enjoyed crown troupe of africa's performance of 'onions make us cry' at terra kulture in victoria island.

'onions make us cry' is feminist, irreverent, and brilliant, written by playwright zainabu jallo, whom i met at the garden city literary festival back in december. the award-winning play takes place in an insane asylum where melinda, a battered woman driven to murder--the victim being her wife-beating husband--recounts her descent into madness and tries to free her therapist, lola, from a similar fate. director segun adefila (pictured above) did wonderful work dramatizing melinda's state of mind with a 'mad' chorus of fellow patients.

find out more about crown troupe of africa here. check out terra kulture's blog here. and when zainabu's not writing plays, she's the editor of 234NEXT's elan fashion mag. --AL.

"somewhere a soldier is leaving his family again...somewhere the sun has held back her shine...somewhere a peasant is an inch away from a landmine...somewhere a baby is born...somewhere a false prophet is unveiled...somewhere a dog gives a speech...somewhere a madman is allowed to teach...somewhere a sinner learns how to pray...somewhere a woman wails in pain.

stranger, why do you weep so? oh, why do you weep so? they ask us, lola, but we are too weak to speak our hearts out. so we say, 'it's the onions that make us weep so.' thank goodness for the onions. lola, when your husband uprooted a handful of your hair, it was the onions that made you cry."

-- from Onions Make Us Cry, by Zainabu Jallo