UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL AT THE PUBLIC THEATER

HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True'
Written and directed by Ifeoma Fafunwa from the Nigerian company iOpenEye Ltd.
Reviewed by
Bina Sharif

"HEAR WORD!" is a combination of very personel stories told by Nigerian women through dance and song.  Performances by women in vibrantly colorful native costumes are extremely powerful
and their stories are sad and depressing.  They are subjugated by men in their society, they are considerd inferior, ordered around and sexually abused. Men are the power, all kinds of power but these actresses are so strong that sometimes one wonders how can they be so subjugated by those men who seems much weaker in their angry power? And these women towards the end show us how they are capable of defiance and they exert that strength and joy through dance and song with great power.

For a while one forgets that these are the same women who has gone through such humiliation by men. But at the same time one is reminded that some men can be nasty and sexual abusers everywhere, since there has been such cases of sexual assaults here as well but still the system in Nigeria seems like rootd in brutality of all kinds towards women but women are not sitting back and taking it, they are fighting back with great strength. One of those women is Sister Esther, a bible carrying Christian who in the most enjoyable manner tells us that sex is a gift of god and she has the right to enjoy it.

The show is a bit long and the stories have the same similar content thus making the show a bit repetitive.  I wish the show ended after the most joyful performane by Sister Esther.
But still the show is informatie, important as well as necessary.

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