By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (Posted 19 June 2019)
Everything
about ‘Lwanda Rockman’, the new Chatterbox Collective production scripted and
directed by JJ Jumbi, is a grand spectacle.
From the
posters designed by Osborne Macharia to the costuming and make-up that blends
ancient legend with post-modern sci-fi to the Afro-jazz band and chorus, the
choreography and electrically-charged dancers to the dazzling cast, all are
bold and keen to grab your rapt attention, which they do.
From the
moment the dancers jump out on stage and the band begins its funky jazz sound,
you know you are in for something special. But don’t expect this Lwanda to
follow the traditional tale to a ‘T’. It’s ‘flawed’ if you expect the same old
Luo story to be told.
JJ injects
so much modernity into his musical that one needs to be attuned to shows like
‘American Idol,’ ‘The Bachelor’ and even ‘The Voice’, all Western imports, but
competitions that rhyme with the kind of tale this Rockman relates.
For this
Lwanda (Xavier Ywaya) is still a super-star, still a military master who’s
revered by all, but who still has dangerous enemies out to finish him off with
the most potent of all weapons, a woman’s charm and feigned love. That’s the
way the original story begins, but then our Lwanda is single and searching for
someone to love.
The master
Wedding Planner Lady Medusa (Lucy Wache) is enlisted to fix all that. She sets
up the competition of adoring women who’ll fight tooth and nail to get their
claws into the king of might. But only three finalists have a shot. They are
Athola (Akinyi Oluoch), Atipa (Auudi Rowa) and Aliya (Doanna Owano). Yet
however beautiful and gifted they are, none of them excites either Medusa or
Lwanda.
But a
mysterious ‘fourth contestant’ Chichi (Nyawira Alison) pops up out of ‘nowhere’
with so much charm, sensuality, beauty and immediacy that she quickly captures
Lwanda’s heart. The man’s been conquered in no time flat!
Little does
he know that Chichi’s a spy for the other side or that her first love is for
Konte (Justin Mirichii). Her motive for bringing Lwanda down is revenge for his
slaughter of her father.
In this
conflict, the challenge is not on the battle field but in hearts and minds of
the women, the first one being Chichi who accidentally fall for Lwanda and is clearly
torn between Konte and him. It’s a classic love triangle, but to be deemed a
traitor not just to her lover but to the people she’s promised to finish him
for, is the dilemma Chichi must resolve.
But the
other ‘battle’ Lwanda faces comes from the women rejected in the contest. They
organize an angry protest against him and the foreigner who not only stole
‘their man’. She transformed him into a ‘traitor’ by making him choose her over
them.
So we see
the power balance shift to the side of the women. The three get him demoted and
thoroughly demoralized. It’s for Chichi to console him, but the timing is bad.
That’s right after she’s met secretly with Konte and promised to be true to
their course.
We don’t
actually see Lwanda tell Chichi the secret to his invincibility, but the
inevitable happens nonetheless.
We don’t
want to be a spoiler but most people know the story of Lwanda (just like Samson
with Delilah in the Bible) and the woman bringing his downfall.
My one qualm
with ‘Lwanda Rockman’ is with the ending which I pray the director might
consider fixing. It’s the last scene and there are three centres of attention
on a darkened stage. We need the dark so that a spotlight can create the shadow
required for Konte to perform the dire deed. But the spotlight wasn’t there, or
if it was, it wasn’t bright enough to easily expose Lwanda’s silhouette.
It may sound
like a fussy point but it matters. Also the speed of the ending was so fast
that it lost an element of drama, namely the pathos we should have felt when we
heard Chichi wailing for her lost love. I couldn’t see her from my vantage
point and that might not matter, but since she essentially has the last word
with her tears, her prominent presence might make the ending a bit more
poignant and painfully tragic.
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