Wednesday, 10 April 2019

FROM MURDER-MYSTERY TO BIBLE-BASED MUSICAL, THEATRE’S ON FIRE THIS WEEKEND


                                     Davina plays Esther in the musical staged this weekend by Potterhouse School\

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 10 April 2019)

This weekend will have plenty of theatre for everyone. There will be everything from a musical suitable for kids and adults alike to a murder mystery sure to show the dark side of human character to social commentary that will tackle heavy-duty themes like corruption and the judiciary but taken on with a light touch.
‘Esther’ is the full-scale musical that Potterhouse School is putting on at Braeburn Theatre, Garden Estate. Opening tonight at 7pm and running through Sunday, Esther is one of the great heroines whose spell-binding story of courage and selfless sacrifice for her people is contained in the Old Testament.
Transported to the stage by Martin and Janice Landry, ‘Esther’ is being directed by Julisa Rowe who is a veteran thespian and former theatre lecturer at Daystar University. Having directed scores of plays and musicals in the past, Julisa is well equipped to handle a cast of 63 students ranging in age from 9 to 16.
Promising to be a Broadway-calibre production, Esther the Musical is one of the three shows to see this weekend. Another is Hearts of Art’s ‘Necessary Madness II’, which its playwright-director Walter Sitati says is a new script altogether although it’s the sequel to the first ‘Necessary Madness’ that the public had requested and Sitati complied and supplied.
The cast will be nearly the same with just two additions in Gilbert Lukalia and Veronica Waceke. Otherwise, NMII will tackle themes touched on in the first edition of the drama. Corruption, of course, is inescapable as it creeps into so many facets of our everyday lives (from where most of Sitati’s scripts begin). The traffic cops are still there but there is more searing focus on the judiciary which should be hot.
Finally, after many months, the Festival of Creative Arts is making a come-back from tonight through Sunday at Louis Leakey Auditorium.
At last, Eliud Abuto has reassembled a cast of illustrious actors working under the direction of Maina Olywenya, who we are also pleased to see back in theatrical action.
Billed as a ‘comedy thriller’, ‘Enemy Within’ is adapted from a murder mystery by the British playwright Norman Robbins entitled ‘Practice to Deceive’.
The cast includes Johnson ‘Fish’ as General Theodore, Angel Waruinge playing Miss Morgan, Juma ‘Anderson’ Williams, Rosemary ‘Maya’ Waweru and others.
It won’t spoil the show to know ‘Enemy Within’ is a production about scams and bogus suicides.

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