Xavier Nato’s
tragi-comical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic love story, Romeo and Juliet, came back to the Kenya
National Theatre last weekend after doing well the first time ‘round late last
year.
It’s no
wonder Opiyo and Juliet was called
back by insistent audiences, some who loved the sound track of Nato’s musical,
especially the voice of Opiyo, which was played by Ken Aswani. Others
especially liked the lovely choral background that harmonized beautifully with
Aswani and Opiyo’s cousin cum ‘body guard’ Kevin (Don Odero). Or possibly they
were partial to the rapper-storyteller (Sao Mukombo) who injected an especially
vibrant and contemporary rhythm and sound to the show. Either way, you could
hear people actually singing along as the musical progressed, so clearly they’d
seen the show at least once before.
The public
call-back for Nato’s musical theatre also must have come from people who simply
loved the original Shakespearean story and liked the way the playwright
reinterpreted it within a Kenyan context. But even those who were unfamiliar
with Shakespeare said they appreciated the show because of the way it hit the
nail hard on outmoded cultural barriers even as it exposed the reality that
many of those unfortunate biased attitudes still exist among certain segments
of both the Kikuyu and Luo communities.
I appreciate
all of the points noted above; although I confess, I did not see the production
the first time it came to the National Theatre. Now I say ‘my bad’ and not just
because I was told, after the fact that I’d missed one of the finest Kenyan
musical of 2018. That didn’t mean much to me at the time although I did feel
sad for missing the production. I also appreciate that ‘Opiyo and Juliet’ was
the only authentically Kenyan musical of 2018, meaning it was scripted, scored
and staged all by Kenyans. All the others, however outstanding, were imported
from the West. The castings were all Kenyan, but the shows were scripted either
by Westerners or in Sarafina’s case, by a South African. So while last year was
spectacular in terms of seeing several outstanding musicals, only O & J was
a fully Kenyan one.
To me the production
was indeed a major achievement in Kenyan theatre. It was a feat pulled off
because Nato himself is not only an excellent director. He also did a fine job
casting key characters. For instance, the show couldn’t have come off as
effectively as it did without Aswani having such a captivating voice. Both he
and Don Odero who played cousin Kevin, are professional musicians (Aswani is
even involved as a contestant in the TV competition ‘I can sing’.)
The rest of the cast, especially the
principles Juliet (Fulky Akinyi), her brother Wachira (Brian Irungu) and the
lovers’ parents, the Otienos (Robinson Mudavadi and Letty Valarie) and the Mwauras
(Andrew Smollo and Shirleen Kadilo) were also excellent.
And given
Nato’s background in theatre—he started writing and directing plays back in
secondary school, and he’s been writing scripts for Schools Drama Festival
candidates since 2003, one shouldn’t be surprised by the way the production
itself flowed seamlessly from one scene to the next without a break or time
lapse or even an uncomfortable hiccup or pause.
Having
founded Milliz Productions in late 2017, Opiyo and Juliet is actually Xavier’s
third production with a fourth one in the works for May. The previous two (‘Our
Father is Naked’ and ‘Dello is Dead’) were both comedies, since Nato says he
knows how Kenyan audiences are more attracted to light entertainment than to serious
stuff. But he took the risk of adapting the Shakespearean tragedy by injected
enough comedy into ‘Opiyo and Juliet’ to allow audiences to laugh at the same
time as the show grappled with the serious theme of tribalism. Fortunately, the
risk has paid off.
The original
concept of Milliz Production came out of Nato’s extensive experience working
with the Schools Drama Festival and especially with the young talents who he
saw had very few places to go with their creativity once they graduated from
school. So the idea of the company is largely to recruit youth (who he calls ‘raw
talent’) to produce shows and at the same time, mentor them into becoming
outstanding performers and thespians generally.
Nato’s idea
of assisting the youth ignited the interest of his long-time friend and fellow
theatre-lover Senator Cleophas Malalah. So much so that the Senator has been assisting
in the production of Millez’s show from the beginning.
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