HEARTSTRINGS EXPOSE INSTITUTIONAL ROT

Heartstrings Entertainment dug deep into the rot of contemporary Kenyan society to explore and expose some the absurd and elaborate means by which bogus ‘professionals’ try to exploit vulnerable people in their hour of need. In a “Pinch of Salt’ which they staged last weekend at Alliance Francaise, they were particularly hard hitting at the religious, medical, and even indigenous so-called healers that Lisa Muambua (Bernice Nthenya) is prepared to consult in her efforts to have a child.

Lisa’s desire for children first comes to light at the house-warming party she has organized to celebrate the completion of their multi-million-shilling home that her husband Hezekiah (Tim Ndisii) has managed to build. Her guests of honor are the Pastor (Ibrahim Kinuthia) and his wife (Jane Wangari) who we can see are as bogus as they come. They have not only monetized religion and especially ‘healing’ prayers. The wife is such a wheeler dealer that her tally of expenses for praying first for Lisa and Hez to have a child, and for protection of the house rounds out to Sh2 million only. What’s more, the so-called Pastor doesn’t even know where the book of Revelation is in the Bible.

The hypocrisy and narrow view of religion is further seen when she lashes out at Lisa’s inebriated friend Veronica (Zeitun Salat) who arrives late wearing a chic but sexy tight and short black leather dress. She rushed to cover up Vero with a lasso she has on hand, but is stopped by Lisa who reminds her of the basic Christian tenet, to judge not that ye be not judged. In the meantime, the cook Sosi (Arnold Savior) takes advantage of the situation and come join the party. He inadvertently rubs more salt into Lisa’s wound by discussing his triplets who everybody believed were baby boys until somebody double checked and found they were baby girls.

The rambling discussions of kids actually began the moment their neighbor and friend, Baba Baraka showed up with his five-year-old boy (Director Sammy Mwangi’s son). They are on their way to Switzerland to take Baraka to Boarding school. Clearly, the Muambuas have moved into a high-class community and Lisa uses this to reinforce her argument with Hez. She tells him all the neighbors have offspring. Only they are childless, as if to suggest that children are like trophies in this elite neck of society. But that doesn’t dissuade him from telling her they must, for some unknown reason, wait a while longer.

Nonetheless, Lisa takes him to a medical clinic to get advice and a prescription to enhance the prospect of her pregnancy. But at Simon Murage’s clinic they only find another imposter who promises to provide whatever prescription they want. You name it, he will have it, or pretend to have it. Hezekia sees the sham and insists they leave. Heartstrings does several double-bookings of characters in Pinch of Salt. For instance, Simon Murage is enacted by the same Fischer Maina as the Baba who was off to Switzerland. But the actor was so good at transforming his character that the Baba was invisible in the bogus medic. The other actor who totally transforms his character is the Cook who becomes the Witch Doctor that Liza and Hez finally go to see in her desperation to get a child. Harold Savior is hilarious as the touchy WD who hands her a potion she readily accepts, but Hez denies it and shouts the WD down, apparently paining the grassroots medic with his shrill rebuke that causes the WD to shrivel up and fall to the ground, giving off guttural sounds in the process.

This show rambled on a bit longer than necessary, possibly due to unnecessary interventions like the bit with the Contractor and his Assistant, which didn’t add value to the main storyline. The final scene is critical since Lisa has been sleuthing herself and is out to stealthily entrap her bogus spouse who’s been keeping a crucial secret from her for a long time. She’s invited the same lot as before to her surprise party. She wants to announce that she is pregnant at last. Hezekia howled that’s impossible, apparently because they haven’t had sex recently. Then he finally admits he had a vasectomy, which is what she’d suspected. She is now on her way out of the marriage when he begs her to stay. Vasectomies are reversible and he will do it out of love for her. Otherwise, he feels this corrupt world is no place to bring a newborn to live. She complied, admitting she too was lying. She was not pregnant. But as she says, he’s a liar who perhaps shouldn’t be so easily let off the hook.