A play review of “Lindiwe”
at Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago, Nov 17, 2019,
by Maja Rios
I attended the opening night of play “Lindiwe” by Eric Simonson, with live music by South African acapella group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. All the musicians were great, especially Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who I had never heard live until this production.
The play was basically about a South African singer(Lindiwe) and a Chicago Blues musician(Adam) who meet in a Chicago blues club, and fall in love, and how their two music styles and cultures have much in common.What could have been a nice “cross-cultural” story of trying to bridge two cultures through music, in my opinion, became a confusing mix of fantasy with the (“devil” like character of the Keeper, who kept showing up during the entire production as an evil presence with smoke, long robe and evil mask, to “take away voice from the singer”, silly comedic lines throughout the narration which made no sense, and “realistic” drama/love story of a serious subject of cross-cultural romance and immigration. It seems the play couldn’t decide which style to be.
All of a sudden Lindiwe is in a hospital bed from a car accident following a jam session of South African musicians and Blues musicians in a club. Nothing leading up to that scene was shown.
The music could have stood alone as a concert, with Nondumiso singing both the blues and South African Acapella singing, Ladysmith, acapella singing and dancing and the Chicago Blues band playing, as they all did throughout the play. The play seemed more like a distraction from the great music since the storyline went nowhere and was at best a story that never went too deep.
However, I’m glad I went, for the music alone was worth the trip and the theater itself is always a great setting for plays.
