DOING THE DIRTY WORK TO CLEAN UP AFTER BIG BAD GUYS

By Margaretta wa Gacheru The Three Washkateers is a generous mix of lyrical poetry and violent prose which was staged early this month at Kenya Cultural Centre. It’s also a satire on Kenya’s contemporary cultural and political climate which includes a big chunk of supercharged chaos and corruption taken to its logical extreme. Scripted by Ted Munene and Sheldon Owinya, the Millaz production fulfills one of the group’s founder’s goals when he launched the troupe some years ago. “I wanted young people who’d grown up loving theatre in school have somewhere to go once they’d graduated,” Xavier Nato once told BDLife. That place is Millaz. Both Munene and Owinya are in their twenties as are many in the cast and crew. The title itself is a take-off from the 19th century novel, The Three Musketeers. Those three were ‘swashbuckling heroes’ unlike the three washketeers whose headquarters is in the basement toilet area of a local hospital where cleaning supplies are normally kept. But these cleaners, Denise (Red Brenda), Joe (Samuel Baraza), and William (Mike Ndako) are of a different kind. They get called in by the most unscrupulous, contemptible characters, namely crooks, killers, and swashbuckling hustlers who require experts to clear up any mess that they have made. It’s usually a messy killing or assassination. Their task is simply to get the job done, by any means necessary. It’s to clean and sanitize the corridors of power so that none will be the wiser. The latest task of the cleaners is from the government Minister (Ken Aswani), to get rid of the remains of a dead sports celebrity named Lightning (Vivian Nyawira) who has gone missing after having a falling out with her patron, the CS. Her ‘corpse’ is wrapped up and all set to go when the cleaners arrive. The problem is, she isn’t really dead. She hadn’t posed a problem while the three assumed she was dead. Even when a guard (Brian Gaiton) arrives to find out what they are doing in the CS’s office so late at night, it’s suspenseful momentarily, but the three manage to distract him, and then give him a few shillings to go away, which he does. Following an incessant debate between money over humanity or humanity over money, the trio agreed to let Lightning live. But while they try to get her safely out of a 7th story window, their makeshift rope breaks, and she falls to her ‘death’. But again, she doesn’t die; she rises again to come for the Minister, gun in hand. He manages to knock her out, and again, she is presumed dead. But the final time she shows up at his office, the CS is being taped incriminating himself in the presence of the cleaners who have come for their money. My only problem with The Three Washketeers is the ending. It is inconclusive and ends without a bang or clear conclusion other than the status quo will prevail. That is illustrated in the very last short, shadowy scene. But what happened to Lightning? Do we presume the Washketeers got paid for cleaning up her case in the end? But what happened with the tape recording and the journalist who asked salient questions and got the Minister incriminating himself on tape? Are we to presume that even he, representing the Media, also fell into the unethical trap of feeding off the Minister’s money tree? Clearly, too many loose ends are left unresolved. I hope that can be rectified since the remainder of the show was fresh and combined drama and comedy effectively. The introduction is a bit oblique, but thankfully it wasn’t a curtain-raiser. The dancer (Maulid Owino) who opens the show, moved with grace and silent purpose. One felt he is an integral part of the story, and that is reinforced by a beautiful a cappella chorus of Millaz members who, though invisible throughout the show, added a captivating presence to the performance. What also enhanced the production were the set designs by Allan Otieno and Gitau. It’s not easy to create a set that covers the length and depth of the National Theatre stage. But they did it, not only in the Washketeers’ toilet HQ, but in the Minister’s office as well. And even costuming was thoughtfully included in the director’s considerations. The sound was also clear, except when the broadcaster’s (Saumu Kombo) microphone didn’t seem to be on as she told the critical story meant to set up the opening scene. If you could hear, that’s exactly what she did in a relaxed and newsy way.

SATAN A BEGUILING TRICKSTER WITH A HIDDEN AGENDA

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (the prequel to the sequel) Now let us make Man is a musical play with serious religious overtones that Stewardz Productions brought to Kenya Cultural Centre recently. it’s a show that transforms Ukumbi Mdogo into a limbo-like setting in which heaven and hell are literally at war over the souls of ordinary men and women. It’s a perpetual warfare in which Satan (Ali Juma) is an aggressive guy who delights in carrying out his strategic plan to take down all the good people, starting with one recent graduate from medical school names Dr. Jim (Michael Kamau). Satan isn’t simply aggressive. He is also charming and seductive. As a consequence, he’s dangerous to those caught up in limbo like the dead man whose body we see at the outset of the play but whose spirit we meet in person as he’s the one stuck in limbo because he can’t decide which way he wants to go. So early on, we find this play has a metaphysical component wherein we are not only dealing with human beings made of flesh and blood. We are also dealing with characters that identify as angel-spirits who are watching the actions of mortals on the ground, hoping to save them from Satan’s deadly schemes. The playwright and director of the show, Malvin Ipachi is also the set designer who created the musical’s double-decker set. In it, one can see the metaphysics manifest as angels and Satan upstairs in the clouds while the earthy mortals are being beguiled (like Eve in the Bible) on the set’s ground floor. What could be confusing is the fact that Ipachi allows the upstairs spirits to travel downstairs and back up, taking on human forms in the process. When we first meet Dr. Jim, we see he is a clean-cut man committed to serving the people and apparently incorruptible. Yet he is a prime candidate for Satan to attack in ways in which Jim won’t know what hit him. Satan’s secret weapon is a young woman Satan has already corrupted called Jill (Sandra Daisy). Jill arrives at Dr Jim’s office without an appointment, but being a good Christian, Jim hears her out. But once she literally throws herself at Jim, he has a problem. Like a big cat, she jumps on him several times, until the last jump when he weakens and nearly has sex with her right on his surgical office table. At the last second, he realizes he’s violating medical ethics, and stops himself. His self-restraint doesn’t please Satan any more than Jill. What comes next is a shocker, but it’s part of Satan’s scheme. Jill confesses to Jim that she is pregnant and needs him to help her get an abortion. She needs it, she says, because she is only 17 and too young to be a mother. But she also specifies that she wants Jim, who has some gynecological training, to be the one to do it. When Jim refuses since there’s a law against it, she threatens to sue him for his having had sex with a minor and for sexual assault. She, in partnership with Satan, even manage to mentally manufacture a vision of Jim actually having sex with Jill. But not even this sort of mental suggestion can make Jim violate his code of conduct. Even when Satan comes visiting Jim at his office and offering him 20,000 to do it for Jill, he won’t be moved. He begins to weaken when human sympathy kicks in. But before he can carry out a change of plan, the ex-boyfriend, Jared (Julius Mwaura) shows up and claims he is prepared to take full responsibility for their child. But it is all a ruse. He pulls out a gun and shoots her, afterwards giving her a few kicks, which throw us all off guard. Unfortunately, Jill never wakes up. She remains in a coma for all nine months of the pregnancy. Ultimately, the baby is born and this is seen as a triumph over Satan’s plan to corrupt Jim. The birth of the child also seems to confirm that abortion is a plan of the Devil. The fact that Jill doesn’t make it is hardly given a mention. But the Right to Life movement focuses solely on the fetus not the mom. One can hardly escape the implication that this play (backed up by one excellent pianist, Craig Harris) has one underlying theme. It is that fighting against abortion is fighting against Satan and standing with the angels, and with God. This interpretation of God and Satan explains a lot regarding the fervency of anti-abortionists. But I am definitely not with them. I don’t see God or Satan in the same way. Nor do I believe in depriving women the right to choose what they care to do with their own bodies. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting story.

3 WOODEN CROSSES, A SEQUEL AS WELL A COWBOY WESTERN SONG

BY Margaretta wa Gacheru (composed June 18, 2023) If you are not a fan of Country music and don’t keep up with the current popular Gospel sounds, the play Three Wooden Crosses by Stewartz’ Players would be virtually incomprehensible. That’s where I was until I got in touch with Stewartz’s producer Joe Mureithi, who gave me a bit of the background on how Michael Mwangi had scripted the show that turns out to also be a sequel to Stewartz’s previous production, Now Let Us Make Man. Fortunately, I had seen that play and found it far more clear cut and straight-forward than the sequel. But just imagine if I or anyone else wasn’t aware that Number one, the play was inspired by a Country Western Gospel hit from 2002 and Number two, that the story picks up from where things left off in Stewartz’ previous play. Would they be lost? Maybe not, since the Narrator (Shadrack Nduati) in Three Wooden Crosses seems to spell out the basic structure of the play at the outset. He says the story will focus on the lives of three people. They are Jack (Juma Ali) who is a rebel, a rapper, and a would-be teacher, Waira (Fiona Ndungu), a peasant farmer who sacrifices everything to ensure her son Job ??(Dukealuu Gichana) gets a good education, and Tiana (Jane Oduor), who tried for years to escape the seemingly inescapable power of her pimp (Mugambi Ikiara). Nonetheless, there is a whole lot of back-story about the sequel that is invisible up to the end when we wonder, why did these three people have to die? And one other salient detail that might have helped us appreciate that this play is a sequel is the fictional ‘fact’ that the Narrator (who also plays a wise old guy) is the baby boy born to Jill and Dr Sam in Stewartz’ previous production. But if we had been fortunate enough to hear Randy Travis’s popular (among Country Western or Gospel music fans) song, we would have known right away that the preacher, the teacher, and the farmer are the ones who get buried under the three wooden crosses after their country bus skipped a stop-sign and get banged by a giant lorry. Only the prostitute survives and she’s not particularly happy about that. Meanwhile, we wonder why these three productive members of society had to be the ones to die? Was it because it said so in the song, and the singer was simply passing by a cemetery and sharing what he saw as he passed. We can’t help feeling there must be some higher significance to their death, a finer message than Randy Travis’ serendipitous song. That significance is yet to be disclosed, but one hopes it will all make sense when the third episode of their story about the battle between good and evil helps to resolve whether it is really death and the Devil that win the day in this proverbial war. All this is not to say that Stewartz’ theatre crew don’t have talent. They do. Gobs of it. For instance, the set design (by designer Brian Mandere) is the first one that I have seen in KCC in which the set actually extends all the way up to, and including the ceiling of the stage. He might have had a bit of assistance from Shadrack Nduati whose paintings were on display as we walked into the auditorium. Also, Jack (Juma Ali) didn’t want to leave jail when he was given a green light to go because he was busy teaching a lovely chorus of singers, and composing his own songs. One of those, which he sang (with a lovely tenor voice), got him his ticket out of jail. But he basically had to be pushed to get him out since he’d realized while in prison that his first love was really teaching. One doesn’t know when Stewartz came up with the concept of a theatrical trilogy. But whenever that happened, it suggests they were given to long-term planning based on their own script-writing. But what is essential when is producing sequels is for there to be threads of thought or several characters (or at least one) to provide the continuity necessary to actually call the plays sequels or essential parts of a trilogy. On the surface, I didn’t see one character, apart from Death’s ‘angel’ (Newton Mbonge) who appeared in both plays. Subsequently, I learned that Jill’s baby boy grew up to be Pastor Job, but this was not clear. So one hopes Stewartz can create their next sequel so the rest of us can keep up with your avant guard thought.

AWARD WINNING ARTISTS AT ART CAFFE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru 9(posted 6.27.23) Art Caffe has gone into the lively Kenyan art world in a major way in the last few years. That was most apparent this past week when they awarded four young Kenyan artists with cash and a range of opportunities that will open up doors, including exhibitions and visibility of priceless value. The awards derived from a media campaign that got reactivate by Joy Maina, following its hiatus during the pandemic. “We launched the ‘Art in the City’ campaign on March 8th, commemorating International Women’s Day,” the 28-year-old marketer told BD Life last Wednesday night when awards were given. “The idea was for artists to submit works that represented women they revered in their lives,” said Ms Maina as she credited her team for helping her handle all the moving parts of the campaign. The whole affair was run online, first through the Art Caffe website at the ‘Art in the City’ portal; then on Instagram where many young people’s go as their primary means of communication and news gathering. For someone less attuned to the digital transformation that the current generation of youth prefer, it may seem exceptional that so many could find their way into the Art Caffe competition, but Ms Maina said that more than 270 artworks were submitted online and 157 artists in all were finally admitted for consideration and adjudication. “The team made several shortlists until we finally managed to select three,” added Suzanne Kahi, another member of the AC team. The winners they chose were Kesha Gorajia, a digital artist and fashion designer, Cecilia Gatenia, a filmmaker, and Victor Nderitu, a full-time artist. Also, they organized a People’s Choice award which earned Dennis Andrew Odhiambo more than 320 votes and the PC prize. On Awards night, a work by each of the three winners was stamped onto a giant billboard coffee cup, giving prominence to their art. There were also take-away coffee cups stamped with the winning artwork of 2022 which was by Aadil Shah. Fortunately, BD Life had a chance to speak to several of the winners, starting with Kesha Gorajia, a cosmopolitan Kenyan who was born in California, spent her early years in Burundi, and arrived in Kenya at age five where she first learned to speak English and Swahili. Having studied fashion design in the States, she is now full-time digital artist who loves the freedom and versatility of the digital medium. “I can change my colors, technique, or textures with the [digital] choices I make online.” Kesha wins Sh150,000 for her first prize win. Her art and that of the 256 other artists are available to see at the ‘FLIPPAGE’ portal that one can find at the Art Caffe website. As Cecilia Gatenia was away, making her current film, BD Life spoke to Victor Nderitu who studied graphic design and illustrations at Kenyatta University. Like Kesha he saw the AC Call Out on Instagram and sent in three of his artworks, painted in acrylics. His ‘Sokoni’ won second runner up and Sh50,000. But unlike Kesha, his parents were by no means supportive of his turning to fine art. They were typical Kenyans who hoped their child would become a doctor, lawyer, or certified accountant. But Victor has been earning his school fees since secondary school when his pencil portraits of his classmates were in demand at his Gatundu day school. Art Caffe’s staff was wise to include the People’s Choice award since it clearly generated interest in the whole #Herstory campaign as the original ‘Art in the City’ program got renamed in light of its focus on women. Probably, the most direct and explicit expression of an artist’s affinity for women was created by Dennis Andrew Odhiambo who won the People’s Choice, winning Sh25,000. In all, Ms Maina tallied all the numbers and said 1045 votes were cast in the PC campaign which had run from March 8 to April 5. Dennis, like many Kenyan artists, didn’t attend an art college per se. He studied art at Vihiga Friends High School, but there was no art in Dandora where he went to primary at Uchumi Academy. At JKUAT, he studied Business Innovation and Technology Management. But he’d never stopped drawing since his youth. So, when he discovered the Art Caffe campaign, he drew a trio of women who had shaped his life: his mom with her giant Afro, his sister Diana, and ‘the mother of [his] child’. Kesha will be the first of the award winners to exhibit in Art Caffe Riverside. The other winners will follow later this year.

WAKIO PROVES TRAUMA CAN FUEL OR KILL CREATIVITY

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (POSTED June 26, 2023)

Wakio Mwenze has been a busy woman over the last few weeks and months, creating works that only got disclosed earlier this month at Goethe Institute. That’s where she not only announced the formation of her new production company, BTM, short for Beyond the Mainstream. Its first production was the play Ujumbe, which she told BDLife shortly before the show’s opening that it was just a ‘small’ two-hander, almost as if it were an incidental feature of the new company’s launch rather than the centerpiece of the evening’s program. In fact, Ujumbe is a marvelously revealing story about childhood trauma and the reverberating effects it can have on the families of those involved, including those left behind trying to understand what went wrong. Wakio admitted to BDLife that Ujumbe is semi-autobiographical. It is also an incredibly innovative piece of literature that she wrote, produced, and directed herself. And while she co-starred with Sam Psenjen, there were several more invisible cast members who lent their voices to fill out the storyline. Marrianne Nungo, Mary Mwakali, and Daniel Orenge each spoke briefly, one playing the heavy-handed Judge, one the harsh school Principal (and MC), and one the announcer respectively.

Then Wakio brought in Liboi to provide just the right delicate touch of soulful sounds. She shared the musical voice of an angel, hands that played the finger piano and percussive sticks, and occasionally, a West African talking drum. Wakio plays an impressionistic version of herself in this exquisitely experimental play. She starts off the show by asking her audience members to write something if they had ever been traumatized in secondary school. That question and the responses she gets open the way for the drama to begin. That is when we first meet her as a humble secondary school girl whose teacher accuses her of starting a school strike. Meanwhile, her father, also an innocent man (played by Psenjen) who has been accused of extorting money and looking just as helpless in prison as she does in school. The girl tries to defend herself, going to her school principal but she is blamed nonetheless and booted out of school for several weeks. Formerly a grade A student, her grades steadily descend until she nearly flunks out of school altogether.

The one thing that saves her from giving up altogether are mysterious letters that she receives which are filled with comfort and consoling advice. It is only after she gets out of that school that she learns the letters were actually from her father who had managed to smuggle them out to her through a kind of underground railway line that enabled him to send her his healing notes. Meanwhile, Psenjen’s story is largely revealed through mime combined with the accusing voices of his sentencing Judge in a way comparable to how Wakio’s Principal accused and sentenced her falsely. His miming is particularly powerful as we can almost feel the blows from his fellow-inmates as they take their frustrations out on this humble man. Rita aka Wakio has also endured a sort of physical torture. She had been forced to walk on her knees all the way across the school compound, suffering not just the physical pain but the shame she felt as her classmates watched with horror as that level of corporal punishment was rare. It is after that that her grades plummet and she briefly even contemplated suicide. But then the scrappy letters start coming and she manages to regroup and graduate. It is only then that Rita learns of her father’s incarceration and the charges made against him. But she doesn’t care. She must go see him. But this proves to be an even more disturbing experience. Reaching the prison gate, she sees him in the crowd, being pushed, shoved, and looking helpless and unwell.

Just before he gets pulled away as if by a tsunami undertow, her father sees her and somehow he struggles to connect with her, even for a brief moment. The play ends with Wakio crying out for her father. And this is when we wonder, how much of this double story reflects the actual life of the father and his child? How autobiographical is this highly emotional and deeply revealing play? Whether fully or partially autobiographical, Wakio has chosen to show a side of herself that we haven’t seen before. It’s still captivating as all of her performances tend to be. But it’s also a call to forgive, otherwise one is damaged for life. And this Wakio is definitely a whole-souled woman.

SHIBALE VILLAGE IMMORTALIZED IN MUSIC, STORY, AND DANCE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

They took us on a GPS-styled dive into the tiny once sugar-coated town of Shibale last Sunday afternoon at Kenya Cultural Centre. Storytellers Mark Wabwire and Allan Wasike exposed us to their intimate, insider perspective on the political and social life of a land once ruled by Big Sugar. But before they could give us all the chilling and thrilling details of that land, (once ruled as the kingdom of Mumia Aukah), they had to explain why they were so concerned with the ‘Bigger Boys of Shibale’ that they entitled their performance the same. In essence, they gave us a microscopic view of what is essentially true in every village, town, city, and county in Kenya where there’s a government of some sort and a bureaucracy. It is there that you will always find people, mostly men, jockeying for power and fighting to gain the upper hand and higher status than their fellow citizens, slaves, and servants. There seems to be an inherent desire to be ‘bigger’ than the other. It can even lead to lives being lost in scramble to reach the top.

Once Wabwire and Wasike got through that clarification, they had a whole other layer of storytelling to explain before they could put their finger on who the ‘Bigger Boys of Shibale’ really were. First, they had to tell us about Sugar and the Failed Sugar Industry. That was essential information since Shibale was the heart and soul of the sugar industry in its heyday. The town’s rich history left a deep impact on the community. Its economy thrived during that time, and the music and night life were unforgettably alive and vibrant back then. That was also the time that Salle and Kevin were growing up, aspiring to be Big Men, and not just ‘big’ men, but ‘Bigger’ men. In Salle’s case, that likelihood was much dimmer than it was for Kevin since Kevo came from a powerful and rich family; his dad was a tycoon who’d made his fortune in molasses. Meanwhile, Salle’s dad died when he was very young so his family was matriarchal; that meant he was brought up by a single mom who was poor and struggled to feed her kids by selling chang’aa.

Nonetheless, both boys ended up vying for power in Shibale and the ladders they climbed and fell from and climbed again were the minutiae that our two storytellers had so much fun relaying. But Wabwire and Wasike are not simply storytellers. They are a twosome who perform in a symbiotic style that operates not only as they share their story (which Wabwire actually scripted) taking turns from sentence to sentence. They also share in a constant dance, backed up by a four-man band. At some point, it dawns on you that we have seen this dynamic duo before. It was pre-pandemic and the two are unmistakable, having produced, “Something must kill a man’ back in 2020. They have upgraded their show quite a bit since then. For instance, they still work closely with a musical quartet but the instruments are different. They are all electrified now, including the keyboard and synthesizer, full drum kit, saxophone and bass guitar. The quartet still provides a low-key musical medley that doesn’t detract, but rather enhances the journey that these two soul brothers take us on. Their sound system is also impressive. But at times, one felt the two took the long way around rather than go straight to where we needed to be to hear about the areas of competition that the two politicians took most seriously. Of course, control of sugar companies and the firms that made the whole industry work, from the land to the lorries, and the local government were a few of the arenas that Salle and Kevin competed in. Then there was the big issue of the clubs, the drinking holes where the workers would come every night to replenish their spirits so they could go to work the following day revived and feeling okay.

But what turned out to be among the biggest areas of contention between the two was one beautiful woman named Val. She was married to Kevin but divorced him and went with Salle. That was one of the many reasons Kevo shot Salle practically at point blank range. It was a tragedy but it confirmed the storytellers’ contention that ‘There will always be a Bigger man,’ so it might be best to retain one’s humility and stay alive.

KITFEST WORKSHOP BEARS BEAUTIFUL FRUIT

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted June 20, 2023)

There are many positive things that have happened since Czech Republic artists, Mirenka Cechova and Pete Bohac, joined hands with KITFEST (the Kenya International Theatre Festival) Trust. The first big one was the agreement to jointly run a ten-day acting workshop for Kenyan artists who were invited over social media to apply to participate in the event which just ended this past week. The second positive feature of their cooperation was what happened during the culminating moments of the workshop. And that was the performance by 15 Kenyan artists, selected on a first come, first served basis (not by favoritism, nepotism, or tribalism). They were accompanied by the American cellist, Nancy Snider, who travels and works closely with the Czechs to provide backup sound to whatever project they are working on. An ‘Anthology of Everyday Struggle’ was an amazing achievement of fifteen Kenyans who hadn’t worked together before. Yet they were shaped into one harmonious ensemble by the time the ten days were up. “We agreed that at the end of the Workshop, we would produce a show to reveal what the actors had learned during the workshop,” Mirenka told BD Life on the first day of the workshop when warm-up exercises were about to begin.

“I spent the first four days just listening to the artists’ stories before we scripted the show. In a real sense, everyone had a hand in the creation of the program,” she added after the show. A leading Czech stage director, producer, actor, and playwright, Mirenka was asked to describe her theatre life back home during a ‘Q & A’ session held after the performance. What she shared was a sobering moment of revelation that another country could hold artists in such high esteem that the Government helped to subsidize actors’ education, theatre centres, specific performances, and even health insurance. What was also striking was how organized the theatre scene is in the Czech Republic, which may well have to do with the fact that the Republic’s first President was award-winning poet playwright, Vaclav Havel.

One point that Mirenka made elicited a response from the leading Kenyan actor, Marrianne Nungo. She noted that Mirenka said she wrote her own Grant proposals to raise funds for her forthcoming productions. “I understand KITFEST conducts workshops, so I would like to suggest that they run one on how we artists can learn to write Grant proposals so we can fund our own productions rather than be waiting for someone else to do it for us,” Marrianne suggested. That put the onus on KITFEST Chairman Ben Ngobia and Workshops Director Dickens Olwayl who kept that possibility open. Meanwhile, the performance itself was a rich blend of mime and mimicry, contemporary dance and acrobatics interspersed with a cascade of complaints about the way artists are undervalued, underpaid, and often cheated at the end of the day. Yet what Mirenka managed to create at the outset of the show was a beautiful sense of a unified ensemble. Backed by a rhythmic drum beat and mellow accompaniment by Nancy Snider’s cello, the entire troupe moved onto the stage like a magnificent wave. They looked like an organic ensemble of fish as they swirled and swarmed around one another as if they were one united body. The beauty of their performance was that they never lost that sense of unity, even when they hemmed and hawed about the injustice of the status quo who didn’t give the artists or the arts the respect and pride of place that they deserved. But their first utterances on stage were their life-long dreams and aspirations. Each one in their turn told of ‘when they were little’, they used to dream. One wanted to be a dancer, another a super-hero, another a super-star, and so on.

But then came the disappointments, the negative stereotypes to quash those dreams. Meanwhile, there was always a feeling of defiance as they danced to the dreams they retained. They also mimed parts of their struggles. They even mimicked a government’s spokesman who promised so much, but ultimately came up with nothing much other than a flash in the pan. In short, their Anthology encapsulated so many aspects of performing artists’ life struggle, from the competition among them to the pittance they get paid to the rejections that can lead to depression and a loss of hope. Yet through it all, the actors were clearly pleased to have this rare opportunity to be mentored by Mirenka, Pete, and Nancy, courtesy of KITFest.

WASSWA’S ‘IMMORTAL OBJECTS’ ROUSE AWE AND WONDER

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted june 18, 2023)

Donald Wasswa may look like a scribbler, a doodler who delights in swirling thick brushes across giant canvases in shades of ochre and brown, black on white, or orange on orange. But that would be a giant misunderstanding of this gifted Ugandan artist’s work, on display at Circle Art Gallery’s new venue off Riara Road. For one thing, his first solo exhibition in Kenya, entitled ‘Immortal Objects’ features both sculptures as well as paintings, both of which arrest your attention even before you enter the glass doors of the gallery. The other critical distinction between the first impression of his paintings and the reality of the way this methodical artist works, has to do with the way he layers his colors, subtracting the portions that don’t reflect the shape he has in mind. But then he can add and subtract, add and subtract his colors until he attains the exact abstract image that he feels is the impression he desires.

“That’s why my paintings have [a thickness of] texture,” Wasswa tells BD Life a day after his opening, and the day before he’s departing, returning again to his home and studio in Entebbe. He had previously been based in Kampala, where he had studied fine art and design at Kyambogo University in Uganda’s capital city. “But I find Entebbe less chaotic and congested than Kampala,” the artist adds, noting he also has more space to think and develop his ideas, and keep all of his tools and materials.

Explaining how one particular painting evolved, one can feel how each of his works has a history of its own, since none of them are generated over night. One bright orange work down at the far end of the gallery is the one I tell him I would have in my living room as a warm welcome to visitors. It’s so luminous and cheery, I am surprised when he says the piece had originally contained lines of black which he ended up painting over several times. But finally, after adding and subtracting various shades of sunshine orange, he was satisfied with his ‘immortal object’ that he entitled ‘Zalwango’.

“I named it after my sister,” Wasswa says, noting that none of his painting or sculptures are meant to be ‘untitled’. It’s as if they all deserve a specific identity since he has gotten to know them well while they took shape and form. “I actually majored in painting. It seemed that was what we were meant to do at school. But then I discovered I loved sculpture, so now my paintings are more influenced by my sculptures,” he adds.

He further explains that his paintings were not so heavily layered with both acrylics and oils until after he got into sculpture. “Now I feel I approach my paintings from the point of view of a sculpture,” rather than the other way around. Indeed, as fascinating as his monumental paintings are, be they in black on white, black on blue with a hint of brown, or (my other favorite) various shades of brown, ochre, and beige backed by a gentle sky blue, it’s Wasswa’s sculptures that rank most significantly as ‘Immortal Objects’. The sculptures as well as his ink drawings of otherworldly beings can easily be understood as ‘immortal’.

The sculptures qualify for the perfection of their geometric configurations. Both in form and content, they are exquisite in the sense that his woods are indigenous, shaped to a lineal smoothness with a polish that brings out the natural grains in his Albizia wood as well as his curvaceous ebony. He actually has three styles of well-polished sculptures in this show. There are the purely geometric forms, those that are either refined into angular lines of elegance and sharply-pointed grace or those made out of spherical balls which Wasswa says are derived from single pieces of wood.

Then there is the third style of his sculpture, the bulbus shaped beings, each with one copper-lined eye, and given a creeping (or is it creepy?) quality with their slender elongated Ebony tentacles that allow them to stand independently. These are the characters that could best qualify to be ‘immortal objects’ since they belong not to this world as replicas of any natural form that I know (although Nature has infinite possibilities and the oceans have yet to reveal all the identities still surviving at unfathomable depths).

Finally, inked entities are even more original in their identities apart from having originated in Wasswa’s marvelous imagination.

BARBERSHOP BANTER INJECTS PANAFRICAN FLAVOR INTO LOCAL THEATRE SCENE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (composed june 16,2023) Esther Kamba may not have a big budget, but she does have a big love for theatre, and an even bigger passion for producing it. That is why she has come up with Play Readings at Goethe Institute which she hopes will be a regular monthly basis. So far, so good. Last month, she successfully produced….costarring 10 brilliant female actors who effectively dramatized words on a page, much like you would do for a radio play. She and her full cast received a standing ovation from a library-ful of fans who, when all the chairs were filled, sat on the floor, on cushions, or stood outside on the GI’s balcony where the doors were opened wide. One month later, which was this past Friday night, the audience was even larger as the word had gone round that Esther’s Play Readings featured fascinating Afro-centric scripts and excellent casts of actors. Plus, the cost of entry was free. No one was let down by seven Kenyan actors seated straight across the library’s makeshift ‘stage’. They flipped from one barber shop to another all over the continent. One minute they were arguing about football teams. The next, the conversation leapt to politics and colonial structures that never got dismantled after Independence. Speaking in accents meant to reflect the homelands of all 15 voices of men, one couldn’t be assured that the accents articulated by the sterling seven actually reflected correctly the sounds and spoken words of authentic countrymen. But there were no expert linguists in the hall to stand up and shout that the Ghanaian accent was flawed or the Zimbabwean in the story spoke with a true tone of someone from Harare. In the end, what mattered most was the energy, vibrancy, and laughter that reverberated throughout the show. Act one was long, but at intermission, very few in the crowd chose to disappear. We all wanted to know how the stories would end. In fact, the barber shop is an immortal institution that one can find all over the world. But for Africans, they’re a venue that thrives as a centre for mixing up a multi-culture that comes closest to being truly Pan-African and places of peace, reconciliation, and shared understanding. It is those qualities that the Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams seemed keen to convey without preaching and with a genuine feeling for what African men are thinking about when they speak freely among themselves. Conversing in five African cities, namely Accra, Harare, Johannesburg, Kampala, and Lagos as well as from London, they all featured with their styles of English, a tongue a few begrudgingly used. But more importantly, it seemed, were family matters like the relations between fathers and sons. One son was so fed up with a dad he never knew, he was passionate in his rage, he shouted, ‘Fxxk my father, fxxk Mandela’, Both had let his family down big time. One was like so many African dads who were derelict in their duties to their families, particularly their sons; the other, Mandela also failed as the father of Independent Africa, since all the colonial structures that the colonizers built to benefit themselves and deplete the Africans, were all still standing. So why give Mandela any credit, he wanted to know. Act Two is when the fundamental issue of Masculinity cropped up, particularly the problem of role models. Since so many fathers had fled the family coup, who were the role models for young men to emulate? That query was never answered, but just raising it for further barbershop banter and debate was good enough for now. What was even better was the sterling seven that Esther had assembled. They included Mugambi Ikigara, Dadson Gakenga, Mark Lukyzimuzzi, Arthur Sanya, Tim King’oo, Thuita Mwangi and George Mwaura. And as a preface to the performance, Esther shared a personal reflection on her own state of mind during the dismally dark days of the pandemic lockdown. She’d almost lost hope of there being any possibility of live performances when she heard the National Theatre of London was staging the Barbershop Chronicles on YouTube in 2020. The news and the actual performance by 15 African guys filling the stage and dancing to Afro-beats was a thriller and fresh cause for her to feel hopeful about the new ways that theatre could survive and thrive despite the lockdown. The Barbershop Chronicles became a healing balm for her and she hopes it will have a comparable effect on Kenyan audience as well.

BROOKHOUSE STAGES MUSICAL SPOOF ON SLEEPING BEAUTY

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted June 15m 2023) Performing arts are so popular at Brookhouse School that co-directors Joan Aywaya and Warucu Kijuu hosted 99 children in their cast of ‘Sleeping Beauty: The Ugly Truth’, staged this week at the school. The youth, aged nine to 12, did an outstanding job, considering everyone played their part as they danced and sang to marvelous music provided by Daniel Kalule. The Junior Prep’s music instructor played two keyboards throughout the show, one an electronic synthesizer providing a whole range of instrumental sounds, and one the school’s grand piano which offered the musical cohesion to give the story a unifying beginning and a glorious end. Written with a light touch by Andrew Oxspring and Ian Faraday, the musical teaches important moral lessons about what’s really important in life. It’s not so much about whether you are a ‘have’ or a ‘have not’, a beauty or an ugly one, popular or unpopular, all of these superficial assessments of who someone is and what their value is in the kingdom of Bella Vista where the story unfolds. At the outset of the play, we learn that social status and being beautiful are the most important values in Bella Vista. Certainly, King Hugo (Lucas Nardos) and his snooty Queen Maybeline (Nyabiya Syekei) believe as much, and so do all the villagers and the ‘good fairies’ Nip (Brianna Kabiru) and Tuck (Ruby Njeri) who bless the new born Princess Tiffany (Kailani Knopp) with more and more beauty. It’s only the witch Wanda (Emmy Mugendi) who forecasts a dark future for the little girl who, when she turns 21, will prick her finger and fall into a death-like sleep. Fortunately, Tiffany grows up into a sweet, selfless child whose best friend is the humble gardener’s son Alfie (Fatima Ndwiga). But once the media and paparazzi find out about their friendship, the lad is banished and the princess is left alone until the witch’s prophesy comes true. In the process of all this, we meet all the local ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in the kingdom as well as the cooks who are preparing the banquet supposedly meant to celebrate Tiffany’s christening but actually just an excuse for us to see the superficiality of all of Bella Vista. We meet Ralph (Ethan Mutegi) and Lauren (Mwanaimani Hussein) (a brand name for the American fashion designer) who lead the media to where Tiffany and Alfie innocently meet, and who get a kickback from the paparazzi for taking them to get a scoop in the shallow media world where fashionista and celebs make news. From the beginning, we are assisted in understanding what’s going on in the village by the Narrator-Citizens who were well mic-ed and spoke clearly as they provided the continuity from one scene to the next, dressed in their striking black and red uniforms. In fact, costuming was one of the quality features of this Brookhouse show. Everyone was appropriately dressed, except perhaps the ‘Trees’, young lads who simply wore green ‘crowns’ to identify themselves. We got the gist as to their identity, however, since the trees appeared after Princess Tiffany pricked her finger and fell into a coma-like sleep. Inexplicably, the whole kingdom followed her lead and also conked out for another 10 years. In that time, the forest grew wildly such that no one could see through or make their way into the kingdom. But the rumor was that a spell cast on a sleeping princess could only be broken by the kiss of a princely character whose pure heart and clean spirit would reach her heart and wake her up. That was why four princes arrived and tried to break through the bush to find the princess. But they were defeated by the trees. By ’chance’, Tiffany’s old friend Alfie was passing by and neighbors from the next village suggested that he try to find his old friend. So, he did and he gave her a kiss that woke her and woke up her whole kingdom as well. Thus, everything was now turned around. The superficiality was cast aside as the entire kingdom, including the King and Queen realized they owed their lives to this humble peasant, Alfie who had never stopped loving their Tiffany. Nor had she stopped loving him. So, they got married by none other than the witch Wanda. After that, like every good fairy tale, they lived ‘happily ever after’ and it was a fun show that had a huge choir which stood upstairs on the second level of the stage.

DCK TAKES ON OLIVER THE MUSICAL AT NATIONAL THEATRE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru 9posted june 14,2023)

By far, the superstars of Dance Centre Kenya’s first ever musical production, Oliver, were Fagin and Oliver himself. Staged last weekend at Kenya National Theatre, it was as if John Sibi Okumu had been waiting for years to be called up to take on a role that would demand of him as much rigor and wit, character development, and brilliant villainy as was required and which he gave in spades to his performance as Fagin. The master-mind of a child pocketing ring, Fagin is a classic con artist criminal who initially charms his prospective thieves, including Oliver, into learning how to surreptitiously pick people’s pockets both as an initiation and a lifestyle.

On the Gala night of the musical, Fagin’s costume, make up and wig made him virtually unidentifiable. His slimy charm could easily turn into a slap on the spin of a coin, but he didn’t show this tendency to Oliver when they first met. It didn’t take long, however, before Fagin gave one of his under-productive lads a kick in the pants. That was sufficient for Oliver to quickly see that Fagin’s life was not one he wanted to lead or follow. Sibi Okumu told BDLife some three weeks before the Gala that he’d never considered himself to have a singer’s voice but his part was challenging him to find it so he could sing songs like ‘Pick a Pocket’ and ‘Reviewing the Situation’. He wasn’t sure he’d find it at the time. But once the Gala rolled around, he’d found the perfect voice for Fagin to sing those songs with gusto and command.

Meanwhile, the eleven-year-old lad, Abdoulaye Diebate, played the title role of Oliver with surprising poise and resolve. As the humble orphan who knew little to nothing about his family or his past, he was vulnerable to overpowering men like Fagin. But even before him, Mr Bumble (Chris Kamau) at Work House (where all Oliver had asked for was more food; but that was considered so rebellious that it led to his being sold like a slave) and Mr Sowerberry (Alvin Were) were also no good for the boy. But by then, Oliver had learned the art of escape, a handy skill that Abdoulaye mastered fully by the time he met Mr. Brownlow (Ojiambo Ainea) who would turn out to be his actual grandfather.

There were many more marvelous performances in DCK’s first musical. However, there was clear cut need for more rehearsal time, despite the fact that Cooper Rust’s codirectors worked overtime, as Mary Ombaza and Caroline Slot sought to train a company of aspiring ballet dancers to sing and act in ways they may have never considered before. Even veteran actor, director, producer Ian Mbugua came to coach the actors whenever he could. But then, nearly everyone in the cast were taking classes either at DCK or at their respective schools which further complicated the number of hours they all were available to rehearse. Nonetheless, there were a number of other commendable performances, including the female voices as, for example, Mazaruni Khan as Nancy, Njeri Kiereini as Widow Corney, and Karimi Njagi as Mrs. Sowerberry. And having live music to accompany the production was an important addition for Cooper to include, especially as the Safaricom Youth Orchestra was performing under the baton of Levi Wataka. Levi is among a rare breed of Kenyan conductors who have trained with and been mentored by leading conductors in many parts of the world. But again, the orchestra needed to have more rehearsal time with the cast, especially the singers. But the schedule was too tight apparently to squeeze in the time required. But such things as costuming and the double-decker set designs were amazing. One truly got a feel for 19th century European life, especially life among the working class where children were treated as chattel to be bought and sold like cows and goats. But again, there needed to be given more time to technical rehearsals related to sound and lighting. Perhaps that is a problem with Kenya National Theatre which has become an extremely business place in the last few years. During the opening welcome by the show’s Artistic Director and co-founder of DCK, Cooper Rust confessed to her audience that she had directed many ballet productions and understands that procedure like the back of her hand. But this was the first time she had undertaken the production and direction of a musical show. We applaud her for bringing Oliver back on stage and for opening DCK up to new frontiers of artistic expression.

OLIVER THE MUSICAL TO BE STAGED LIKE NEVER BEFORE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posteredjune 1st, 2023)

Kenya’s performing arts are already tumbling towards June when we will finally have the chance to see Nairobi’s first major musical of the year with Dance Centre Kenya surprisingly staging Oliver: the Musical from June 9-11 at Kenya National Theatre. DCK is a company that has specialized in teaching and performing ballet, a Western form of dance that Cooper Rust has had a big hand in awakening local interest in. Since the Centre took off in 2015, bringing together children from elite and under-privileged homes, it has gradually expanded its teaching agenda to include everything from tap and hip hop to modern and African dance. But it had always focused on ballet as its leading dance form to showcase. Now, it’s a new day for DCK since Oliver is its first major effort at staging musical theatre. DCK will be offering many surprises in the show, starting with our chance to hear the musical voice of John Sibi-Okumu who Cooper managed to persuade to come on board and play Fagin as a baritone in the show. Then there’s the fact that we have never seen Cooper direct a stage play before, leave alone a musical. She’s magnificent in directing ballet. But then again, ballet is much like a musical, given both tell captivating stories, are best blended with beautiful sets, melodic music, and casts that require constant attention to ensure they perform to perfection. The language of ballet is of course dance, while the language of the musical is largely voice. After that, both are about bodies which need to be choreographed, whether as ballet or musical theatre. What I admire about DCK’s picking up the gauntlet and producing the first musical of 2023 is the professionalism that we’ll be able to see. For just as Aperture Africa printed programs for the public to appreciate who is who and what is what in their recent production of ‘The Play that Goes Wrong’, DCK always prepares informative programs to share. DCK also starts early selling tickets and publicizing their shows. Why more local groups cannot do the same thing is a mystery. There are companies that promote their shows early, like Heartstrings, Prevail and Chemi Chemi Players. But perhaps the rest can learn from those practical examples as well as from DCK. The other great thing about this Oliver is that the show will be backed with live music by the Safaricom Youth Orchestra under the baton of conductor Levi Wataka, a brilliant pioneer in a musical profession that few if any Kenyans have taken beyond church choirs or the annual Kenya Musical Festivals. But the challenge facing Cooper right now is timing and ensuring there is sufficient time for all the cast members to feel confident and well-rehearsed. In order to meet the deadline of their June 11th opening at Kenya National Theatre, Cooper has organized a smart division of labor: she has a voice coach in May Ombara who is helping the cast to not only learn their lines but also learn how to sing the musical’s marvelous songs. She also has Caroline Slot helping her prepare the children playing orphans and Fagin’s gangsters to both act, sing, and dance. Cooper, of course, is involved in every dimension of the musical, from the choreography (which she can’t help enhancing with a bit of ballet), to the acting, singing, and technical elements of the show. “Most Kenyans are more familiar with the songs in Oliver so it will be important for Cooper to balance the dance and song elements of the musical,” award-winning actor, director, drama teacher, and ‘celeb’ Ian Mbugua tells BDLife. No doubt, embarking on the production of a musical is a major feat, and Cooper has been in countless musicals as a prima ballerina in the States, a place she raises funds to send some of her best students to attend dance camps, irrespective of whether they came from Kibera or Karen. But being in a musical and actually producing one is another thing. Yet part of the beauty of Cooper producing Oliver out of the Dance Centre is that she has scores of her young students happy to audition for parts as either orphans or Fagin’s ‘gangsters’. And with the kids has always come parents who have been equally committed to assisting Cooper with everything from costuming to set construction to marketing DCK’s shows. So, we look forward to watching Oliver the musical like it’s never been staged here before, thanks to DCK and Cooper.

CLAVERS DIPS INTO ART HISTORY FOR INSPIRATION

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted June 13, 2023)

Clavers Odhiambo is currently having his first solo art exhibition at Alliance Francaise. It’s a surprise that he’s taken so long to have his own one-man show since he’s an artist of notable talent who made a name for himself just as soon as he made his first public appearance at the Kenya Art Fair back in 2015. He has only eight paintings in his exhibition entitled ‘Tinted Glasses’ but every one is masterfully painted by this artist who immediately made his name as a hyper-realist. “I fell in love with realism during my days in secondary school,” Clavers tells BDLife soon after his opening on June 8th. One of the few Nairobi artists who had the good fortune to study art and art history in high school, he went on to University of Nairobi where he majored in Design.

“I think I’ve always been an artist so I went for the illustration side of design. But I’ve found that what I learned from studying graphic design has also been valuable in my art,” he adds. Clavers went straight into painting upon graduation from UON in 2014. But since then, he has mostly been in group shows, completing commissions, or researching the Renaissance and Baroque artists that he most admires, like Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer, and Caravaggio, all of whom are reference in this ‘Tinted Glass’ show.

What is amazing is the way that referencing is done. One need not know that a particular gesture, object, or facial feature derived from Clavers’ affinity for a specific painting by one of these internationally acclaimed painters. But once he shares that ‘secret’ with me, I feel he has unlocked even more appreciation for this man’s creativity. For he isn’t simply copying Vermeer when he paints a young woman pouring water from a ceramic pitcher into a bowl. He does give his work the same title as the Dutch master gave to ‘The Milkmaid’. But the model is dressed in contemporary attire and she is pouring water, not milk.

“I know she’s pouring water, but I wanted to use that title,” Clavers admits once I asks if he had erroneously entitled his work. It turns out he was intentional in his emulation of Vermeer. But one doesn’t need to be familiar with Vermeer’s ‘Milkmaid’, despite its being an artistic icon. But it lends interest to the direction that Clavers is taking, dipping into art history for inspiration. That’s true for every one of his eight paintings, although there is one that he says references a contemporary feminist photographer-artist named Clio Newton. I was frankly more interested in finding out how he’d referenced Leonardo so he showed me that one. Hung just next to the ‘Milkmaid’ at AF is the same model that we see in every one of his paintings. “Gertrude is her name, and no, she is not my muse. She is a professional model who agreed to do a bit of modeling for me,” he says, adding that she wore her own jewelry and chose her own clothes. However, one can assume he had a hand in selecting the skirts that had such a warm, rippling flow and texture for him to paint. Her attire is simple but elegant. She is the picture of grace and beauty, and she was Clavers’ pick.

“Previously, I would choose images off the internet to paint. But in 2021, I had gained enough confidence in my work to start creating my own [visual constructions],” he adds. For instance, while studying the innumerable sketches of Da Vinci, he found one of a woman, Ginevra, holding her arms in a way he found especially appealing. So, he sketched that gesture for his own work. It’s the one he calls ‘Gertrude as Ginevra’. One can appreciate this sensitive painting which finds Gertrude looking thoughtful and tender-hearted, although I couldn’t quite see why she’d be holding her arms that way without having a baby or a puppy between them. Never mind!

Caravaggio is the Baroque artist that Clavers likes a lot. So much so that he painted ‘Girl with a Basket of Flowers’ after one of the Italian painter’s well-known works, entitled ‘The Boy with a Basket of Fruits’. Again, one doesn’t need to know anything about Caravaggio to appreciate Clavers’ attention to detail in his creation of Gertrude’s skirt and in the still life of the colorful Kenyan cut flowers overflowing from her basket.

Clavers’ exhibition runs until June 25th so dash to see it before it disappears.

HEARTSTRINGS DEALS WITH DEATH WITH A LIGHT TOUCH

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (composed June 4, posted June 13,2023) Heartstrings went all metaphysical this past weekend when they staged ‘Let sleeping wives lie’ at Alliance Francaise. It happened after mourners attended the funeral and memorial service for Gerald’s loving wife Hellen. It was also after friends and neighbors of Hellen’s family gathered at her home apparently to comfort Gerald (Timothy Ndisi) who was clearly broken up by the demise of his beautiful wife. His mental turning towards the metaphysical probably came after a succession of shocking discoveries about his seeming friends and neighbors. First came the stunning revelation that the Chairman of Hellen’s funeral committee hadn’t just been eating the funds raised to cover the funeral costs. Chairman Miyungu (Arnold Saviour) was doing that by flagrantly inflating the price tags of items required, like the catering and the cremation. Unapologetic about having no receipts to prove the costs that he was reporting were accurate and true, Miyungu also told Gerald and his friends that he’d deposited the remainder of funds raised into a fixed bank account that would only release those funds after 18 years! But if all that horrifically despicable news wasn’t enough to make your blood boil, what finally came out as the most excruciating moment was the news that all the mourners, including the Chairman, were giving themselves a seating allowance for attending Hellen’s funeral and serving on the committee. Seen as daylight robbery and speaking on Gerald’s behalf, his best friend Ephantus (Fischer Maina) could have clobbered the chairman for turning Hellen’s death into an opportunity for his own and his fellow ‘mourners’ personal gain. Their conduct resulted in Gerald’s burrowing himself into a sofa bed for days of sleep and depression. But his epiphany was coming soon. First, the would-be wives had to arrive in his life. It would be the onslaught of the women that would drive Gerald ‘mad’ (and metaphysical). All he’d wanted was to grieve over his loss, the love of his life. His friends would badger him to come out of his depression and move on with his life. The women were another story. Meanwhile, Gerald looked hopelessly helpless. First came the ‘house manager’ (formerly known as the ayah), Carol, who was the first to literally throw herself at him. She refused to listen to his protestations. She had been feeding him and maintaining his tidy home for years, so now she felt it was her turn. It is now that we have the first sightings of Hellen. Decked out in an elegant golden kimono and looking every bit of an angel, her arrival was initially silent. But then she begins speaking to him, telling her hubby that Ephantus and Carol are correct. He did need to move on. He continued protesting, but now speaking directly to his ‘dead’ wife who appeared to him like an angel who he could apparently hear and see. This is when I saw Heartstrings stray away from the rib-tickling business of making fun of contemporary hustler-crooks and conniving ‘do-gooders’. Taking the conversation beyond the grave was a glorious extension of Heartstrings’ powers of imagination. For now, we got to see and hear how Gerald really felt about himself and his wife. He confessed to his infidelities and she admitted she knew about all of his dalliances but chose to stay silent because she somehow ‘knew’ that he loved her and she loved him. So, angel Hellen was all for the maid sticking around. But then came Dee (Leitun Salat) the hoochy-koochy girlfriend who was also not intending to leave. She came with all her luggage, apparently feeling entitled in her mind, since she and Gerald seemed to have a side-chick sort of history that did not impress Hellen at all. Bernice was marvelous, moving around quietly and watching as even her own sister Amanda (Esther Kahuha) shows up to take over from her deceased sis. She too felt entitled, but this one didn’t impress Hellen either. All the while that the women are coming and claiming ruling status over Gerald’s house, Hellen is quietly observing and letting him know what she feels. Their conversations are touching, and one can’t know if Hellen is Gerald’s dream or if she is a genuine angel sent to assist him in his hour of need. Either way, it’s the men who ultimately help Gerald decide. The Chairman interviews all three women; their responses to his queries being what will determine what the men decide. It’s the hoochy-koochy side-chick who wins by their estimation. But in the end, there’s so much confusion that we can’t really know if anyone replaced Hellen. I don’t think so.

GARDEN SOCIETY HITS A HUNDRED AT SARIT

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 6. 12,2023) The Kenya Horticultural Society turns 100 years old this year, but its plants and flowers look just a fresh, lush, and lovely as they did on the day the society was born, June 15th, 1923. “Many of the first members of the Horticultural Society belonged to the Agricultural Society but wanted to focus less on agricultural issues and more on gardening,” Katy Barnes, Chairman of this year’s KHS Flower and Plant Show told BDLife last weekend when the Nairobi District celebrated its centenary. Based at Sarit Centre’s new giant Expo Centre, Katy said this year’s Centenary show was the biggest that the society has had in several years. That seemed fitting since it was also the time when the society was judging the best plants and flowers grown in the past year. The Flower and Plant Show officially opened last Friday, but the 11 local judges and one guest judge from UK had spent all day Thursday visiting all the presenters to select the best displayed and best grown plants and flowers. There were many criteria that the judges used to assess the plants, leading to no less than 30 awards being handed out Thursday night, two of which were gold medals. The gold medal winners were the Orchid Society for the quality of its members’ orchids and Naina Parrin for the high standard of her plant display. The awards were presented by the UK guest judge Rosy Hardy, who also gave one of several talks and workshops run during the weekend. Ms Hardy is widely revered for her gardens which have won no less than 77 gold medals. Out of those, she earned 24 at the prestigious Chelsea Garden Show while the rest were given to her at garden shows held across the UK and overseas, in Sweden, Australia, and Germany. The UK has taken gardening so seriously over the years, they have set the standards, starting at the Royal Horticultural Society. The RHS exam is the one every judge must pass before they can even begin to be taken seriously for their appraisal of people’s plants. Katy admits that the highest percentage of members in KHS, which includes 10 districts scattered all over the country, are European and second highest are Asian. But the interest among Kenyans is rising rapidly such that several won awards this year for their plant displays. They were George Barua who has been participating in the annual shows for years and Joseph Kihoro who has his own nursery and plant business called Intri-scapes in Limuru. The other award-winning Kenyan gardener is Paul Mwai who received a commendation this year for his vegetables, including his kale (sikumu wiki), spinach, and artichokes. Mwai has been winning awards annually at the plant and flower show. But this year we discovered he is also growing and selling pots filled with seedlings of everything from blueberries, pomegranates, and grapes to guava, papayas, and lemons. He told BDLife that he has shifted his nursery from Nairobi to Kikuyu, which enabled him to expand his business. Now he also sells everything from birdbaths and vertical gardens to a variety of natural oils. He also sells pots as does Katy who also has a plant business. “Nearly all our participants have garden-related specialties,” she said. “Mine is selling house plants which is what I do in both of my shops [in Karen and Village Market], which we call Kuzi, named after the trade wind [that historically hits the Coast between June and mid-September].” Despite the centenary show being organized by the Nairobi district of KHS, Katy made a point of inviting members of all the 10 districts to take part in the event. Not all could make it. However, one of the most interesting displays came from Gilgil. Members from there created a Keyhole Garden which has gained international attention since it offers a means of gardening well suited for lands that are dry and rocky. The name, Keyhole Garden derives from the shape of the garden which is circular with a small opening sufficient for someone to walk into. The outer wall of the circle can be built with stones. There’s also an inner circle so that most of the area inside the larger circle can be filled with compost (made of manure, sticks, and food waste, like banana peels, all of which is left to decompose). Seeds are then planted directly in the compost which, over time, provides an organic fertilizer that’s highly nutritious for the plants.

IGIZA’S GOT A MESSAGE: ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

It’s time for theatre companies to start taking seriously the problem of set design. Some have begun putting contemporary art on the walls of their sets. But then, when scenes change, yet the art remains the same, it can be disorienting if you, the viewer, are meant to be in the moment with the cast. My problem this past weekend was the opening scene of Igiza Players’ satire, Kneading Needs, which was staged at Kenya Cultural Centre. The art on the walls went well with much of the play since it was mainly set in offices of political leaders. But this opening apparently took place in the village where Kibali (Kennedy Kithia) had returned to see his parents after having won a senatorial election. The scene is rural, even as Kibali’s innocence and idealism are fresh and optimistic. But the set design doesn’t relate to the location of the scene’s action. Plus, the poverty of Kibali’s parents is made known by the Mama who reveals the bank is coming to foreclose on their property since they have no means to repay on a loan. The son reassures her he will soon be earning a Senatorial salary, which (is substantial and) will enable him to get back their land. That’s fine, but now, why can’t producers pay as much attention to set design as they do to acting, lights, and sound?

Otherwise, the story that unfolded last weekend at KCC was like a theatrical Gado-cartoon, a snapshot of what is most troubling in Kenyan society of late. But more than that, it takes specific events and weaves them altogether so that we see a phenomenon like Maandamano within a wider weave of Kenyan politics practically in real time. Playwright Sigu Nyerere even gave us characters comparable to an Opposition leader like Raila in Busisa (Javan Barasa) and a President like Ruto in Okuzo (Jeff Obonyo). He also gave us an idealistic young MP like Kibali who is prepared to stand with his constituents, the vast majority of Kenyans who need better health care, better education opportunities, better job opportunities, better roads, electricity, and above all, better leaders.

Nyerere, the script writer, also gave us a woman who might mirror a prayerful true believer like Mrs. Ruto in President Okuzo’s wife, Oluyele (Lucy Milkah Wangui). One doesn’t know if the First Lady has ever spoken so sternly, directly, or critically of her spouse’s conduct, as Oluyele does in the play. But if she has, we should regard her as the conscience of the nation since Oluyele is ferocious in her verbal attack on her husband over his thieving ways, ways that rob the wananchi of the food that they need. One is amazed that the playwright allowed her to stay around and didn’t have her husband, the President, banish her for her forthright way of seeing him for the ‘sinner’ that he is. One is also amazed that Oluyele remains with this crook; but there is just a hint that she actually enjoys sharing the power that her man has. Doesn’t that look she too is self-serving in that she sees the whole picture of corruption, yet as much as she critiques it and lets him know she sees it all, yet she still won’t walk away.

In the end, it’s the young MP who had been shot during a Maadamano, and all assume either he died in the assault or he is holding onto life by a thread. Either way, he is virtually gone, leaving the President to believe that all his critics are also silenced. He is wrong, of course. The final scene finds Kibali rising from the “dead”, in this case, a hospital bed, and leading a new revolution for peaceful change. His final speech is powerful and persuasive. He tells the two Leaders, Busisa and Okuzo, that another negotiated handshake or even a truce isn’t good enough. It only signals that they are prepared to share the wealth that should be fairly distributed within the wider community and nation, not simply between themselves. There’s a clamoring of people right outside, but neither so-called leader claims responsibility. So, who could be leading them, they ask? That’s when Kibali bursts into their room and dismisses their truce. The peaceful demonstration that he is leading is a true revolutionary force. It’s nonviolent, and meant to suggest that another kind of Maandamano is possible. Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll have to wait and see.