MISSING MARKS BLENDS HILARITY WITH HYSTERIA, Mbogo style

by Margaretta wa Gacheru (POSTEDNov 22, 2023) Prevail Presents recently put together an almost impeccable set of elements required to produce an award-winning play. They included a genius script, sensitive director, and gifted cast who could easily grasp the levity, lyricism, and alacrity behind playwright, Fred Mbogo’s words. Prevail may have fallen down on set design which was nothing special, and time management, starting the show a half hour late. But how could they have known the public was coming out in full force to watch Fred’s latest script, ‘Those with missing marks cannot graduate’. Or maybe they came because they love Martin Kigondu’s (who’s also a playwright and actor) directorial skills. Or because they appreciate cast members like Justin Mirichii [who recently played Pilate with Chemichemi Players] or Bilal Mwaura [last seen in Kigondu’s Matchstick Man] or even Justin Karunguru (who’s much love for his comedic antics in the improvisational show, Because You said so). For whatever reason, more than a house-ful of theatre lovers showed up at Ukumbi Mdogo last Friday night right when the show was about to begin. They all wanted to be accommodated, so Prevail requested we be patient as they filled the aisles with plastic chairs so that all could finally get in. And they weren’t disappointed. Basically, the tale is about the dysfunctionality of the public university system in Kenya today. But Mbogo’s storytelling isn’t that simple. It’s illustrated in the lives of anyone who has expectations of receiving anything essential from the system. It could be a paycheck, as sought by lecturer Mr. Kiprong (Bilal Mwangi), or a signature, needed by the acting department head, Dr. Joseph Birunda (Justin Karunguru), or notice of a job interview (like Dr Friedah Mbula’s (Angela Mwandanda), or the missing marks sought by Justin Mirichii’s character, Maina Njoka for his daughter to graduate. Yet as much as the situation might seem bleak, (given it’s all about those victimized by the broken system), Mbogo somehow manages to keep his script light and ironic. We often get glimpses of the absurdity of it all. But there’s also a serious sense of realism seen between the lines of humor and hysteria, irony and angst, frustration and future hopes of truly ‘corruption-free’ campuses all over Kenya. Those sentiments are played out most strikingly in the performance of Justin Mirichii, whose social persona disappears completely as he presents himself credibly as a peasant from upcountry who wants nothing more than to find his daughter’s missing marks. He’s even prepared to chain himself to the Principal’s desk, not budging till he gets them. Meanwhile, the principal is going nuts over his bosses not giving him a green light to attend an academic conference in Zimbabwe. It finally comes but not before his frustrations get so raw his shouts are at par with those of the angry father. Then comes Bilal’s character, Kiprong (the long-suffering, unpaid lecturer), prepared to spur on the Dad who’s protesting till those missing marks get found. The irony is that Kiprong is protesting too, only his strategy involves omitting students’ marks (including Njoka’s daughter’s) until he gets his cheques long overdue. Once Njoka gets the picture, he’s obviously relieved. He now knows the source of the omission and the guy who’s going to give back the missing marks. And lest we forget, the one female lecturer in the play, Dr Friedah Mbula (Angela Mwandanda) exposes the misogyny ingrained in the male-dominated system. Not that she made a dent in her department head’s, Dr Birunda’s attitude. But at least the issue was identified. Now it can be rectified. The climax of the play, leading to a liberation of sorts, comes as Kiprong agrees to return the missing marks and the dad agreeing to go home happily. But as the hysteria and hilarity subside, we are still left wondering when and how the broken system will get fixed. Mbogo’s play can’t tell us that. It has us laughing through our tears. He raises serious issues, such as ‘what is to be done?’ to rectify a system so broken that it has accelerated Kenya’s brain drain which has led to literally thousands of the country’s best minds fleeing the country and scattering for work all over the world. Fortunately, the protests are growing, including Mbogo’s sharp but subtle rebuke to bosses and politicians who don’t have their people’s best interests at heart. It’s time for them to go. But first, let them give us back all the billions they got by underhanded ways and means.