For Colored Girls

A review by Ola Masha

For colored girls...it seems as though black men are at the helm of all their pain and suffering, well at least that's what we're being made to believe by Tyler Perry's adaption of Ntozake's Shange's choreopoem. Aahh yes! Tyler Perry, the voice of black America and the man who seems to be the saviour of many criminally underrated talented black actresses - yes even Janet Jackson...some times.

Now I promised myself prior to watching that I wouldn't be too critical in my analysis of Lionsgate's latest production, all my preconceived notions that Perry will merely highlight the sentimentality in Shange's text rather than reinforce her feminist radicalism was put to one side as I watched the film open with 'Perry's angels', all living in Harlem, starting their day, each reciting in voice-over a line or two from "Dark Phrases," the poem that begins Shange's play. It's the only instance of her words flowing naturally and organically, the rest of the time I found myself playing 'guess who's line this is' as it became embarrassingly clear when Tyler Perry chose to lift entire passages from the original play with no transition from his own rather unpoetical and sometimes outright unintellectual dialogue.

Many have expressed doubts over Tyler Perry's ability to take responsibility of such a monumental story, one full of vivid color and artistry, I can remember early controversy during the first stages of production with many people citing some issues with Tyler Perry's approach to conveying key issues for the black community, especially since he was now at the helm of such an important book in African American literature, , touted at the time as "a celebration of being black and being woman," Shange's work was originally a collection of 20 prose-poems punctuated by dance and music and performed by a cast of seven women on a spare stage, each identified only by the color of her dress. Recounting rites of passage (losing one's virginity), horrors (rape, domestic violence), and pleasures (intellectual and carnal), what we saw was rather an amiable attempt - yes attempt, by Tyler Perry to bring Shange's work to screen and no one can give a better verdict of this than Shange herself who when asked during post production of this film said "I think he did a very fine job, although I'm not sure I would call it a finished film"

What this film does do however is leave you asking question during and after you have watched it, not very stimulating questions I must confess but questions worth asking nonetheless, questions like why does every single one of the characters somehow end up at the hospital and often at the same time and surely Kimberly Elise's character who is a P.A for a high powered blue collared professional should be earning enough to at least live somewhere more desirable and could afford a babysitter who isn't the old lady from next door... what perplexes me the most is how on earth Hill Harper's CSI character managed to find himself roped into a tale of adolescent unprotected sex as Kerry Washington tries to explain how she contracted STI's through the original's 'Pyramid' poem.

No one was expecting this film to truly capture the imaginative and poetic form of Shange's text, that is without saying one of the limiting things about making films, maybe Oprah Winfrey was right when she expressed doubts over whether or not to make 'For colored girls' into a film at all, but there are some heart warming moments where Tyler Perry does tear himself away from his formulaic melodrama so typical of his work and manages to hit so sweetly the poetic consciousness in Shange's work and for that reason alone you have to commend his efforts and therefore deem 'For colored girls' worthy for all to see.

Proffessional CV

OLLIE MASHA
Mail: ola.director@gmail.com


PERSONAL DETAILS
Playing Age: 16 – 22 yrs Height: 5.9” Eye: Brown Hair: Black (short)
Weight: 12 stones Equity: Student Membership Natural Accent: English, London

SKILLS/BACKGROUND
DRAMA TRAINING Performance Arts, Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD)
KEY ACCENT English (South London), West African
SINGING/DANCING Tenor, RnB influenced, Break dance, Contemporary dance
OTHER SKILLS Mime, Good improvisational skills, Athletic, Footballer

TRAINING
YEAR TRAINING TEACHER
1999-2001, 2004-2006 Drama Helen Everett
2006-2007 Contemporary Dance Dan O’Neill
2006-2007 Voice Training Caroline Goyder
2007 Stage Combat Won Kim
2007 Acting for site specific Punchdrunk Theatre
2007 Corporeal Mime Pas De Dieux, Paris

THEATRE CREDITS
PRODUCTION ROLE DIRECTOR COMPANY
BOUNCERS Lead Helen Everett St Francis Xavier
Devised piece (2004)
STREETS CHOSE ME Lead Helen Everett St Francis Xavier
Devised piece (2005)
SATYAGRAHA Lead Maxine Doyle Punchdrunk & CSSD
Site Specific (2007)
MEMORIES Lead Mem Morrison Arts Admin
Experimental theatre (2007)
GERMINATION Lead Ali Pretti Kinetika
Carnival (2007)
WINDRUSH Chorus Nicole Charles CSSD
Dance (2009)
INFERNO Chorus Romeo Castelluci Barbican
Theatre (2009)
FILM/TELEVISON
PRODUCTION ROLE DIRECTOR(S) COMPANY
LIVES Co-Star MA Directors CSSD
Film Project (2006)
HAS BEEN Co-Star Nicole Charles Arts Admin
Film Showcase (2007)
CORPOREAL MIME Lead Won Kim Pas De Dieux
Won Kim Project (2007)
MTV COMMERCIAL Company Alex Quinn MTV Los Angeles

OTHER CREDITS/ EXPERIENCE
Collaborations with:
Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Writer), Alan Gilmour (Writer), Simon Donger (Scenographer), Mem Morrison (Director/Performer) Charlie Westenra (Director)

Contact Ollie

You can contact me through email:

Ola.director@googlemail.com

Look forward to hearing from you

Performer

I am a very enthusiastic performer, I work both in the Theatre and Film industry.


THEATRE CREDITS

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR COMPANY
BOUNCERS (Lead) Helen Everett St Francis Xavier
Devised piece (2004)
STREETS CHOSE ME (Lead) Helen Everett BAC
Devised piece (2005)
SATYAGRAHA (Lead) Maxine Doyle Punchdrunk & CSSD
Site Specific (2007)
MEMORIES (Lead) Mem Morrison Arts Admin
Experimental theatre (2007)
GERMINATION (Lead) Ali Pretti Kinetika
Carnival (2007)
WINDRUSH (Lead) Nicole Charles CSSD
Dance (2009)
INFERNO (Chorus) Romeo Castelluci Barbican
Theatre (2009)

FILM/TELEVISON

PRODUCTION ROLE DIRECTOR(S) COMPANY
LIVES (Co-Star) MA Directors CSSD
Film Project (2006)
HAS BEEN (Co-Star) Jason Hurt Arts Admin
Film Showcase (2007)
CORPOREAL MIME (Lead) Won Kim Pas De Dieux
Won Kim Project (2007)
MTV COMMERCIAL Company Alex Quinn MTV Los Angeles

Writer

I mainly write poetry for recital and performance, however I am also interested in writing for stage and screen aswell as publications for press.

You can view some of my work on: http://lovetoincite.blogspot.com/
or contact me for others.

2005

Earliest work - Poetry
Idle Iris' - Poetry
Conscious Love - Poetry
Teenage - Poetry
I am - Poetry
Where did they all come from - Poetry

2006

Fear - Poetry
Truth - Poetry
History - Poetry
I told her - Poetry
Lost Words - Poetry
The Streets chose me - Play
The Colour Black - Publication for Young People Magazine
Routine - Poetry

2007

How does it feel - Poetry
I think aloud - Poetry
Write rhymes - Poetry
Carnival is real - Poetry
White Lines - Poetry
All I see - Poetry
This is Not - Poetry
Music is Real - Poetry
Mellosmoothe - Poetry
Tribute to Love - Poetry
Listen - Poetry
Meer Cannibals - Poetry
Young Nigeria - Publication for Nigeria Online
New Land Order - Publication for Magazine

2008

Are you really Yoruba - Publication for YouniMag
Barack Obama - Publication for YouniMag
Carnival is real - Poetry
Ladybug - Poetry
Ladybug, The Ode - Poetry
True Matyr (Tribute to Music) - Poetry
Beautiful lines - Poetry
Nigger Please - Publication for Student Mag
I am Vex - Poetry
The Journey - Poetry
Bullet hits the flesh - Poetry
Misunderstood - Play
She is More - Poetry

2009

Green eyes - Poetry
Africa - Publication for Online Magazine
Black Man - Publication (unpublished)
Black Role Models - Script for screen (working progress)
Beauty Strikes - Poetry

Director

I have directed for theatre aswell as on screen, most of these experiences were as an assistant role. I have worked in Los Angelos with MTV films on various productions including a feature length documentary, but more notably with Spike Lee on the post production of Miracle at St Anna. I plan to study Directing at NYU in 2010 to build my technical skills in Film making and at the moment enjoy making short films.

THEATRE

Bouncers by John Godber 2006
St Francis Xavier Theatre (Director)

The Streets Chose Me 2006
Battersee Arts Center (Collaborator)

Satyragraha, A collaboration with Punchdrunk 2007
Central School of Speech and Drama (Collaborator)

Her Mother by Ruth Hawkins 2009
Soho Theatre Studio (Director)

FILM

MTV MUSIC AWARDS COMMERCIAL 2008
MTV Studios, Los Angeles (Assistant Director)

Search, Feature Length Documentary 2008
MTV Studios, Los Angeles (Assistant Director)

Love, A Short Film 2009
BFI, London (Director)

Vital Knights, Short Documentary
Media Trust, Manchester (Director)