‘Kenya for
Sale’ was set to open this past Wednesday night at Alliance Francaise. Instead,
Heartstrings Kenya will open tonight and run through Sunday.
Sadly we
lost chances to have two extra nights of seeing the latest Heartstrings comedy due
to unnecessary rescheduling. This was a loss for Heartstrings’ loyal audiences
who prefer coming weeknights.
In contrast
to HS loyalists, there are some Kenyan critics who think this ingenious theatre
company draws house-full crowds just because they are supposedly ‘rib-tickling’
and consistently ‘hilarious’ in their output of shows. The troupe is criticized
because they are ‘teaching’ local audiences that theatre is only about ‘entertainment’,
not enlightenment or in-depth exploration of important and timely social issues.
On the
contrary, Heartstrings’ shows are indeed entertaining, providing ‘a
laugh-a-minute’, especially for locals who understand all the nuanced
references embedded in the scripts that relate to today’s and yesterday’s
issues, headlines and social media talking points.
One genius
thing that Sammy Mwangi and his crew understand about entertainment and enlightening
‘education’ is that it’s easier to get through to people through humor rather
than heavy polemics, political tirades, legalistic speeches or boring drones
about ‘corrupt institutions’ and ‘sham elections.’
It’s easier
to point at Kenyan people’s foibles and psychological flaws, weaving them into
comedic scenes that look quite familiar which indeed they usually are.
Somehow,
Sammy has a knack for tickling people’s funny bones while simultaneously
addressing social traumas and dramas that would otherwise stay buried and
unaddressed except when they’re shared with people’s intimate partners or
political peers.
So the
critics of Heartstrings need to go see their shows, including ‘Kenya For Sale’
which opens tonight at Alliance. According to Sammy who devised this script
together with his gifted team, the show is literally about the country being on
sale.
Set at the
Coast where there’s a big expo underway, one will see how willing locals are to
sell off essentials out of a short-sighted sense of value (meaning monetary).
I don’t know
how the show gets resolved as I haven’t seen it yet, but Sammy takes note of
the fact that expats apparently adore this country ‘more than’ locals do; or at
least that would seem to be the case, especially now when political tensions
could do enduring damage to our beloved Kenya.
The
Heartstrings ensemble includes Victor Nyaata, Jane Wangari, Cyprian Osoro,
Silas Ojijo and others. Meanwhile, Sammy Mwangi directs assisted by Ndeng’a.
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