Theatre: Curtains up

News Made in Kenya

Heartstring Kenya’s News Made in Kenya directed by Victor Ber and Sammy Mwangi once again confirmed Heartstrings Kenya as a powerhouse in Kenyan theatre when it made its run, March 23 to March 28 at the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi. The play, concept by Dan Ndambuki aka Churchill, pulled out all stops.

In this instance the play explores the dynamics of Kenyan news, print and electronic from a comical point of view and their bearing on the common man on the streets. The play opens in a busy street, hawkers struggling to sell their wares and a newspaper vendor with his collection of the day’s papers. These people engage in a lively discussion on the issues of the day fuelled by the reports in the papers. In a rapidly changing set, the scene moves to a train, a rural scene, a television studio, a polling station and ultimately parliament where we meet politicians in their antics acting out for the media in the press gallery and going for each other’s throat when the camera is not present. On the sidelines, a narrator cum commentator rants on about the media praising and cursing them in equal measure; the media as the villain and the hero.

With a sizable cast, at one time there were 16 actors on stage, and several changes in the setting, this play required co-ordination to pull it off and they did aided by a bare set that could be quickly changed to accommodate the current set while the commentator engaged the audience. The talent of the actors is not in question as in this play that required constant verbal engagement to keep it alive they did not let the tempo drop, well, except for the train scene that went on for a little too long as a group of girls traveling together gossiped.

This play rides on the strength of its characters rather than an elaborate and it is a plus for Heartstrings when they pull is so remarkably. Ndambuki is undoubtedly a force to reckon with himself and all his plays have always pulled crowds, including this one that boasted full auditorium all through

Ideally the Kenyan press has its moments, and this offers that critical peep through a crack in the wall.