Liberian Girl review, Royal Court Upstairs

One of the most barbarous facets of warfare in the African subcontinent in recent times has been the kidnap and subversion of young boys, turning them into killing machines that not only rape, mutilate and destroy their own, but are in turn destroyed for, or by, their actions. It is a subject to which Diana Nneka Atuona gives a twist in her powerful first play Liberian Girl.

Martha is 14 and resisting adulthood when the rebels reach her village. Her grandmother disguises her as a boy to keep her safe. Inevitably she is picked out to join a Small Boy Unit and forced to carry out the unspeakable acts that were a small boy's lot during the civil wars of 1989-2003. Somewhere inside however, the spark of humanity still burns. Even as she is taking lives, she finds a way of providing safety for one of the abducted young girls kept as sexual fodder for the men. 

The boy soldier motif is a part of modern history's crueller moments from the Hitler Youth to Mao's Red Guards, from numerous African rebellions to the gunmen of ISIS. It is painful to watch a reenactment of their corruption and its consequences even for just 90 minutes. Matthew Dunster has turned Atuona's work into an extraordinary, immersive, production with the standing audience herded around the auditorium's red sand floor by teenage gunmen high on cocaine and heady with military power. There is a rape scene where one member of the audience wept openly and all were tearful. Liberian Girl is hard going on all one's senses from the feet to the brain.  

In conclusion: I saw this play the day a young girl was packed with explosives and detonated in a Nigerian market. The exploitation of children in conflicts continues. An impressive and superbly choreographed young cast provide tension and pace, taking serious knocks on Anna Flelschie's evocative set. Headed by Juma Sharkah as Martha, they are: Landry Adelard, Michael Ajao, Marleme Diouf, Fraser James, Edward Kagutuzi, Cecilia Noble, Valentine Olukoga and Weruche Opia.

References

Liberian Girl, Tickets

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW3.  Production ends 31 January