THEATRE REVIEW OF AFRICAN MEAN GIRL
kThe play African mean girls open at the Aburi Girls School with Miss Ghana audition that makes the five girls exited by her. Paulina who is the gang leader of the group expects to be chosen as the winner of Miss Ghana audition. The plays open with all characters taking part. Paulina and his bee Ama, Mercy, Nana and Gifty. We are opened to characters like Francis who is the headteacher of the school and who is seen excited by the look of the gifts that are to be presented to the winner of Miss Ghana audition. Paulina who is the queen of her squad is seen overwhelmed and in her mind, she thinks she will win the audition of Miss Ghana. Ericka is also presented as a new student who is from America and she is white.
Paulina and Ericka are in a fight since Ericka first day in the school. Ericka generosity to other girls makes Paulina suspicious of losing her swam and ambition to miss Ghana she therefore has to worsen things by stealing Ericka’s files from the teacher’s office. Things get worse when the girls know Paulina truth about her American relatives through Ericka and start to follow Ericka. During the audition, Paulina uses a sense of humour to torment Ericka thinking perhaps it would distract the attention of Eloise to Ericka. Paulina is jealousy of Ericka who is light-skinned and she thinks that would out win her from the audition, Paulina is seen wearing creamy bleaching to reduce her melanin, and she says the creamy was bought by her mother. This act sees the group breaking into two, Ericka, and Paulina’s side.
The show is sweet and every actor is playing her role well. Ericka makes its sweet with her efforts to out-win everything from Paulina. Telling others about the lying life of Paulina American relative and her generosity makes her tear Paulina squad, which does not look well to Paulina. Paulina act of bullying other sees her becoming the queen of her squad. Boih, on the other hand, does not sound well to Ericka through saying how beauty is valued in Africa this makes her racist. Miss Ghana fails to discover the beauty of Ericka who in the real sense was supposed to win the audition.
The producer MCC Theater and the costume design Ivania Stack are among the best who made the play to go success, the choice of the setting in Ghana and schools, leaves the play interesting. It clearly shows how the western girls suffer to be recognized in society. Ericka is given to act the role of white-skinned to emulate the beautiful skin from the white, which the Eastern got to fake by use of additional makes up as seen to the Paulina who is smearing a creamy to send off her melanin. This shows that African girls have great self-esteem as compared to whites. The costumes used in the play show indicate the pride of culture in Africa, there for both the producer and the costume designer played a role to make the play interesting.https://sharksavewriters.com/drama-theatre-and-lighting/
The play main theme is African women, it portrays how the African women are trying to make them beautiful despite the challenge they are facing to end of the black melanin. (Gholson et al 2014) How they are trying to win the crowd and the jealousy they are carrying in themselves, this is seen from Paulina who is taken as the African girl in the play. She is jealous of losing his friends to Ericka who is white and a threat in Miss Ghana audition. The plays end by showing how women fight to be recognized by society. This is seen through the fight of Paulina and Ericka
References
Gholson, Maisie, and Danny B. Martin. “Smart girls, Black girls, mean girls, and bullies: At the intersection of identities and the mediating role of young girls’ social network in mathematical communities of practice.” of Education 194.1 (2014)
https://mcctheater.org/tix/school-girls-or-the-african-mean-girls-play/.