Going to St. Ives, Profile Theater, READING

by Lee Blessing
Directed by ANdrew Golla
CAST
Dr Cora Gage  .....  Karla Mason
May N'Kame  .....   LaVerne Green

plot summary; IN BRIEF ... May N'Kame is the mother of an African 'strong man' ruler who is brutally destroying his country.  She needs eye surgery and has come to England where Dr Gage is about to operate on her.  The women meet and talk before the operation and it is revealed that Dr Gage's young son was killed by black kids in the ghetto in Los Angeles -- and her life has been a guilt ridden misery every since.  But she asks May N'Kame if she can intervene in the case of a4 doctors in her African country who have been condemned to death for not being willing to participate in torture.  N'Kame says she will if Dr Gage will help her kill her son --and thus help stop the reign of brutality that  he has orchestrated.  Six moths later, the deed done, May N'Kame is now slated to be executed for crimes she did not commit and Dr Gage is trying to get her to admit to the crimes and escape the country.

sez says: intricate exposing of relationship between empire and brutality..what is civilization--and isn't the idea of civilization itself just a cover-up for atrocity. This is the sort of play that would be worth READING slowly to yourself--so you could stop and ponder the issues that are explored. A worthwhile piece.

mjc says  the crimes of every civilization are inescapable even for the generations that follow the generations who perpetrated the crimes