HEARTSTRINGS' 3'S A CROWD NO JOKE HA!!

HEARTSTRINGS JOKES WITH SERIOUS ISSUES

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

Comedies produced by Heartstrings Entertainment rarely fail to resonate with the youth. And ‘Three is a Crowd’ is no exception.

As usual the title has less connection with the story, but who cares! It’s the zeitgeist or the spirit of our times that invariably gets embedded in original stories devised by Sammy Mwangi’s troupe.

That spirit is best expressed by Carla (Bernice Nthenye) who flits from man to man, depending on his wealth, status, and willingness to indulge his lusty appetites for the sake of short-lived fun and illusory ‘happiness.’

She picks on her long-time friend Mama John (Mackrine Andala) for being so pious, prudish, and resigned to her boring married life with Baba John (Paul Ogola). She says the Mama used to be as wild a child in school as she was, but now she has let herself down.

And indeed, we soon discover that Mama John is miserable, but that won’t come out until Carla together with two other girlfriends (Adelyne Wairimu and Lucy Njeri) manage to break down her conservative defenses and convince her to take some risks while her spouse is out of town.

The show begins with Baba, a professional entomologist (insect scientist), getting set to fly out to attend in international conference on locusts. But before he goes, he wants to enjoy some of his ‘conjugal rights’ with his wife. He’s tactful in his approach to her, using the Bible story of Moses and the rod he wielded to part the Red Sea as a metaphor for his own ‘rod’.

The phallic imagery isn’t lost on Mama John who is equally tactful in maneuvering her way out of those marital ‘duties’. She’s saved when Carla shows up with her latest boyfriend, a handsome DJ (Timothy Ndisii). Then, more of her friends show up for the ‘farewell party’ that she’d conveniently posted on Facebook.

Baba eventually leaves, but the sexual tension remains. Once gone, her friends also depart and she’s left alone with her unspoken loneliness until the following day. Then, the girlfriends roll back in, and now, the Women Talk is frank, ferocious, and fun-loving.

Now it’s not only Carla advocating for ‘open relationships’ and women standing up for themselves, even when it means defying time-honored traditions and assumptions about what it means to be a ‘good wife’ and mother.

For instance, a very pregnant Ruby (Adelyne Wairimu) has six kids and a hen-pecked hubby (Sammy Mwangi has the cameo role). He looks after the kids while she is away, even when she’s just hanging out and boozing with girlfriends as she is today.

Then there’s the divorcee (Lucy Njeri) who’d married her university classmate who turned into a wife beater. She got fed up after the violence got to be too much. And now she’s a successful businesswoman, who like Carla vows never to depend on a man again.

Theirs is strong language, but it’s in keeping with that same ’zeitgeist’. It finally persuaded Mama John to have a sip of the booze Carla had brought. That one sip was enough to suck her into a tipsy feminist mood, so that by the end of Act 1, we see a reimagined Mama looking young, hip, and ready for fun.

Act 2 is all about curfew crackdown and quarantining of random people picked up in local bars. As it turns out, Baba, his mentee (Fisher Maina), and Carla’s DJ boyfriend are the first to land at the Quarantine Centre. They manage to bribe the doctor in charge but before the deal gets finalized, the four women are brought in.

It’s now the climactic scene. It’s also Heartstrings being outrageously slapstick, hilarious, and absurd. Of course, it’s an impossible situation: Baba, DJ, and mentee want out, but when the ladies show up, they have to act fast. They lock up the doctor (Dadson Mwangi), don his head-to-toe protective gear to disguise their identities, and confront the women who, like them, are fresh from the bar!

Somehow DJ pulls out his music kit, and everyone, most notably Baba JM, start dancing vigorously. Inevitably, he sees his boozy wife who declares her new attitude of independence. He’s shocked, but has no leg to stand on morally since he has been out gallivanting himself.

The show ends with the dance, but what’s clear is that all of them are stuck in COVID quarantine. There’s no telling how relationships will unfold once they sober up. But we sense a new beginning, especially for Baba and Mama John that ideally will be more open, transparent, and authentic.