It has been 50 years since this “choreopoem” by Ntozake Shange premiered on Broadway and brought the emotions and experiences of Black women to the stage. And yet, until now – in this production directed by Diane Page for the Yard theatre’s reopening – it has never received a major London run.
Collectively, the poems form a rich panorama: tales of domestic abuse bound up in a threatening marriage proposal; infidelity that brings a devastating HIV diagnosis; and an eight-year-old girl who is inspired by the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture. In so many ways, they could have been written yesterday. Journeying between US cities including Chicago, St Louis, New York and San Francisco, seven brightly coloured “Ladies” – played by five actors here – cry out their stories, ready to be heard. Shange’s lyrical writing mixes their pain with surges of joy, as each woman takes her turn in the spotlight while the others watch on in witness and support.
