE: 202/393-3939

WEB SITE: www.woollymammoth.net

MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS