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Rituals headed for Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011
Rooftop Promotions
July 25, 2011

Rooftop is taking "Rituals" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a successful Grahamstown Natioanal Arts Festival Fringe and South African tour. With performances from the 4th to the 15th of August 13.10hrs everyday at the New Town Theatre (96 George Street, EH2 3DH Box Office number: 0131 220 0143 ) the play is set to reach out to Zimbabweans abroad, and other international representatives Tour rounded off in South Africa with a sterling performance of "Rituals" at Hillbrow Theatre having performed at the South African Council of Churches for religious leaders, Wits University for students and activists, Central Methodist Church for displaced Zimbabweans based there, Hillbrow Theatre for theatre and peace enthusiasts, Precinct Park, Yeoville Park and Diepsloot Shopping Complex for a general audience, among others.

Written by Stephen Chifunyise, directed and produced by Daves Guzha, featuring Mandla Moyo, Zenzo Nyathi, Chipo Bizure, Joyce Mpofu, Silvanos Mudzvova and Rutendo Chigudu with music from Joshua Mwase and Gibson Sarari the play is not just an enjoyable but memorable show which is capable of updating people with a theatrical represantation of the situation in Zimbabwe were politically motivated violence is concerned. We are calling on theatre and peace enthusiasts, political scientists and activists and all democracy and peace loving people to come and share experiences in this inspirational fusion of predominantly theatre with dance, music and movement as well as facilitate or participate in the usually interesting and empowering or instigating feedbacks that follow the play.

It is highly charged for Edinburgh after a successful premiere at Theatre in the Park in October 2010, an insightful presentation at the All Africa Dance Festival on Peace, an eventful 100 performances tour around rural, mining and farming centers around Zimbabwe between December 2010 and February 2011 which got the entire team being arrested and detained for two nights each on different occasions, followed by a helpful retreat to Zambia to share our experiences with and get comfort from our neighbour after a tour which was well received by the populace but persecuted by some police officers leaving us wondering why only those few police officers were seeing something wrong with a play that has been performed somewhere else in Zimbabwe.

We are looking forward to an exciting run in Edinburgh after the South African expedition was intriguing and inspiring to us in the sense that we managed to engage with Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who related a lot of stories on how they were forced to flea the country by political motivated violence from not just the 2008 violence but the post-independence disturbances. It was noted that they were Zimbabweans who fled political violence as early as the early eighties and as recent as 2010, who are now either temporarily or permanently staying in South Africa.

They felt that healing can never be treated like a game were a whistle is blown to signal the start and end of a game but rather a personal process which cannot be tackled by a one size fits all approach. On this note some even went further to say that healing is irrelevant saying its like soccer players exchanging football jerseys at half time before the match is over likening the GPA with a half time in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe. To them healing can only come after a genuine revolution such deep rooted systems as state sponsored violence, partisan application of the law, criminalization and victimization of opposition members.

Although people disagreed on which point to start the healing process, it was interesting to hear people engage in honest and objective discussions which stressed that the truth has to be told if we are to get over the effects of our violent politics and live in peace. On this note there were even some radical tribally inclined comments by people saying that now we are having to talk of healing because the mashonas killed each other but we have no healing for Gukurahundi. A different opinion would say but the Ndebeles did this and the white minority rule did this.

We also had the opportunity to compare notes with our South African counterparts who generally agreed that their Truth and Reconciliation process just silenced but did not remove the anger in people's hearts. They felt the xenophobic attacks were a result of the manifestation of the frustration in many South Africans who felt those who killed or maimed got away with what they did and people were forced to forget. They emphasized that Zimbabweans need to learn from the South African experience to avoid institutionalizing but personalizing healing.

If you are in Edinburgh or if you can travel to Edinburgh between the 4th to the 15th of August 2011, make a date with, encourage friends and make sure you watch this amazing show from Zimbabwe's top theatre talent, written by Zimbabwe's most veteran theatre writer and scholar, directed by acclaimed actor and producer who has founded one of the most active theatre houses in Zimbabwe (Rooftop Promotions) which have firmly stood for freedom of expression through their artistic and realistic productions which have contributed immensely towards free expression.

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