Original Article at DailyBruin.com by Linda Chang
“Butterflies of Uganda” immediately grabs your attention with the opening line: “Let me tell you a story. I was conceived in rape.” The speaker is Mercy, an Acholi girl from Uganda who is abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa to become a child soldier, and the words are all the more gripping because they are based on true events.
“Butterflies of Uganda” is a play about the memoirs of a mother named Mary with a haunted past and her daughter Mercy’s quest to discover the source of her mother’s aloofness. The play introduces the audience to a world where children who should be playing with Barbies or toy cars instead tote M-16 rifles.
“Butterflies” centers Mary’s story in 1987 Uganda, a time of political turmoil. Actress Nana Hill is a silent stunner in her role as Mercy, an apt name for a young woman whose mission within the context of the play is to inspire hope for peace in a war-torn nation.
Hill is an old soul, an actress with the countenance of a child but the expressive power and ponderous voice of someone who has lived dual lives ““ that of her “Butterflies” mother as well as her own. She gives her character an all-knowing sensibility that, despite her small stature, makes her a dependable guide for the audience.
Mercy, who relives her mother’s harrowing experiences via a first-person account, is only 12 years old. Mercy and Mary trade off roles during Mercy’s journey through her mother’s past, with Mary bravely jumping in to take the brunt of a few particularly intense situations.
The beauty of the play lies in its address of the tender relationship between mother and daughter and their role in a society that subjugates women.
And despite its specific setting, “Butterflies” touches upon universal women’s issues. For example, Olive, the lovable middle-aged lady who runs the safety home for child soldier escapees, laments the fact that she can’t get pregnant by calling herself “damaged goods.” And her story within the story, which tells about the orphanages where children recuperate and the kind people who risk their lives daily to run them, makes the play truly visceral.
The raw emotions of the play’s subject are expelled as brute, uncensored forces onstage to the cadence of traditional African drum beats.
Luckily, the heavy topics of rape, abduction, child soldiering and torture are ameliorated by sporadic bursts of comedic relief, including one soldier who starts watching TV and then suggests recruiting Rambo as a soldier because he’s a good fighter.
“Butterflies” brings many of the terrors that Ugandans face to Los Angeles while also bringing to light that we are still working toward a happily-ever-after ending in the region.
““ Linda Chang