Immaculée Ilibagiza was a young woman when the Rwandan genocide began. Aware of the increasing tensions between the Hutu and Tootsie tribes, she endeavoured to live her life as normally as possible, until, on 6 April 1994, Tootsie rebels shot down the plane of Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana, killing him. With a foreboding sense of what was to come, Immaculée Ilibagiza's father sent her to the house of a local pastor who could hide her. Miracle in Rwanda recounts her astounding experience.

As 400,000 of her fellow tribe members were murdered, Immaculée Ilibagiza lived for four months in a 3ft by 4ft toilet cubicle. However, she was not the only one to be saved by the pastor; she shared her tiny living space with seven other women and girls. With little food, no exercise and constant crippling fear of being captured, Leslie Lewis Sword recreates moments of her confined existence, mapping out the size of the toilet on the floor and playing multiple roles to represent both tribes, the pastor, her father and her fellow captives.

There are many difficulties in portraying a true story that occurred within one of the most horrific massacre of modern history. Events are simply too huge to be comprehensible within a one-hour play. It may be tempting to lean towards histrionics and hyperbolic acting in attempting to convey such tragedy, but this production steers well clear of this is concentrating on the microcosmic elements of Immaculée Ilibagiza's story.

Miracle in Rwanda does not attempt to critique and explain the genocide, its politics and its statistics. The focus is Immaculée Ilibagiza's tale. Her day-to-day existence, her thoughts, dreams and religious visions that sustained her through her ordeal are the bulk of the play, and in so being, Miracle in Rwanda is no simple tearjerker, or political rant. Instead, it is a very watchable insight into one woman and how she survived through her own strength of mind.

Leslie Lewis Sword capably flits between her multitude of roles and is weighty, and resonating with passion when portraying Immaculée Ilibagiza. The writing of the piece is realistic enough to seem verbatim, lending authenticity that is integral to the piece's effect. The play is carefully structured so that there is no cathartic relief after an outpouring of emotion. Miracle in Rwanda is perhaps a perfect piece of theatre, in that its messages and sadness stay long after the show has ended. Haunting in retrospect, and stimulating throughout.

Cast Credits: Leslie Lewis Sword

Company Credits: Writer - Leslie Lewis Sword. Director / Co-Creator - Edward Vilga. Technical Operator - uncredited. Producer - Carl Nelson with Faison Firehouse. www.miracleinrwanda.com

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(c) Sara Pascoe

reviewed Wednesday 15 August 2007 / Gilded Balloon

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008