GREAT AFRICAN QUEENS
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As the lights go down for Black Ensemble’s production, which Taylor also directed, drumbeats echo through the house, and as a fluorescent map of Africa is illuminated, the drums come to seem heartbeats and the rivers on the map veins through which pump the spirits of the women who ruled this continent. But regrettably, though Great African Queens has quite a bit of heart, there isn’t nearly enough creative juice to keep the show alive.
The first act is composed mainly of monologues, delivered by five performers who portray the eponymous queens and describe the lives of others. We learn of the enigmatic Queen Nefertari, the eternally enticing Queen Cleopatra, the regal Queen Tiye, the brilliant Queen Makeda, and the ultrapowerful Queen Hatshepsut. The second act is a rather disjointed collection of songs, dance numbers, and first-person monologues delivered in the actresses’ own personas; it attempts to show how 20th-century women can use the examples of these ancient rulers to become all they want to be. As Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night” blares out of speakers, the women boogie around the stage, pumping their fists in the air. Then they ask the women in the audience to stand up and acknowledge their own strength and wisdom.
