THEATRE
REFLECTS WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVE
By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 12 December)
Looking at
Kenyan theatre last weekend, one might have gotten the idea that some of our
leading thespians have become infected with feminist notions.
For instance,
at Heartstrings’ last Friday night I saw a woman outwit her man, a master
flatterer and philander.
Throughout
the play, ‘Do it Yourself’ you see the spouse (Nick Kwach) apparently having
the upper hand. He’s cheating his wife (Anne Kamau) with super-sweet words, all
the while making ‘whoopee’ with the house help (Adelyn Wairimu), scheming to
swindle her with his pal (Victor Nyaata) and swiping funds from her ATM.
Meanwhile,
the wife is wise to her man. She’s apparently known all along that, although he
may love her (he puts on a great act), he’s definitely got mixed motives. After
all, she’s moneyed. We don’t know how she got it. But we see she’s a working
woman and probably a saver whose spouse is eating into her savings fast.
But like any
thief, he’s bound to trip up eventually. He stretches his luck too far when
asking his wife for a million in cash. That’s the red flag that gives her
notice that she’s got to put her foot down. After all, she’s known about his
games all along.
But it’s
only after Victor and Nick stage a hilarious ‘kidnapping’ complete with a
scrappy video that she reveals she isn’t going to keep quiet any more. She’s always
known that he’s an unfaithful crook.
The deepest
thing about this modern-day dark fairy tale comes when she gets philosophical.
Looking at her man and men generally, she admits she’s known he’s a cheater,
but she loves him all the same. In any case, what man is better, she asks? If
she dumped this guy, what fellow could she find who would be any better!
Her
perspective may seem cynical. But the crux of her (and Heartstrings’) insight is
that we’ve been bringing up brighter girls every day but letting our boys slip
through the cracks. We’ve left them without the moral or ethical education they
need to become great and good men who can stand side by side our new women.
It’s a
powerful insight that needs to be taken seriously.
Hearts of
Art tackles an even more delicate issue than greed, infidelity and blackmail.
It’s rape.
Or is it?
That’s the
contentious topic that Walter Sitati’s new script, ‘Scars and Stilettos’
tackles, using tropes we’re familiar with.
Like the
attractive intern (Tracy Amadi) working in the office of a popular politician (Allan
Sifuna), which echoes the notorious scandal of Monica and Bill Clinton. In both
scenarios, the intern’s intentions are open to question. Was she a temptress
out to seduce a married man? Or a vulnerable victim as her best friend (Patience
Akinyi) believes her to be.
It’s the
best friend who insists she go see a lawyer (Sitati). Once he gets to court, he
doesn’t just present her case. He’s enflamed with a feminist fervor as he
challenges the politician’s canny lawyer (Pauline Kyalo).
Capturing
all the dramatic electricity that a courtroom can contain, Sitati’s powerfully
reasoned soliloquy is matched by the defense lawyer who’s managed to collect
alluring photos and emails from the intern to her boss.
Fortunately
for the girl, the Judge (Brian Muchina) rules the photos inadmissible in court.
If he had ruled the other way, they could
have been grounds for the pol contending the intern seduced him.
But then, we
don’t find out how the case concludes since Sitati leaves us on a hanging
cliff. The ‘curtain’ comes down just as the Judge is about to rule. So we’ll
never know where the writer really stands.
What we do
know is that Hearts of Art has empathy for women and understands how deeply the
experience of rape affects the woman. We haven’t seen plays in Kenya address
this delicate issue in the past, so we are grateful to HOA for defying the
taboo on the topic and opening it up to public debate..
Tracy Amadi
did an excellent job portraying the young woman whose naivety got her into big trouble
and pain she hadn’t foreseen. We also loved the militant spirit of her friend (Akinyi)
who insisted her friend take a stand, defy victimization and fight for her
dignity and for justice.
Incidentally,
PAWA254 must fix the light system for their stage. Otherwise, I feel thespians
using that stage suffer from inferior lighting.
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