By Margaretta wa Gacheru (written July 29, 2022)
With ‘One
Size Fits All’ Heartstrings Players didn’t just give us an ironic title of
their latest comedy, given the divisive nature of political parties in families
today.
They also
gave us one of the most unanticipated endings that we have seen in a long time.
The last words of many Heartstring plays are punchy and surprising. But in this
case, the final revelation was so unexpected, my jaw literally dropped with
what the brother (Tim Drissi) of Mama Sylvia aka Janet (Bernice Nthenya) had to
expose.
What made
that final twist even more explosive was the fact that emotions were already
running high and getting hotter by the minute before Tim’s one-liner broke open
the mystery that no one even knew about until a few moments before.
Storytelling
by Heartstrings is almost always a collective creation. It comes together
apparently by magic and usually works well. Cast members pick up the gist of
what to say, not by having a script typed out in detail. It is more by virtue
of the creative process being so memorable that the actors can’t forget their
lines, however improvised.
But ‘One
Size fits All’ didn’t ramble. Of course, there was the impulsive uncle of
Sylvia (Adelyne Wairimu) who is prone to loud outburst of unsolicited opinion.
But he’s a loveable fellow and clearly adores Janet’s only child. So does her
dad (Paul Ogola) who is so devoted to her, he’s been known to weep for joy at
her graduation ceremonies.
The eventful
day that much of the play takes place in is filled with anticipation as
Sylvia’s fiancé, Jared (Pascal Otieno) is coming to meet her parents. Of
course, he can never be ‘good enough’ for Paul’s daughter. And her dad’s
brother Marko (Lawrence Murage) can easily make matters more difficult for the
lad since he seems to delight in being a bully. Marko apparently came over as
family and to see if he feels Jared is ‘worthy’ to be part of it. But he also
comes to harangue his humble son Junior (Fischer Maina) who is at odds with his
dad regarding his career and study plan.
Junior wants
to study cosmetology, a course his dad poo-poos as manicures and cutex polish,
not a manly topic like computer science. Dad is on the attack against the
millennial generation for their obsession over issues like mental health and
depression, and social media as a useful preoccupation. He lampoons young
people like his son for thinking they have it rough in life but haven’t a clue
what roughness really is.
Janet tries
to intervene on behalf of Junior who looks meek and humble until the issue of
politics comes up.. Then we see the central theme of the play, which is the
divisive nature of today’s political scene and how it threatens to tear
families apart over people’s intolerance of differing opinions.
In fact,
once the topic crops up, and Janet and Junior don’t fall in line with Paul, we
see all hell break loose. It’s just starting to get hot when Jared shows up and
meets the brunt of misunderstanding which is fueled in a major way by Marko.
Nonetheless,
Jared sticks around to see how ugly and poisonous political differences can
get. The anger between Janet and Paul become so volatile that she finally
proclaims a fact that is unbearably hurtful to Paul. Marko quickly picks up on
Paul’s pain and throws Tim out of Paul’s house. Janet has already said she was
leaving him, though she clearly wants to retract that statement as well as the painful
one that followed it.
This play
was long but nobody moved till we found out how the story ended. It finally did,
in a courtroom where they were there over property. Marko was pushing for Paul
to get everything, and the court ruled that way. But once the judge asked
Sylvia to speak, she gave a moving acknowledgment of her dad, saying that
whether she had Paul’s blood or not, he was still her dad and she adored him. Janet
then spoke and explained why she had to use a surrogate to give Paul a child.
The shocker, finally, came when Tim disclosed exactly who that surrogate was. I
won’t tell since I want Heartstrings to bring the play back and talk more about
Esther Kahuha’s comic return to the group as a pleasure to see.
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