“For colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf” (1976), by Ntozake Shange is a combination of poetry, dance music and monologues, spoken by seven women, each associated with a color of the rainbow. Their voices do not play specific characters, but express common experiences and emotions of black women in the USA. The play deals with issues related to identity, self-esteem, racism and sexism, relationships, love, betrayal, pain, but also strength, solidarity and healing. The play leads towards self-recognition, resilience and hope, while the rainbow symbolizes wholeness and life (Alsanafi et al., 2019· Suganthi & Jose, 2016).
This play is one of the most characteristic examples of Anglophone postmodern Theatre, as it radically challenges the conventions of dramatic writing and redefines the relationship between text, body and stage experience. Shange herself describes the play as a “choreopoem”, a hybrid theatrical discourse that combines poetry, music and dance, placing it at the heart of the discussion about theatre beyond realism. Shange’s play rejects traditional plot and individually defined characters. The performers do not play “specific persons”, but they appear as voices carrying colors, suggesting multiple and intersecting identities. This choice reinforces the collectiveness of the experience and shifts the interest from “what happens” to “how it is experienced” (Richard, 2001· Wilson, 2024).
Thematically, the play examines issues of gender, race, and identity through personal narratives that acquire a political dimension. However, “for colored girls” does not limit itself to highlighting oppression˙ on the contrary, it highlights the power of solidarity and self-awareness as acts of resistance. The emphasis on voice and body transforms the experience into an act of self-determination. The play does not present women as victims, but as subjects claiming voice and presence (Tellini, 2015).
Within the context of the “Contemporary Anglophone Theatre” course, Shange's play functions as a critical example of postmodern and feminist Theatre, demonstrating how late 20th-century Anglophone Theatre expands its boundaries, both aesthetically and politically, while remaining deeply relevant as issues of gender and race preoccupy contemporary multicultural and traditionally patriarchal societies, elements that we have met in both “Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw (1902)” and in “The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (1944)”. Additionally, the stage language of the play is based on rhythmic recitation, the physicality and musicality of speech, making the reception of the play a highly experiential process for the audience, emphasizing the emotional experience of the viewer. In this way, theater does not function simply as a means of representation, but as a meeting place for different art forms, an element that directly connects it to the theme of the course around inter-artism and reminds us the play of “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett (1953) which it has often been adapted for stage, operas, musicals, television, and theatrical performances across most of Europe and the Americas.
References
Alsanafi, I.H., Mohd Noor, S.N.F., & Kadir, Z.A. (2019). ‘Judgemental category’ is the major concept in Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), 9 (1), 256-264.
Richard, J.M. (2001). A thematic exploration of “For colored girls who have considered suicide/ When the rainbow is enuf”, by Ntozake Shange. Thesis, The University of Maine. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 682. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/682.
Suganthi, V.P.V., & Jose, C. (2016). Separation of soul and gender: A study of for Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf. The Journal For English Language and Literary Studies, January- March, VI (i), 21-29.
Tellini, S.M. (2015). Experimental Language Deconstructing Patriarchal Discourse in Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf. American, British and Canadian Studies Journal, 25 (1), 155-170.
Wilson, K.E. (2024). Staging Testimony : The Creation of the Addressable Other in Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. In S. Brähler & K.A. Münderlein (Eds.), Diversity : Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Perspectives; Student Conference Proceedings 2024, Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, p. 77-90.
Nicholas Kouravanas & Helen Papadopoulou, Psychologists, MSc, MA
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