In the Red and Brown Water

1.     "In the Red and Brown Water" is a play focused around the main character Oya. She has a very promising track future due to her outstanding talent, yet she turns down a rare opportunity to care for her sick mother, Mama Moja. Sadly, her mother passes, leaving Oya to face the hardships of life. She develops a complex relationship with the character Shango. The passion between the two is obvious, but the commitment is questionable. He is a smooth character that is wanted by other woman and always seems to know exactly what to say. Shango soon leaves for the army, which seems to be a good thing for Oya since he is not good for her. She begins a life with a man Ogun Size, however you can clearly see the passion in their relationship is not the same. The love and respect he has for her is strong, but a question of her feelings for him is one we all wondered. Oya wanted nothing more than to have a baby when she realized her offer at running track at State is no longer an option. She seemed depressed and inactive. When Shango returns and news that he had gotten another girl pregnant, Oya takes a turn for the worst. She cuts off her ear, as a present to him, the symbol of their passion between one another. Other characters such as Aunt Elegua and Elegba were also a big part of her life- they both were supportive and cared for her greatly.

2.     The most important thing in this story started out to be her track future. The fact that it wasn’t pursued negatively affected her life in many aspects. I feel as though the fact that she had no outlet to focus on, no passion to pursue, she had nothing to be excited about. After her love for Shango had been torn from her, her only focus was to bring a baby into this world, something to bring her joy. By turning the recruiter from State down, her future was at stake, and things slower got worse and worse. I understand why she turned it down, but due to that decision, a lot of hope for her future to get out of that lifestyle diminished. I feel as though she did not achieve what she had set out to. She didn’t achieve anything with her running career, nor did she seem happy in life. She didn’t create a family like she had hoped either. I felt as though her life kept slinking into a deeper depression and a more miserable state with every scene.

3.     I was most compelled by Shango in this performance. For some reason I couldn’t figure him out. With a lot of the other characters you could tell what they wanted, how they felt, and what they set out to do. With Shango I wasn’t so positive. It seemed as though he loved Oya, but was it purely lust? Or did he truly care about her? It seemed as thought he was very focused on their physical relationship, yet when he came back it seemed he had taken an interest in trying to make her happy again. In one scene, right before he left again, he rubbed her stomach and said he ‘tried to leave her a present.’ I had assumed he had gotten her pregnant because he knew that is what she wanted, but instead he got some other girl pregnant that he barely knew. He seemed to have no shame in it either, even though he knew it would probably tear Oya apart.

4.     I wish they explained the ending more, the part where she cut off her ear. It was a bold statement, but I feel as though it wasn’t explained. She handed him her ear and he simply just walked away without a word, which I thought was very odd.  Then she dropped to the ground and the narrations began. I wish they went into greater detail about how Shango felt, why Oya felt that was the only thing she could do, and what happened afterwards (instead of just cutting straight to her death). I felt as though it was a very abrupt action and a very sudden ending. Overall I thought it was a very interesting play. I did like how the characters acted as well as narrated their own parts. At first I thought it was kind of weird and confusing, but then at some parts it created humor and a sense of uniqueness that I started to enjoy it.

5.     The only time I’ve seem live theater is when I’ve seen a Broadway play in the city. Being up close and seeing the passion of the characters was very amusing. Their dancing, the music, and their intensity was amazing to watch. It did meet my expectation for seeing a smaller production live, I thought it was a very good show and showed just how hard these actors/actresses must have worked to put on this production!