The Dying Need no Shoes

The Dying Need No Shoes; an indictment of society

“She was like a thing, an alien, a ghost from another world.” This is a line from the play The dying need no shoes that was on show at the Kenya National Theatre this month.

In it the character of Prof. Jairus Munanda played by Oyatsi Simon is interrogated by his daughter Purity played by Esther Nekesa who is trapped in a small room ostensibly in the last hours of her life with her father who is obsessed with the concept of death.

Here it is revealed that the professor of religion has been hiding behind his place in the department to tech the young guileless first year students (freshers) “morals”.

Purity tells us of the professor’s activities with his young charges and cruelty to his wife, her mother. It finally dawns that he his himself the product of a sick society. He is his sister’s son, fathered by her father, his grandfather. The phrase my brother my son comes to mind. Someone said it reminded them of soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful that has been running for longer than most of us have been on this earth.

The play written and directed by Fred Mbogo a creative arts lecturer at Moi University explores an avante garde plot that provides a refreshing break from the run of “set book plays” that have attracted hordes of students to the National Theatre grounds over recent weeks.

Almost bare, the set only consists of a cross at front left probably signifying the unjust end facing Purity and humanity’s highway to self destruction, a bar room chair at front centre and a three legged drum that doubles as a table and an arm chair to the right. And the expectation is to see how the “almost bare” stage would sustain the play for the entire duration, slightly over one hour. But in the play reminiscent of Samuel Becket’s Waiting for Godot or Said Ahmed Mohamed’s Amezidi the actors keep moving backward and forward over the subject of death and the activities of the rogue professor but amazingly maintain a coherent plot.