WOMEN-CENTRIC SHOWS TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT KENYA CULTURAL CENTRE
By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 31 October 2021)
Esther Kamba
and Wanjiru Mwawuganga have been involved in a glorious theatrical experiment
orchestrated by the Maabara Productions founder-director Ogutu Muraya for the past
few months.
The first
public sightings of that experiment emerged last Sunday, October 24th,
when both women staged one-woman-shows back-to-back at an architecturally
restructured Ukumbi Mdogo at Kenya National Theatre.
The first
sign that something new was happening before our eyes came as we found the
entrance to Cheche Gallery blocked and the audience ushered to the back side of
the Conservatoire where we stepped into the ‘new’ theatre space through a
black-walled tunnel.
The next
innovation was the Gallery transformed into a theatre-in-the-round, all the
better to watch Esther Kamba perform her gut-wrenching self-revelatory role in Dilation.
Created by
the actor as part of the experimental ‘work in progress’, Dilation felt
like a deeply emotional autobiography of Esther’s life. Filled with significant
symbols and abstract imagery, these are conveyed by the actor through an
amazingly physical performance. Esther’s acrobatic dexterity is on display as
she makes her way from birth and a playful childhood into global travels that
leave her confused and apparently lost. In that conflicted state, she relieves
herself of all her worldly belongings, leaving her emotionally ‘naked’ and vulnerable
to scoundrels and other deceivers. Duped by who-knows-what, her level of pain
and perplexity is heart-wrenching. Yet somehow, she chooses to pick up the
shredded pieces of her life and carry on. She leaves us hanging in her
heartbreak, but she’s succeeded in touching our hearts. Hers is a spellbinding performance
that one feels was very honest as Esther performed her truth.
Wanjiru took
a different tack. Less emotional and more analytical, she makes us come with
her story and pursue her memories. Storytelling is her gift, and she remembers
generations of women who she is heir to. Each tale is triggered by a photograph
as she recalls stories of her grandmothers, precious mother, and even one
wretched mother-in-law.
For me the
most engaging aspect of her performance were her own stories, particularly those
associated with the childbirth of her two kids and the physical pain associated
with it. But even in these stories, I wished she had gotten more emotionally
involved in the storytelling.
In the end, I
was left with too many unanswered questions. For instance, why did the hospital
not allow her to see her baby for two days after childbirth? What exactly had
she learned from her first birthing experience to prepare her for the second?
And why, getting out of hospital did she not recognize her first child? Those
are mysteries I never got answers to.
Nonetheless,
following the two performances, there was an open discussion with an audience
eager to engage with the actors, to raise questions, make critical and
constructive comments, and generally interact with the cast and director Ogutu
Muraya.
In fact,
during their performances, both actors took time to engage their audience as
they told their stories. During hers, Esther had handed out syringe-like bubble-making
instruments that a few audience members realized they were meant to use to blow
bubbles as part of the show. In fact, the bubbles played an important role in the
play as they represented illusive dreams that Esther tried to capture as she made
her way in the world.
In Wanjiru’s
case, it was family photos that nearly every audience member received as they
walked into the performance. It fell to anyone holding a photo that matched one
that Wanjiru held to interact with the actor as she used the photo image to
tell stories about the important women in her life.
Esther also
handed out the fabric scraps that had filled her big bag which came to
symbolize so many things in the actor’s life. At one point, the bag seemed to
represent her mother’s womb. At another, it symbolized the totality of Esther’s
life, which in her darkest moment, she chose to empty as if that was what she
felt about living generally. But again, the bag might have also symbolized
home, since we had to wonder at the story’s end, if that is where she was
headed with all her unresolved pain and shredded hopes.
Both
Dilation and Roots are revelatory, woman-centric works that the actors may
consider ‘works in progress’ but we found they gave us serious food for thought.
Ogutu informed us the shows will next be staged in Germany, but we hope to see
them again once the actors get back.
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