"Men Run while Women Cry" - James Ebo Whyte

Men Run while Women Cry

It was a night full of laughter for the audience who filled the National Theatre auditorium on Saturday 31^st August to watch the play “Men Run Women Cry” by Uncle Ebo White.

The play opens in a saloon with Efe, the owner of the saloon making some appointments for her clients. Becky enters the saloon to get made up for her wedding and few minutes later, Zoe barges in to explain her bizarre encounter with a man to Efe. While narrating her ordeal, the man enters the saloon, only to be identified by Efe as Yohan Frimpong, the one Becky is getting married to.

A scene in the  play " Men run women cry"

 The play which run for about an hour and half, combines humour with advice and managed to get the audience laughing at some very serious social occurrences. It also seemed to have pieces of advice for both men and women, either married or in a relationship.

In an interview with The General Telegraph Entertainment, Uncle Ebo White said “In men run, Women cry, we were exploring the dynamics in the relationship between men and women and the effects or impact of that on both parties. Whether the relationship is a harmonious one or a stressful one; it is not only one party that suffers, both suffers. Except that men would respond to the same situation in a different way and the women would respond to it in a different way. You will not see a man cry but he would run. A woman may not leave but she would be bleeding. Either one could spell doom for the relationship.”

Playwright  James Ebo Whyte in an interview with the media

Uncle Ebo with the cast in his latest play

He added that his aim was also to portray customer service in Ghana, and suggest some appealing ways that business owners can relate with their clients. “We were also trying to explore customer service so we were doing something more different for Ghana. We are looking at combining family issues with corporate affairs. If you look at the way the saloon was run, it was meant to project good corporate practice. So we were exploring some of the things in the society that we do not talk about. I think that every now and then we should draw attention to it.”

Some members of the cast in the play

Some of the cast expressed excitement at their roles and the feedback from the audience. Shirley Alexandre, who played Efe, said she faced a challenge of having to learn to script within a short period and was glad that things worked out eventually. Rudolf Annang , who starred as Juda (Efe’s Husband) said he also had a difficulty of having to learn how to speak improper English. He added that despite the challenge he faced he would not mind starring in subsequent plays of the playwright as this was his first time.  Some others mentioned that they also picked up lessons from their roles. 

The cast  doing a formation to end the play