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Charles
Mungoshi's "Waiting for the Rain" on television
Robert
McLaren
June 05, 2007
In many countries world-wide,
the great classics of national literature are filmed for television.
In England for instance one thinks of Jane Austin's 'Pride and Prejudice'
or the novels of Charles Dickens. In the United States the work
of John Steinbeck or Henry James - in Russia the classic novels
of Tolstoy and in France Emile Zola. So far Zimbabwe has not done
the same for its classics - the works of Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo
Marechera, Tsitsi Dangarembwa or Shimmer Chinodya. But now on Sunday
1st July at 1.15pm and Monday 2nd July at 5pm this is set to change
with the screening of Charles Mungoshi's classic novel, 'Waiting
for the Rain', in the CHIPAWO Media 'Onstage' Series on ZTV.
Mungoshi's "Waiting
for the Rain" tells of a rural family in the early days before
Zimbabwe's independence. One of the two sons, Lucifer, has been
educated and is going to Europe. The other, Garabha, the eldest,
has not but is a great drummer. Garabha is regarded as a total failure
by his parents and his father chooses Lucifer to take his place
as head of the family. Only the Old Man and Old Mandisa recognise
Garabha's qualities and the dangers of Lucifer's education. The
action centres on Lucifer's leave-taking. It describes the effects
of western education and the alienation from indigenous traditions
it brings about.
The play was performed
and filmed in 2006 at the Reps Theatre as part of New Horizon Theatre
Company's annual season of top quality professional youth theatre
for family audiences. The author, Charles Mungoshi, graced the occasion
at the Official Opening.
The 'Onstage' television
series, currently being flighted on ZTV, also includes plays by
the well-known playwright, Stephen Chifunyise. Coming up later in
the series is his 'Soul Sista Comes to Afrika'. Also acted by New
Horizon Theatre Company, this play tells of an African American
woman who falls in love with a Zimbabwean in the United States.
Much to the man's consternation, she wishes to go back with him
to Zimbabwe to be married. He knows the problems she will experience
and tries to dissuade her. She however persists - and is in for
a severe bout of culture shock.
Other episodes coming
up include "Cry Thinking", an excellently acted and staged,
very moving play on growing up deaf by the children of Emerald Hill
School for the Deaf, as performed by themselves. The play was also
first performed at the Reps Theatre before leaving to participate
in the 7th World Festival of Children's Theatre, Lingen, Germany,
in July 2002.
'Mangwende's Donkey'
is Zimbabwe's first comic opera in Shona. It is a story acted out
and sung to marimba, mbira, drums and keyboard, based on a popular
song by Steve Makoni about a donkey who, aided and abetted by the
other animals, has had enough of slaving away for the village headman,
Mangwende, and decides to run away with the corn. It was filmed
on stage at the 6th World Festival of Children's Theatre in Toyama,
Japan.
"Jari Mukaranga"
- English subtitle "I Am Also Your Wife' is another play based
on a popular song about a man who has two wives. When he buys a
rug and gives it to the younger one, all hell breaks loose. Staged
at the 5th World Festival of Children's Theatre in Lingen, Germany.
2006-7 was the year of
the 100th Anniversary of the death of one of the greatest playwrights
the world has ever known, the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen. 'The Theatre
of Henrik Ibsen' features extracts from four of his plays, each
very topical and relevant to current issues in Southern Africa,
including 'A Doll's House', claimed by some to be the first feminist
play - a claim the playwright himself denied.
Then there is "In
Praise Of Afrika's Children", which is based on a poem by the
Kenyan writer and academic, Prof. Micere Githae Mugo. This production
combines music, dance and drama to bring out the pathos and courage
of an African mother's mourning for what children have suffered
in Africa and a celebration of their survival, resilience and courage
The last in the series
is a dance programme called "Beautiful Zimbabwe", which
is designed to celebrate Zimbabwe by demonstrating its most famous
traditional dances, with explanations about their origin and social
context.
The aim of the television
series is to bring high quality professional youth theatre filmed
onstage in a well-equipped theatre to television audiences in Zimbabwe
while contributing to training and professional employment in theatre
and television for the youth. 'Onstage' also promotes an alternative
home-grown African youth culture and tries to demonstrate to local
audiences, who might never have visited a theatre, what a high quality
theatre performance is like thus hopefully building audiences for
theatre on television and onstage. Finally the series tries to expose
audiences to thought-provoking local as well as world literature.
Many of the
plays featured in the series are performed by the New Horizon Theatre
Company. The members of this company are young actors and actresses,
all of whom have graduated either from CHIPAWO and its various performing
groups or from the Zimbabwe Academy of Arts Education for Development
with a Diploma in Performing Arts or a Diploma in Media Arts from
the Midlands State
University.
The company represents
not only a new horizon but also a new breed of trained and experienced
young performers, who have been in performance since they were very
young and have many stage appearances under their belt. The company
came into existence when the performers who had been active in the
Harare Youth Theatre joined forces with other CHIPAWO graduates,
some of them already employed by CHIPAWO, to form a theatre company.
Many of the members had taken part in various CHIPAWO productions
when they were still in CHIPAWO, including Meetingplace 2000 and
Images of Africa in Denmark and also in the Wills and Inheritance
Laws Campaign, whre they performed four plays relating to wills
and inheritance laws nationally.
Robert McLaren
Acting Performances Director
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