KENYAN THEATRE - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com KENYAN THEATRE A research paper Written by Alex Nderitu (www.AlexanderNderitu.com) 5/03/2014 Nairobi, Kenya 1|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Contents: 1. Author Bio 2. Theatrical Arts and Sciences - Kenyan Theatre: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - On Broadway - Stage & Script - The Role of Critics - The Road Ahead - Professional Wrestling as a Form of Theatre 2|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Copyright © 2014 Alex Nderitu www.AlexanderNderitu.com Song lyrics and book excerpts reviewed here are the property and copyright of their owners and are displayed for educational purposes only, under international Copyright and Kenyan ‘Fair Dealing’ laws (Categories: Research and Criticism or Review) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Name: Alex Nderitu Profession: Author/Script Writer/IT expert Country of Origin: Kenya Books: When the Whirlwind Passes, Kiss Commander Promise, The Moon is Made of Green Cheese, Africa on My Mind Papers: Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape (2012 Onwards); Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape Part 2: Past, Present & Future; Kenyan Theatre; Journalism Under Fire! Movements: The E-book revolution, PEN International Career: Social Media Consultant at Office of Public Communications, Editor at Matatu Today magazine, Founder/CEO of Websoft Interactive, Website Designer, Author of Africa’s first digital novel 3|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Theatrical Arts and Sciences ‘Play-goers, I bid you welcome. The theatre is a temple, and we are here to worship the gods of comedy and tragedy. Tonight, we are pleased to announce...a comedy!’ – Opening lines of the hit musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 'I was in every school play, I was in everything you can do at college; there was never a discussion in my own head of where I was going, and I was always acting...always going to be an actress.' - Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress and writer1 Theatre is so old that some experts believe that mime (a silent form of theatre) was humanity’s first art form (I’m not sure where that leaves music and dance). As civilizations became more complex, so did theatrical arts. The Greeks, Romans, Chinese and other societies built specific centres (platforms or arenas) where they could enjoy theatrical entertainments. But why? What role did theatre play in their lives? In his book Poetics, the legendary Greek teacher/philosopher Aristotle2 explained: ‘The phenomenon of catharsis (a release of pent-up emotion or energy) occurs as a function of viewing tragic plays.’ An ancient amphitheatre Photo: FreeFoto.com In other words, live theatre, then, played the same role that film, TV, stage productions, sports and music concerts play today – to entertain the masses. The audience want to experience an emotion. This basic truth never changes and that is probably why theatre will never die. Acting (with or without words) is a very visceral and effective way of communicating with another human being. It is not just good for entertainment but can 1 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (documentary) Aristotle also authored Ethics and Rhetoric, the latter of which might be the first marketing/public relations book ever 2 4|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com also be used to teach/instruct. TV and film are little more than advanced staged acts whereby the performance is beamed to a remote audience and can be preserved for later viewing. Either way, the basic tenets remain the same: audiences want to experience an emotion, especially if their spirits are low (after a hard day’s work, going through a tough time, need a distraction, need a laugh etc). American thespian/writer Tyler Perry (who would go on to become ‘the richest man in entertainment’3) had a depraved childhood. He had a physically abusive father (‘His answer for everything was to beat it out of you’) and his mother decided to go with him everywhere just keep him safe. It was while hanging out with his mother in hair/beauty salons that Tyler learnt about women’s makeup, mannerisms, voice intonations and so forth. These would later prove invaluable when he went into theatre and created his most famous character – a wizened old lady called ‘Madea’ (played by Perry himself). He claims he started writing plays after watching an episode of Oprah where the talk show host ‘said that it was cathartic to write’. He began writing and has never stopped: ‘I had a dream for so long, trying to get it to come to pass...I wasn’t thinking about money, I wasn’t thinking about anything other than being able to tell stories that inspired and uplifted people. That’s what my first play was.’ To cut a long story very short, Tyler created hit plays that later became hit movies and now he owns a massive entertainment empire that encompasses TV, film, music and stage productions. His stories (often very funny) are inspirational, have spiritual elements (Christianity) and are mostly targeted at adult women. One of his recent stage productions is a Christian musical comedy entitled Laugh to Keep From Crying. Tyler explains his motivation for penning this particular play: ‘I wrote this because there are a lot of us that are going through things...I've been there - I've been broke, struggling, homeless; I've been in all those places but I always kept the faith.’ So here we see Aristotle’s theory working out in real life (with the added bonus that even the performers are seeking catharsis/therapy/escape). A couple of decades ago, a struggling British rock band hit upon the same theory as Aristotle – and made a fortune. The all-male band, whose lead singer was John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne was struggling to find success. They were originally called ‘Earth’ but realised they had to change that name because they kept being confused with a more successful band called Middle Earth. One day as the four British lads sat in a restaurant contemplating their future, one of them looked out of the window and marvelled at the large number of people queuing outside a cinema to purchase tickets to a horror movie. He wondered aloud why people would line up to be scared (albeit in a controlled environment). There was clearly a visceral attraction 3 According to Forbes 5|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com to scary/strange entertainments. After watching the movie-goers for a while, Ozzy had an idea: ‘Screw it,’ he said, ‘Let’s go out and posses people!’ The band started dressing only in black, wearing crosses, behaving strangely and singing bizarre songs about strange creatures (the Devil, a cyborg called ‘iron man’ etc) and mystical happenings. For their band name, they chose the title of one of their songs – Black Sabbath. The band became a huge hit, especially in the US which is the world’s biggest market for entertainment and consumer products. According to one US music retailer, even as music evolved rapidly over the years (rise of Hip Hop etc), Black Sabbath records were always popular. And they weren’t the only ones – in America and parts of Europe, ‘heavy/black metal bands’ with cultic/dark/mystical personas mushroomed and drew some of the largest crowds in entertainment history... 6|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Hit stage plays have tackled every theme/subject under the sun – war (War Horse), political unrest (Evita), multiculturalism (Black and Blue), money markets (How Now Dow Jones), workers’ rights (The Pajama Game), office politics (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), show business (42nd Street), religion (Book of Mormon), witchcraft (Wicked), trolls and other monsters (Shrek), politicians (Fiorella!), musicians (Jelly’s Last Jam), fashion (Coco), love (West End Story), revenge (Sweeney Todd), the Wild West (Annie Get Your Gun), real life dramas (Grey Gardens), famous people (Barnum), sports (Damn Yankees), slavery (Show Boat), Bible stories (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat), ancient times (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), comic books (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown), cartoon characters (Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark) and so on. In theatre, you are limited only by your own imagination and creativity. Whether your production is a comedy, tragedy or musical, as long as it can fulfil the basic promise of a play, then you’re in with a chance. Of course the live nature of the medium does create certain limitations (eg. You can’t have real cars, trains or aeroplanes on stage as in TV/films) but thespians over the centuries have circumnavigated those challenges and entertained audiences in a manner that cannot be supplanted by any other entertainment medium. Still, the live nature of theatre (the instant feedback of the audience, the cosiness between performers and audiences, the immediacy of the action etc) can also be a disadvantage. Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark4 learnt this the hard way when the wires suspending ‘flying’ performers over the audience began snapping, resulting in injuries. These accidents were comedy gold for Tony Awards host, Neil Patrick Harris (TV’s How I met Your Mother), who joked: ‘Soon they’ll be changng the title of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark to Spiderman: Turn Off the Lawsuits’ and ‘Spiderman is the only show where the actors in the cast are actually in casts.’ But not to worry: Turn Off the Dark (starring boy-band singer Reeve Carney as Spidey) is a money-spinner. It raked in $2.9 million in the week ending January 1, 2013 - the highest one-week gross in Broadway history5. TANGLED WEB: A few accidents haven’t stopped Spiderman from scaling up the wall of success. 4 5 A Broadway production backed by Bono of U2 rock band Source: Artisan News website 7|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Photo: Kenya National Theatre Photo: My Kenya Info KNT in colonial times (left) and as it stands today First and foremost, let me clarify that by ‘theatre’ I am referring to professional stage productions (whereby the players expect to make money) and that are open to the general public. Excluded from my sphere of interest are school dramas, talent shows and any theatrical production that is sponsored by a religious organisation or NGO. Contrary to popular belief, Kenya National Theatre (affectionately known to artists as ‘KNT’) is neither the oldest nor the largest theatre in the country. However, it is the most culturally relevant and the only one seen to have a national outlook. Reportedly, the Kenya National Theatre was initially built as a place for soldiers, brought in by the British Empire to quell the Mau Mau rebellion, to be entertained. However, given its size and location, it probably had a larger billing than that ie. was meant as an entertainment centre for the growing White community. It is a stone’s throw away from the Norfolk Hotel (a mecca for the who’s who of colonial times) and Central Police Station (of course then controlled by the colonial gov’t). KNT is now part of the Kenya Cultural Centre which also includes The Kenya Conservatoire of Music. Literary titans Wahome Mutahi, Francis Imbuga and Ngugi wa Thiong’o have all staged plays there. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s KNT plays included The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (co-written with Micere Mugo) and Ngahiika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Choose). Maitu Njugira (Mother Sing for Me) was supposed to be staged there but was denied permission and later banned altogether. Francis Imbuga (recently deceased) is probably the best-known Kenyan playwright (as opposed to other types of writers) and his most notable work is Betrayal in the City which was made a KCSE set-book. His other titles include Aminata (a KCSE set-book), Shrine of Tears, Man of Kafira and the Burning of Rags6. Imbuga was a Professor and lectured at Kenyatta University. In his younger days, he was an ardent actor for both stage and TV. 6 Filmed as The Married Bachelor – it’s original title 8|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Uganda’s John Ruganda must have been a very huge fan of Prof. Imbuga. Ruganda authored a book entitled Telling the Truth Laughingly: The Politics of Francis Imbuga’s Drama. Ruganda is himself a noted playwright, director and actor. He worked with the Makerere Travelling Theatre, Nairobi University Players and co-founded the Makonde Group. Ruganda’s own plays The Burdens, The Flood, Music Without Tears and Game of Silence have all been performed at KNT. Mombasa's Little Theatre Club recently clocked 60 years of existence, although, according to a KTN TV report by Ferdinand Omondi, there isn’t much to show for all those years of being. It was initially a club for Royal navy sailors after World War II but was later leased out for various functions, including serving as a hospital. In 1952, White settlers leased the space and established ‘The Little Theatre Club’ for their own entertainment. Performances ranged from stage plays to choreographed dances. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong (Coal Cart Blues) performed there in 1960! The Little Theatre is still considered the home of culture and art in Mombasa (it’s the best-known spot for Coast-based thespians), but has a chequered history. It nearly faded into insignificance in the last decade although there now appears to be a spirited effort by stakeholders to restore its lost glory. The government has gazetted it as a National Monument. Images: Standard Media Group FADED GLORY: Mombasa’s Little Theatre, outside and inside Phoenix Theatre was established in 1983 by the fabled James Falkland and is the largest and oldest repertory theatre company in East and Central Africa. Their 120-pax auditorium is located in the Professional Centre on Parliament Road, Nairobi. Phoenix ‘alumni’ include Ian Mbugua (TV’s ‘Judge Ian’), TV/radio presenter Jimmi Gathu, radio presenter Edward Kwach, actor Charles Bukeko (TV’s ‘Papa Shirandula’), poet Caroline Nderitu, thespian/writer John Sibi-Okumu7, TV host Sheila Mwanyiga, thespian Millicent Ogutu, TV presenter Julie Gichuru, former TV presenter Lorna Irungu, actress Lupita Nyong’o (the first indigenous Kenyan to win an Oscar award8) and the current Phoenix Theatre MD David Opondoe, among many, many other well-known personalities. Its name symbolised the return of theatrical performances – a rising from the ashes – after the nearby Donovan Maule Theatre (est. 1947) was burnt to the ground. 7 8 Has acted in about 40 stage plays since the 1970’s For the Steve McQueen-directed Hollywood movie, 12 Years a Slave, based on a non-fiction book of the same title 9|Page KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com ‘Elements’: A recent play by John Sibi-Okumu, staged at Phoenix Theatre Other popular venues for stage plays include Alliance Francaise, Goethe Institut, Braeburn School and the Courtyard Theatre, all in Nairobi. And as we discuss theatre, let us not forget the sizeable Asian community in Kenya. ‘Kenindians’, as they are sometimes called, hold many staged events, including Hindi/Gujerati performances but unfortunately (and it is unfortunate), they are still perceived by Black Kenyans to be isolationist and therefore rarely do the majority of other Kenyans bother with them. Often, you will only see reviews of these performances (some of which include artists from mother India) in the ‘Asian scene’ section of the papers. The biannual Asian Mosaic of Society and the Arts (SAMOSA) Festival is one of the few platforms that bring together artistic performances from the Asian community and the original Kenyans. SAMOSA Fest was founded in 2004 in an effort to bring better understanding between the Asians and Kenyan tribes. The last SAMOSA festival highlighted the Sidis (African-Asians who live in India). The Sidis are descended from a group of Africans who were transported to India in historical times. They were initially known as the ‘Bombay Africans’ and chief among them was a man called Sidi, after whom the entire clan is now named9. Performances included a play called Tides, by Kouldip Sondhi. Kenindian plays include Pehli Preet (First Love) and Dhabakta Haiya (Throbbing Heart). ‘Africa has wrote no discernable changes in them. So it is with most East African Asians. They have remained spiritually intact: That has been their greatest strength; and their fatal weakness.’ – V. S. Naipul, North of South 9 Full details and photos available at the Rabai Museum in Mombasa. E-mail: [email protected] 10 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE GOOD ‘I want theatre in Kenya to be truly professional. You, as an actor, can be a brand. And make money…The quality of the shows has really gone high because the professionalism of the performers.’ – David Opondoe, Managing Director of Phoenix Theatre, speaking at an Arterial Network event in August, 2013 ‘You have devoted your life to bringing laughter to the masses, including me. Yet, to the educated, you are the pre-eminent post-modern humourist. Your act has hints of Harold Pinter10 and Samuel Beckett – ‘‘Theatre of the Absurd’’; shifting between the surreal and the slapstick. - Actor Gary Busey in The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy A Fanaka Theatre production of Birthday Suite which was performed at KNT Some theatre groups, like Heartstrings Kenya and Festival of Creative Arts, have found formulas for staging successful plays. Their productions are usually critically and commercially successful. Heartstrings Kenya is uncanny in its ability to attract hordes of play-goers to the Alliance Francaise where they usually perform. Heartstrings plays are usually comedies with very localized themes and colloquial language. Some of their many hits include Dare Kenyans To Love, News Made in Kenya, Divorce Made in Kenya, Kenyan Playboy and 50% Kenyan. One of the key people behind the group is radio/TV star Daniel Ndambuki aka ‘Churchill’ (TV’s Churchill Live). The ticket price is usually about Kshs 500 (USD$ 5.8) which is fair for a Nairobi city audience. When I was a magazine writer/editor, our office was situated near Alliance Francaise and I would often go down on Fridays to buy a ticket for various plays. What impressed me about Heartstrings shows was how often the first shows would be entirely sold out and I would have to book for later dates. 10 Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 11 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com In December 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the rehabilitation of the Kenya Cultural Centre incorporating the Kenya National Theatre. KNT was one of the landmark facilities earmarked for renovation as a way of commemorating 50 years of Kenya’s independence. It is due for a major facelift after the Kenya Breweries Limited allocated an estimated Kshs 100 million (US$ 1,1 million) for its refurbishment. During the launch of the project, President Uhuru Kenyatta said: ‘The first ever refurbishment of this building that would turn it hopefully into a modern building worthy of its name and the history that it carries with it.’ On his part, Nairobi governor, Evans Kidero, revealed that the Nairobi County government would relieve the KNT of most of the monetary dues it owed the county government: ‘We did agree and I accepted to write off the 96 percent of the amount owed to the county government.’ Details of the intended refurbishment were also posted on the president’s official website. On January 16th 2014, an article entitled ‘Youth Fund Boosts Theatre with Kshs 100m’ appeared in the East African Standard, story by George Orido. According to it, the chairman of the Youth Enterprise and Development Fund, Gor Semelang’o has announced a Kshs 100 million stimulus package for theatrical arts, to boost live theatre, in tandem with film and music which are due to receive Kshs 600 and Ksh 300 million respectively. Mr. Semelang’o: ‘It will also excite quality performances on stage and as a result bring a huge paying audience back to our theatres.’ Phoenix MD David Opondoe proudly says that the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, attended the show For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf which was staged at Phoenix Theatre in 2013. The play – which contains deeply personal poetic narratives by several African-American women characters – was written by America’s Ntozake Shange and was only the second play by a Black woman to reach Broadway. Ntozake Shange also wrote other successful plays, including an adaptation of Bertlot Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children (1980) which won an Obie award. The 2013 For Coloured Girls... show was directed (and starred) stage veteran Mŭmbi Kaigwa. Interestingly, Mŭmbi had acted in this very play, at Phoenix, back in 1987. In the 2013 revival, she starred alongside her daughter, Mo Pearson. ‘One thing I don’t need is any more apologies. I got sorry greeting me at my front door, you can keep yours. I don’t know what to do with them. They don’t open doors or bring the sun 12 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com back, they don’t make me happy or get a morning paper.’ ― From Ntozake Shange’s, For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf11 (a ‘choreopoem’) In 2010, the Oyier Brothers – Peter and Paul Oyier of Sterling Entertainment Productions staged the famous South African musical Sarafina! in Kenya (with a local cast) and even brought ‘Sarafina’ herself – SA actress Leleti Khumalo - to the premiere. Sterling Entertainment has also staged various other high-quality productions such as Gentlemen in Concert and Ladies in Concert, which involved media personalities and other familiar faces. This yearning for international standards might just be the catalyst we need to propel live theatre into the league of mainstream entertainment. Many thespians, especially in Nairobi, are not satisfied with high-school-type acting-for-fun arrangements. They want to be taken seriously and they won’t to be involved in serious productions ie. they want theatre to put food on the table, place a roof over their heads and (hopefully) open doors to other acting opportunities such as TV and films. In short, they want it to be like Broadway whereby top actors became famous (in the theatre community), earn good money, receive recognition (awards etc) and often cross over to other entertainment fields. Broadway is so mainstream that numerous movie and film stars participate in it or revere it. Screen actors who are deeply involved with Broadway include Neil Patrick Harris (TV’s How I Met Your Mother), Hugh Jackman (X-Men), Oprah Winfrey (The Colour Purple), James Earl Jones (The Lion King) and the late tap-dancing Gregory Hines12 (TV’s The Gregory Hines Show). Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman have both hosted the Tony Award ceremony. Increasingly, Kenyan troupes are putting out quality performances: from the acting to the productions values. ‘Radio theatre’ used to be popular on KBC radio but appears less so in these days of FM radio warfare. However, the BBC World Service has regular, and very high quality, radio plays contributed by listeners from all over the globe. They run an International Radio Playwriting Competition (with plenty of tips on their website on how to write for radio) in which local scribes are ardent participants. Kenyans who have won the BBC’s Radio Play competition include Crystal Ading’, whose winning script, The Game Plan, was brought to life by players from Kenya’s The Theatre Company. 11 12 ‘Ntozake Shange’s poetry approaches the force of a whirlwind’ – Encore American & Worldwide News Tony Award Winner for Jelly’s Last Jam 13 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com LEADING LADY Kenyan thespian Mŭmbi Kaigwa began her acting career at the ripe old of 10. She has since performed in East Africa, North America, Asia and Europe. Her Kiswahili musical drama KigeziNdoto: A Hook for Dreams has toured Europe and over 30 towns in Kenya and Tanzania since 2006. In 2009, Mŭmbi starred as the antagonist in Mo Faya: The Musical which, apart from a 6-week run at the GoDown in Nairobi, was staged at the New York Musical Theatre for 8 weeks. Away from the stage, Mŭmbi has appeared in the movies The Constant Gardner (based on the John le Carré book of the same title), The First Grader and Australia’s unforgettable Neighbours TV series. In 2012/2013, Mŭmbi celebrated 40 years in the performing arts with revivals of some of her favourite plays, including Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, Alan Bennet’s Talking Heads, Margaret Edson’s Wit and Ntozake Shange’s For Coloured Girls... In 2013, the South Africa-based CEO magazine gave Mŭmbi a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the arts. Ms. Kaigwa currently runs The Arts Canvas Ltd and has previously been associated with The Theatre Company Ltd. Source: The Art Canvas, Business Daily , et al Photo: Mŭmbi Kaigwa Theatre Awards – Theatre awards are back! The Sanaa Theatre Awards were launched in 2013, as Kenya celebrated 50 years of being a republic. Kenya hasn’t had any major awards for professional theatre since 2004, when the Mbalamwezi Awards went under. Apart from Sanaa Theatre Awards, I have it on good authority that there is at least one more theatre award franchise that will come on stream in the near future. This is great. Theatre awards will not only bring excitement to the scene and motivate performers but will also help in the financial department eg. If a certain producer has a string of award-winning shows, it will be easier to seek future funding for his/her projects. Similarly, if a certain actor is winning accolades across the award ceremonies, then critics and fans have no choice but view him/her as something special (since the award committees are independent and often rivals). The actor will then be in a better position to negotiate preferential acting fees or leverage the acclaim to seek roles in TV, film and advertisements. 14 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Below is a partial list of the 2013 Sanaa Award Winners. The full list can be found on online at SanaaTheatreAwards.com: Best Actor Simon Oyatsi - The Theatre Company/Uzinduzi Photo: The Theatre Company Oyatsi Simon Odhiambo with his Sanaa Award trophy for Best Actor Best Actress Nice Githinji - Festival of Creative Arts Best Director Sammy Mwangi, Victor Ber - Heartstrings Best Set Light And Sound Design Elements by John Sibi-Okumu Best Costumes Shackles of Doom - Butere Girls Best Production Wanjikus Dilemma by Oby Obyeodhyambo Best Comedy Kenyan Pig Cat and Dogs - Heartstrings Kenya Best Tragedy Eulogy of A Rich Man - Uzinduzi Productions Best Musical Theatre Mo Faya by Eric Wainaina - Godown Arts Centre 15 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Best Dance Theatre Flamingo Flamenco by Kenya Performing Arts Group Best Play In English Wanjikus Dilemma by Oby Obyerodhyambo Best Play In Kiswahili Operesheni Linda Utu - Malindi High School Best Play In Local Language Ruhi Ruhiu - Johari Productions 16 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE BAD ‘Dear Kenyan theatre companies...please stop sending me invitations to watch your "latest hilarious rib-tickling blockbuster comedy" - "Run For Your Wife" or "Birthday Suite" or "Bedside Manners". Those are farces written in the 50s and 60s for British audiences, which you bastardise by changing character and place names - "Kenyanising", you call it. It doesn't work, and it's actually illegal! We're tired of repeats of old British plays! I don't want to see "Boeing Boeing" again - it's outdated! We're in the age of mobile phones and the internet, two things which would make those plays very unfunny in a second! Stop being lazy and create something original!' – A scriptwriter and former thespian (name withheld), ranting on Facebook White Man’s Country? - Phoenix Theatre has in the past being accused of being ‘elitist’ and catering to mzungu (White) audiences. In recent years, the repertory theatre company has done a lot to counteract this impression. They have also been accused of having aboveaverage ticket costs13. The players attribute this to the relative small size of the auditorium although the average punter doesn’t see why they can’t seek another venue (there has even been rumour that there are plans to demolish the entire Professional Centre that houses Phoenix and build a skyscraper in its place, so they might be on borrowed time anyway). But more pragmatically, if, say, a lawyer with an office in Victoria Park Towers, overlooking Nairobi’s Central Park, were to keep complaining to you about how expensive it is and how he is being threatened with eviction, wouldn’t you advice him to put his ego aside and move to a more practical office? For how long will Phoenix continue ‘struggling’? Obsession with British farces/foreign material - If there’s an aspect of Kenyan theatre that drives audiences to distraction, it is the industry’s obsession with foreign plays. Critics have complained about this countless times but most of most players seem to turn a deaf ear to the criticism. The constant re-hashing of European bedroom farces (with a few minor changes to the names, places and locations in order to ‘localize’ the content) betrays a lack of originality. Some of the most popular playwrights in Nairobi theatre are Ray Cooney (Not Now Darling, Run for Your Wife, Husband for Breakfast, Wife Begins at Forty), Marc Carmoletti (Boeing Boeing) and Derek Benfield (Bedside Manners). Never mind that Kenyans don’t know these foreign writers from the man on the moon. The stock answer given to critics when they ask why foreign plays keep being regurgitated is that Kenyan scripts/playwrights can’t match the ‘quality’ of their foreign counterparts. It’s a lazy answer and it can’t withstand cross-examination. How do you explain the runaway success of Heartstrings Kenya which specializes in local content? How do explain the rise of vernacular (especially Kikuyu) plays in recent times? How have scriptwriters like John Sibi-Okumu (Minister Karibu, Role Play, Meetings) and Cajetan Boy (All Girls Together, Backlash, Benta) managed to earn positive reviews from critics if their writings are not up to par? 13 Phoenix Theatre tickets are now pretty much the same as other major venues in Nairobi ie. around Ksh 500 17 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Plays like She Ate the Female Cassava by Jimmi Makotsi14 and Betrayal in the City by Francis Imbuga have become Kenyan classics and received wide critical acclaim. (She Ate the Female Cassava won a National Playwrights Award in 1980). Don’t you honestly think that Kenyans would be more interested in stories/characters they can closely identify with? The problem is that they rarely get that opportunity. Short runs - A Broadway show typically costs millions of dollars to bring to reality and can take months or years to actually get on the Broadway circuit. For example, US TV personality Roseanne is said to have sunk $10 million into the production of gay singer Boy George’s musical, Taboo15. So how does one recover so much money from a stage play – and make a profit? For starters, Broadway tickets are usually very pricey: a single ticket for a popular show like Wicked or Les Miserablés can cost $100 or more. But the larger strategy is to have the show running for years – either all on Broadway or on tour. A typical show has hundreds of performances (hence the importance of understudies, in case a major character is missing or on a break). Many shows (especially musicals) have had thousands of performances (If it’s a good show then the reviews, hype, word-of-mouth etc will always make new people want to see it). Some shows like Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ Cats ran for years without a break. Another good example is the classic British musical Me and My Girl (a coming-of-age story about a poor Londoner who inherits a fortune and has to learn how to be a ‘gentleman’) which ran for 3 years on Broadway16, covering 1,400 performances. What a challenge to Kenyan theatre troupes! Most Kenyan productions last only one weekend and then they are buried for good (On Broadway, revivals are common, there’s even a category for them in the Tony Awards). Even if you make a profit during a weekend run (of 6 – 8 performances), imagine how much money you would have made over 100 performances (different venues, if necessary). Remember that the cast has already memorized, rehearsed and performed the play. Why waste it? Let them do more shows! Get event organizers, marketers, booking agents etc. But don’t waste a good production on a few shows. Some companies like Heartstrings Kenya will occasionally revive a show ‘due to public demand’ and this is an indication of the business sense that makes them succeed where so many others have failed. Think about it: a musician can record a song once and rest assured that thousands will hear it by buying the CD, downloading it from the Internet or hearing it on radio. Similarly, a stand-up comedian like Kenya’s Eric Omondi, Nigeria’s Basket Mouth or South Africa’s Trevor Noah can give a single live performance for a DVD recording and never repeat the act because any number of people can buy the DVD, watch it on YouTube or catch it on TV. But live actors have no such luck. They can only perform effectively to relatively small crowds (usually below 500), so to make any serious bucks (via ticket sales), they have no choice but to have a show that is so great, so evergreen, that it bears repeating dozens, hundreds or even thousands of times. The up side to this is that it creates truly professional actors – people who earn a living on stage (because they’re always working). 14 Published by Heinemann, London, England, 1988 A show whose preparation was marred by conflicts between her and Boy George 16 Incidentally, it was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 3 (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Choreography) 15 18 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Some local productions culminate in a single performance. All that time and effort spent on an original script, memorizing (ie. ‘cramming’), rehearsing, travelling, venue, decoration and so on is wasted on a single production. There’s no way it can possibly pay enough to inspire multiple future productions. The cast and crew can only do this for the love of theatre – the camaraderie, the thrill of being on stage, the living out of a childhood dream/fantasy etc. But otherwise, everyone involved had better hang on to their day jobs. Poor marketing/promotion - Playwright and Kenyatta University theatre arts lecturer, David Mulwa, has pointed out that one of the factors hampering the success of theatre is lack of proper marketing. He avers that (book) publishers should call for stage scripts and hold workshops with writers on how to market them. Zimbabwe has a vibrant six-day performing arts extravaganza dubbed ‘Harare International Festival of Arts’ that takes place annually. Why don’t Kenyan thespians have a similar festival in order to uplift their art? (Zimbabwe also has a famous annual Book Fair that leaves Kenya’s Nairobi International Book Fair standing.) Lack of professionalism Shortly after the movie Benta, based on Cajetan Boy’s play of the same title, premiered in Nairobi, the actress who starred in it gave an interview to the Buzz pullout of the Sunday Nation. In it, she revealed that when production began she didn’t know she was the designated star and was late to arrive on set. She said Cajetan called her on cellphone and told her that if she wasn’t there in the next few minutes, her role would be re-cast. This kind of thing happens all the time – actors either missing rehearsals or turning up late or taking the production as a hobby rather than a job. 19 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE UGLY ‘Grandma said it was an outrage. ‘‘One of two terrible things will happen,’’ she predicted. ‘‘She’ll either kill herself, or worse yet, she’ll get along fine and end up in vaudeville’’.’ – Louise Baker, Out on a Limb (A Biography) ‘And finally, don’t thank your parents (after receiving your award). If you were raised in a nurturing environment, you wouldn’t be in show business!’ - Comedian Conan O’Brien hosting TV’s Emmy Awards Veteran thespian/filmmaker Lee Kanyare of the Nyeri-based A.C.T Theatre Group has many tales about the theatre. He has been involved in theatre since the 1960’s and personally knew most of Kenya’s pioneering thespians. A sad story that Kanyare tells revolves around a young male actor who was part of the theatre scene when Kanyare used to perform at KNT with the likes of Wahome Mutahi. This particular aspiring actor came from a rich Nairobi family but his sole ambition was to become an actor. His bourgeois family wanted nothing to do with his foray into theatre and refused to support him in any way. Struggling financially and otherwise, he would make regular appearances at KNT but when it was time for lunch, he would go to a nearby bush and take a nap. He didn’t have money for lunch and, coming from the suburbs, he was too proud to beg from his lower-class artist friends. Eventually, he got sick and died from a treatable illness – all because he didn’t want to prove his parents right and he was apparently too proud to seek assistance from his peers. Following that incident, the ageing Lee Kanyare now likes to make sure that all performers in his productions are OK (they have food, bus fare etc). He has often dropped actors off in his own car after rehearsals. Theatre in Kenya has long been considered a ‘hunger art’. Actors’ remunerations are often pitiable and most thespians do it for the love of acting (in other words, out of passion) or as a springboard to more profitable acting opportunities in TV, film or commercials. Quite a number of top TV and celluloid stars cut their teeth in the poverty-stricken theatres. These stars (some whom went on to generate millions of shillings) include Charles Bukeko (star of TV’s Papa Shirandula), Daniel Ndambuki (mega star of TV’s Churchill Live), Joni ‘Ras’ Gathui who appears on Citizen TV’s Mother–In-Law, ‘Peter Marangi’ (seen on Dura Coat paint ads), singer/actor Size 8 (who has acted in various KBC TV shows in addition to making it big in the music industry) and TerryAnne Chebet who was an actor with Caroline Nderitu’s Poetry Lab stage group and before acting in the KBC TV show Reflections and then moving on to be a TV business anchor and national celebrity. The hit movie Nairobi Half Life, directed by Tosh Gitonga, drew almost all its actors from the world of theatre (the company of Heartstrings in particular). But for the most part, theatre in Kenya remains a ‘hunger art’ and many thespians are struggling to make ends meet, especially if they have no other means if generating an income. Due to lack of funds to produce shows, many theatre groups rehearse in public areas such as Uhuru Park and the Nairobi Arboretum. And as you might expect in a city 20 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com with one of the world’s most alarming crime rates, when the stakes are there, the producer or somebody else often grabs them and runs. An example is a young man who wrote in to the papers to complain about a particular producer who is notorious for denying actors their dues after the fact. In one anecdote, the angry young man told of how the producer transported his entire cast to a series of shows in Western Kenya. After the run - which grossed slightly over Kshs 200,000 - ‘the guy picked up his girlfriend and went MIA for several days. He wouldn’t even answer his phone.’ This is not an isolated incident. Quarrels over gate receipts by disgruntled actors are par for the course in Kenyan theatre. An even worse scenario is when the turn-up for a play is poorer than expected (for whatever reason), resulting in a financial loss for a theatre group that had put in so much for marketing, not to mention the time and energy they used up in rehearsals and performances. Apart from individual actors and companies, even the playhouses have been through rough financial times. According to an article in The Standard, the Nairobi county government once demanded rate arrears from The Kenya Cultural Centre (incorporating KNT) amounting to over Ksh 400 million and threatened to auction away property to recover the monies. Phoenix Theatre, on the other hand, is often described as living up to its name by nearly going into extinction severally but magically rising again. During Ian Mbugua’s tenure as MD, it briefly closed its doors (in 2009 – 2010). 21 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com ON BROADWAY ‘Over the years, musicals have also been at the front of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics. But perhaps the most important part of this truly American art form is its optimism. Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and in the world around us. To believe that no matter how hopeless things may seem, the nice guy can still get the girl, the hero can still triumph over evil and a brighter day can be waiting just around the bend.’ – US President Barack Obama hosting Broadway performances at the White House 'A salesman has got to dream - it goes with the territory.' - Broadway producer Paul Nichols, accepting a Tony Award for the revival of Death of a Salesman17 (2012) Tyler Perry at the Tony Awards ‘Broadway’ refers to a community of about 40 theatres all located near each other in New York City. It is the unofficial ‘capital’ of commercial theatre not only in America but the world over. The highest honour a thespian can win on Broadway (and therefore the world) is a Tony Award. New York is itself a very artistic city: it is also the capital for commercial publishing (think The New York Times Bestseller List) and one of the four fashion capitals of the world (alongside London, Paris and Milan). The productions on Broadway reflect the artistry and cosmopolitanism of this world-famous city. ‘I consider myself a storyteller. I don't know any other way...I have a lot of stories to tell and what I write about are human experiences.’- Tyler Perry - Getting a play on Broadway is no mean feat and at the very least, it will cost a small fortune. To aid success, it helps if you have established lead actors or, in the case of a musical, hit songs or famous singers (eg. Green Day, Abba). A biographical musical on the life of late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti recently made it to Broadway and has been garnering largely positive reviews. Entitled Fela!, the play is set in a replica of Fela Kuti’s Shrine nightclub in Lagos and seeks to chronicle the controversial artiste’s physical and spiritual sojourns. The often-bare-chested Fela Kuti (best remembered here for the Afrobeat song Beng Beng Beng) was at one time at the pinnacle of African music. The play managed to get on to Broadway after Black entertainers Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett gave it their backing. The play, of course, features Fela’s hit songs, some of which are very entertaining but others which I personally just wanted to end. The performances are very energetic and one online reviewer wondered how the performers are able to keep it up for over two hours, every night. However, there has been some criticism to the effect that Fela! doesn’t truly reveal Kuti’s true colours, especially in regards to women. While in the play he acknowledges his obsession with sex and other ‘sweet’ things, the true extent of his hedonism is not revealed. A man of controversy, Fela Kuti shunned condoms and was once 17 Classic play written by Arthur Miller 22 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com married to 27 women at once (before ‘settling’ with 12). He died of AIDS in 1996 and his Shrine nightclub was closed. - In all of history (including pre-history when men walked with mammoths) there can rarely have been a more satisfying stage production than The King and I. The play has everything – humour, music, dance, ethos, pathos, extravagant costumes, exotic locations, love, romance (and as the ‘The King’ would say) etcetera etcetera etcetera. You will laugh at the beginning, sing through the middle and cry at the end (You would have to be a very cool customer to remain unaffected). The King and I is a classic musical stage play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from a story written by Anna Leonowens, who was school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (modern-day Thailand) in the early 1860’s. Leonowens’ story was autobiographical, although a recent biographer has uncovered ‘substantial inaccuracies and fabrications.’18 In the play, British school teacher Anna Leonowens arrives in Siam to serve as a tutor to the King’s many children (and I do mean many). Both stuck in their separate cultural ways, Anna and the King eventually learn to understand, respect and even love each other. The King and I made its Broadway debut at St. James Theatre in 1951 and starred Gertrude Lawrence as ‘Anna’ and Yul Brynner as ‘The King’. It had an original run of 1,246 performances. It features many great songs by Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyricist and scriptwriter), who were also the Producers of the show. Of the songs, I particularly recommend Shall We Dance? and A Puzzlement, although I have no doubt that romantics would also recommend We Kiss in a Shadow. The King’s pidgin English and overuse of the word ‘etcetera’ are a recurrent delight. On the more serious side, The King and I subtly shows the dynamics of cultural domination/erosion by Western countries. It also touches on matters of politics, war, slavery, gender balance and international diplomacy. Both the play and the film are banned in Thailand due to their representation of King Mongkut of Siam, etcetera etcetera etcetera. 18 Susan Morgan, Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of the King and I Governess (University of California Press, 2008) 23 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com A scene from the Broadway production of The King and I, starring Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence The King and I won many Tony awards, including Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Gertrude Lawrence), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Yul Brynner) and Best Revival of a Musical. It also received Drama Desk Award and Theatre Award nominations. In 1956, 20th Century Fox released a musical film version of The King and I, directed by Walter Lang, screenplay by Ernest Lehman, and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The film was a huge critical and commercial success. It was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 5, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (making Yul Brynner only the 7th actor in history to win both a Tony Award and an Oscar for the same role.) In 1985, Yul Brynner received a Special Tony Award ‘honouring his 4,525 performances in The King and I’. Fans of musicals are still debating (and will continue to debate) which between The King and I and The Sound of Music is the better production. The two artistic masterpieces have a lot in common, including: - Both were hits on stage and screen - Both feature hit songs that transcended the theatre - Both have strong, beautiful, singing female leads entrusted with children - Both have a fine/understated romance - Both are period pieces - Both are part-comedy - Both were loosely based on actual people (You can see a picture of the real Von Trapp family on Wikipedia) I also can’t decide between the two (or, as the King of Siam would have said, ‘It’s a puzzlement’). I guess we’ll have to leave that verdict to the critics. - Below is an example of the kind of business (box office) that Broadway does. The list shows a sample of the gross earnings by Broadway plays for the week ending May 27, 2013 (ie. these are one-week results, in US dollars), compiled by Michael Mellini for Broadway.com19: 19 Broadway Grosses: Lucky Guy, Starring Tom Hanks, Continues to Play to Sold-Out Houses by Michael Mellini, June 3, 2013 24 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com 1. The Lion King ($1,870,584) 2. Wicked ($1,776,282) 3. The Book of Mormon ($1,742,062) 4. Motown ($1,354,876) 5. Lucky Guy ($1,343,042) 6. Rock of Ages ($377,408) 7. The Assembled Parties ($373,576) 8. Macbeth ($287,116) 9. The Big Knife ($256,480) 10. Ann ($195,459) The path to Broadway usually starts with an idea – the more unique the better. Sometimes, an idea sounds crazy but it works. For example, in the documentary Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway, you can see a circle of New York critics disparaging the upcoming Avenue Q show, a comic musical that involves hand puppets: ‘Who is the audience for this?’ they ask. (The creators of the show perceived it as a kind of ‘Sesame Street for adults’). When the show finally premiered, it was an immediate success and not only floored criticfavoured heavyweights like Wicked (co-starring Broadway’s sweetheart Kristen Chenoweth) but won the most coveted Broadway trophy: Best Musical. After the initial concept, the team is assembled. For example, if the show is a musical, then the creators will ask who are the best lyricists and composers they can lure (on the strength of the idea, the creator’s credentials etc). The same goes for the cast: do we hold auditions, lure a star performer etc? Once the basic team is identified (including stars who have only indicated willingness to join the project eg. if the funding is secured, or the timing doesn’t conflict with other projects), then the backing of a very important person (or very important persons) is sought. This entity is The Producer. Broadway shows are so expensive that without a serious investor/producer/benefactor, it’s very unlikely that you will achieve your goal. The show then goes into workshop. Here the script is worked on, songs are composed or altered, dance sequences are created or rehearsed and so on. The various aspects of the production are ‘worked out’: the stage design, costumes, lead actors, understudies, backup singers/dancers (aka ‘the ensemble’) etc. Potential investors/producers may be invited to the final rehearsals get an idea of what the show is about. The shows then go into ‘previews’. They are shown to a limited audience (either paying or invited). This is very important. Like I said, Broadway shows are usually big budget productions and it is a good idea to sample public opinion before wasting a fortune on a ‘turkey’ (flop). In marketing, a ‘preview’ would be called a ‘focus group’. A show can have multiple previews before the ‘real thing’ official opens. A fan watching a preview need not fear that he is pre-empting the real thing. So many things are likely to be changed/ added/removed due to feedback that the final show will most likely be much better than the preview. Some shows/tours have been cancelled due to negative reaction to the previews (Why throw money away on something with poor odds of succeeding?) You can 25 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com see an example of this in the documentary, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. In it, the then 75year-old comedian and TV host is planning to stage a one-woman Broadway show based on her long career in showbiz. After previews of her show, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress from a Life in Progress, get lukewarm reviews in the UK, she abandons the idea of a New York run. (In her youth, she had once participated in a Broadway show that tanked and she wanted very badly to avoid that experience again!) We should borrow a leaf (or the whole book) from Broadway if we truly desire to stage productions that can generate substantial revenue and thus create employment for the thousands of creative people out there (especially youths) who crave an artistic outlet, in spite of whatever else they might be doing (school, work etc). Phoenix Theatre MD, George Opondoe: ‘My vision is to have Phoenix as the ultimate theatre arena compared to New York’s Broadway and London’s West End.’20 20 East African Standard, July 12, 2013 26 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com STAGE AND SCRIPT ‘The word ‘‘playwright’’ is spelled that way for a very good reason. Shipwrights build ships, wheelwrights fashion wheels, and playwrights construct plays.’ - Actor David Niven, The Moon’s a Balloon (memoir) ‘In ‘‘The Government Inspector’’, I tried to gather in one heap all that was bad in Russia. I wished to turn it all into ridicule. The real impression produced was that of fear. Through the laughter that I have never laughed more loudly, the spectator feels my bitterness and sorrow.’ – Nikolai Gogol on his celebrated stage play, The Government Inspector Satire In secondary school, as we studied Animal Farm (a text book, 8-4-4 education system), our English teacher introduced us to ‘satire’ as a literary device. He laughingly told us how literary satirists had over the centuries been able to criticise leaders, societies, governments and policies by using satire as opposed to direct opposition. Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, wasn’t really about a ‘farm’. The animals that kicked out their human owner were not ‘animals’. The animal leaders that then began to lord over lesser animals were not really conniving animals either. Animal Farm - like the animal morality tales of ancient Africa – is about people. The ‘farm’ is Russia and the ‘animals’ pulling together to evict their cruel farm owner are the downtrodden Russians ousting their leader in a popular revolution. According to Orwell21, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union (The book sought to show that the people who formed the next government gradually became just as totalitarian as their predecessors). ‘I used to smuggle Orwell's books from Poland into Czechoslovakia’ - Jachym Topol in conversation with Tan Twan at an English PEN event Another great work of literature to come out of Russia is The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. The setting for this comedy of errors is a small town somewhere in Russia that has just received word that a government inspector will soon be arriving there incognito, to spy and report on them. Based on this rumour, the townspeople whip themselves into a frenzy, trying to put their house in order, as it were. When a broke stranger presently arrives, he is treated like royalty. Every move and comment he makes is treated with significance. After the townspeople have bent over backwards/danced themselves lame trying to impress him, it turns out that he wasn’t the genuine article (just a lucky guy!) and the real government inspector has now arrived... In The Government Inspector, the author attempts to expose societal ills, exploring such themes as hypocrisy, corruption, greed and incompetence. One of the reasons why Animal Farm and The Government Inspector are classics is that the issues they tackle have been experienced in every part of the world, from the distant history to the present day. A 21 Orwell, George. "Why I Write" (1936) (The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 1 – An Age Like This 1945–1950 p. 23 (Penguin)) 27 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com perfect example of this is US President Barack Obama’s visit to Uganda a few years ago. When his visit was announced, a senior Ugandan government official called on citizens to clean up the city so as to give the visitors a good impression. A Kenyan newspaper article smirked at the edict, saying it had shades of The Government Inspector. In other words, if they have the capability of raising their sanitary standards, why don’t they just do it for their own good, instead of waiting until an ‘important person’ comes visiting? Nikolai Gogol’s other writings include Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, The Order of Vladimir, The Diary of a Madman and An Author’s Confession. ‘I sit on a man’s back, chocking him and making him carry me...I assure myself and others that I am very sorry him and wish to lighten his load by all possible means – except getting off his back.’ – Leo Tolstoy, ultra-famous Russian writer The Insect Play by The Brothers Čapek (Josef and Karel of Czechoslovakia) is a classic tragicomic stage play that stars a cast of insects – ants, beetles, butterflies, crickets etc. As in Animal Farm, there is a single prominent human – the drunken narrator of the play. Until recently, I never saw this ultra-funny piece as a satire. It is so hilarious, I always thought of it as just a comedy and couldn’t see why The Brothers Čapek were considered ‘political writers’. On close examination, The Insect Play (translated from the original Czech by Paul Selver22) turns out to be a satire that brilliantly handles such themes as war, shattered dreams, life and death, marriage, rivalry, and love. Its relevance to modern society is amazing considering that it was written prior to World War II. For example, in Act III (‘The Ants’), there is an ‘epic battle’ between two ant colonies over a miniscule piece of land. One Ant Realm receives the following devastating letter from the Yellow Ants (Pg 54): ‘The Government of the Yellow Ants calls upon the Ant Realm within three months to withdraw their Army lying between the Birch tree and the Pine tree, between the two blades of grass.’ To a human, the amount of real estate being fought over sounds ridiculous. But how often have you heard news reports of bloody battles where the price either seemed obscure or unworthy of the human death toll? When Ethiopia and Eritrea were fighting over their common border23 one newsmagazine questioned why they were tussling over ‘a strip of rocky land where nothing ever grew.’ Back to The Insect Play. In order to meet the threat posed by The Yellows, one ant appoints himself Commander-in-Chief (Pg. 56): ‘Soldiers! We find ourselves compelled to call you to the colours. A wicked enemy has treacherously attacked us, for the purpose of outwitting our peaceable preparations. At this great hour I have been appointed Dictator.’ 22 23 Published by Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19 572311 2 The belligerents went as far as purchasing fighter jets, creating anticipation for Africa’s first-ever dogfights 28 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com So he rallies his troops and sends them into war. The battle goes badly for the Ant Realm. Soldiers are dying in droves. The Dictator results to propaganda and rhetoric in order to boost morale and save face (Pg. 58): ‘Entirely according to plan. Faster, soldiers, one, two. War forced on us for honour and glory, needs of the State, no conception of Justice; soldiers show your bravery, victory is ours, greatest moment in history. Quick march, quick march!’ The human narrator (a Tramp) is not convinced by the Dictator’s propaganda (Pg. 59): ‘Ho, yuss!...There were other reports that began ‘‘The Regiment was butchered – according to plan!’’ And after this battle, he’ll go round and scan The corpses, all heaped up – ‘‘according to plan’’ ’ Opponents of the Vietnam War would identify with the above scenario. Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s there was massive public opposition to the war, including demonstrations and protest songs. Many Americans didn’t see the purpose for so much bloodshed. Some young men refused to be drafted into the army. The most famous of these was boxer Mohammed Ali who argued that it was ‘an unjust war’ and said that he had no quarrel with the Viet Cong24 (the supposed enemy). For refusing service, Mohammed Ali was jailed and his boxing license and travel permits were cancelled. In his mega-hit song Born in the USA, American rocker Bruce Springsteen sung: ‘Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man' The Insect Play took the theatre world by storm and was acted with great success in London and New York. It was also the inspiration for my play The Bards25 and the Bees26. Satirists like George Orwell, Nikolai Gogol and The Brothers Čapek show us how some people turn themselves into caricatures, their society into a joke and their existence into farce. When you laugh at satires, you’re probably laughing at yourself. Play Within a Play Apart from satire, another device that playwrights often employ is the ‘play within a play’ (eg. in the The King and I). It is also increasingly common in film and TV, especially in scenes involving flashbacks, dreams and memories. This device must however be used with caution, especially on stage, as it is a very complex technique and overuse could confuse audiences (especially young ones). 24 ‘No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.’ - Mohammed Ali Bard – Another word for ‘poet’ 26 Although one character, a young bird with a fear of heights, was inspired by the children’s book, Call it Courage. 25 29 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com The riotous farce Noises Off, written by Michael Frayn, brilliantly utilises the ‘play within a play’ technique. It centres on a company of thespians who are staging a play while at the exact same time conducting their private affairs backstage (like most real-life troupes, they have formed friendships/rivalries/romances). In one incident, a male actor has to get back on stage with a bleeding nose after being punched backstage! Noises Off was a major hit and was also filmed starring (the now late) Christopher Reeves (Superman movies). Michael Frayn has also written novels and film scripts (notably Clockwise starring comedian John Cleese). His other works include Alphabetical Order, The Tin Men, The Russian Interpreters and Donkey’s Years. ‘The doctor said that there was so and so inside the patient but if the investigation of so-andso didn’t confirm this, then he must assume this-and-that, and if he assumed this-and-that then...’ - Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich There are many great online resources, such as About.com, where you can learn How to Write a Stage Play but always keep in mind that the endgame is a live performance so don’t become obsessive about things that the audience will never see. For example, most scripts place the characters’ names on the left, followed by their lines, as in the following excerpt from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: JOSEPH I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking piece of art Such a dazzling coat of many colours How I love my coat of many colours These days, some playwrights are adopting the film screenplay technique and placing the character name above his lines, in the vein: JOSEPH I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking piece of art Such a dazzling coat of many colours How I love my coat of many colours I would argue that the audience couldn’t care less about such subtleties since they will never see the script. It makes more sense to visualize the performers on stage – entrances, exits etc. For example, if a Housewife character in your bedroom farce will leave her husband asleep on the sofa and meet her clandestine Lover in posh hotel, then the two scenes can’t follow each other pell-mell. The actress will need a minute or two to change clothes and the set designers will need time to set up the ‘hotel’ (if it is not already preexisting on another part of the stage). Also, different venues have different facilities that may require you to re-strategise your production. Some stages (eg. in schools) don’t have doors behind the stage so the performers will have to wait for their turn amongst the audience (or create sets that will allow for Stage Right, Stage Left, changing ‘rooms’ etc). Speaking to a nascent theatre group in Nyeri Country, TV/theatre actor Joni ‘Ras’ Githui (Fire by Ten acting troupe) told of being 30 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com in a performance in India that was done ‘in the round’. Because, the audience was all around, the actors had to keep turning so that they wouldn’t have their backs to a particular section the whole time. A few years ago when I was part of a variety show in a Nyeri university, the theatre were using was a lecture hall. The stage was really small – conceived for a single lecturer and maybe his podium. Joni ‘Ras’ also spoke of actors facing the audience, rather than each other, during dialogues so that their facial expressions could be seen. This would be odd for real life or even TV/film but is common in theatre. The use of miniature microphones has also increased throughout the theatre world, even in Kenya. It relives the actors of the ancient burden of ‘projecting your voice’ and paves the way for slightly larger audiences. Photo: Rogers Otieno Kenyan thespian Rogers Otieno (in blue t-shirt) teaching drama in Kigali, Rwanda Expect challenges in the production of live events. Nothing really goes as exactly as planned. Performers will turn up late, forget their lines, miss their cues etc. The entire set might even collapse. It happens. It’s not your fault. I once left the venue of Kenyan musical because the set designers were taking too long to prepare the stage. As comedian Kevin Hart (Laugh at My Pain comedy special) said while hosting the MTV Music Video Awards, ‘Mistakes will happen.’ An example of a set/stage causing problems was the production of Coco, about the life of fashion designer Coco Chanel. At the end of the musical, there was an elaborate ‘catwalk’ scene featuring the real Coco’s own fashions. The rotating set included staircases and large mirrors. According to Wikipedia, ‘The six-week rehearsal period finally began in September 1969. Cecil Beaton's set proved to be a complicated piece of machinery that frequently malfunctioned and was difficult for the cast to manoeuvre, and the final scene required a troublesome co-ordination of mirrors, platforms, runways, and flashing lights.’ Still, Coco (with a script/lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by André Previn) was a massive commercial success. After 40 previews, the Broadway production opened on 31 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com December 18, 1969, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, where it ran for 329 performances. It initially starred film star Katharine Hepburn in her only stage musical. For some reason, critics didn’t take to it but the public loved it. Israeli/American showman and ‘psychic’ extraordinaire, Uri Geller, has some advice for stage work: ‘To be a showman, you have to have a spark in you and to want to do it, to love to do what you do. But showmanship is not enough - you have to have charisma. You have to have an amazing character, extrovert personality. If you have that, it doesn't matter about the show because people will love you anyhow. And I think I had this kind of spark in me since I was a child.’ Acerbic American comedian Don Rickles had this to say about the often difficult life of an artist: ‘When you're different, your heart is open to a little ache. But remember: When you're different, you might capture all the stars...The whole world will not rally around you but you have the chance of having them notice you...I like to think I am different; I like to think that the public will understand me. If they do, I am grateful.' One of the greatest playwrights of all time was Oscar Wilde, an Irish poet, comic dramatist and novelist. His plays include such classics (they’re still running!) as Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Ballad of Reading Goal and The Importance of Being Ernest. Below is his own opinion of himself (clearly humility wasn’t his strong suit!): ‘I was a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age...The gods had given almost everything. I had genius, a distinguished name, high social position, brilliancy, I made art a philosophy. I altered the minds of men and the colour of things: There was nothing I did or said that did not make people wonder...I treated Art as Supreme Reality, and life as a mere mode of fiction; I awoke the imagination of my century so that it created myth and legend around me: I summed all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.’ Arthur Miller (b 1915) was one of the top playwrights of the 20th Century. His Broadway plays include All My Sons, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge and Death of a Salesman. He received two Drama Critics Circle Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman. 32 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Musicals Musicals have been performed in Kenya for decades but these have been mainly foreign productions like Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Indigenous musicals are so rare that several of them, coming out in the last decade, each claim to be ‘the first Kenyan musical.’ - Mo Faya: The Musical is a stage production by musician Eric Wainaina, distributed in collaboration with a project known as the Uraia programme. It was originally titled Lwanda: Man of Stone and is inspired by the mythical Luo warrior, Lwanda, whose story bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Samson in the Bible. In Mo Faya, a character called DJ Jah Spokesman steers the destiny of the downtrodden of Kwa Maji slum. The themes explored include social justice, corruption and governance. - Okot p’Bitek was a famous Ugandan writer, best known for his book Song of Lawino. Not as well known is that fact that he composed and produced an opera and was director of Uganda’s National Theatre. - Nelson Mandela’s estranged wife, Winnie Madikezela-Mandela recently became the subject of a South African musical (Not surprising for the country that gave us Sarafina!) Entitled Winnie the Opera, the production premiered in 2011 and starred Tsakane Maswanganyi as Winnie. The show has a 65-piece orchestra and songs in English and Xhosa. The producer is TV’s Mfundli Vundla and the composer is Bongani Ndodana-Breen. Winnie Mandela was born in Soweto and married Nelson in 1958. After his incarceration, Winnie went through extreme hardship, including arrest and solitary confinement. She spent a total of 491 days in detention. The play focuses not on her famous husband but on her inner and outer struggles. So how long will Kenyans have to wait for Wangari Maathai: The Musical? - A good example of a musical is Barnum, a stage production based on the life of P. T. Barnum27 (best known here for ‘The Barnum & Bailey Circus’ aka ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’). The script was written by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. The production combines elements of traditional musical theatre with the spectacle of the circus. The characters include jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns, as well as representations such real-life personalities as Joice Heth (then the oldest woman alive) and General Tom Thumb (the smallest living adult man). The musical performances are the heart and soul of the production. The characters’ thoughts, ambitions, arguments, philosophies and emotions are all brought out in song. To cut out the songs from the play would be to miss the whole bus28. For Kenyan thespians in pursuit of musicals, I would recommend Barnum as an object of study. Right off the bat, there are three things about the songs that are enviable: 1. They are all relevant to the situation and true to the real life of Barnum eg. 27 28 The father of modern showmanship A parallel can be drawn with Evita, where the music is really where fun is at 33 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com a. The first song, There is a Sucker Born Ev'ry Minute, is a famous quote attributed to Barnum. b. When the 160-year-old woman, Joice Heth, is presented by Barnum, she sings Thank God I'm Old (the best song in the production, in my view) c. When the midget Tom Thumb is presented, he sings Bigger Isn't Better 2. They ‘stand alone’ - each song has its own tempo, beat and ‘colour’. Some are funny (Thank God I'm Old), some are thoughtful (The Colors of My Life) etc29 3. They push the story along, eliminating the need for soliloquies or narrators The original Broadway show ran for 854 performances and was followed by a London production. Barnum was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning 5 (including Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical)30. Below is the entire song list: Act I "Overture Chase" "There is a Sucker Born Ev'ry Minute" – Barnum "Humble Beginnings Chase" "Thank God I'm Old" – Joice Heth and Tambourine Players "The Colors of My Life" (Part 1) – Barnum "The Colors of My Life" (Part 2) – Charity "One Brick at a Time" – Charity, Barnum and Bricklayers "Museum Song" – Barnum "Female of the Species Chase" "I Like Your Style" – Barnum and Charity "Bigger Isn't Better" – Tom Thumb "Love Makes Such Fools of Us All" – Jenny Lind "Midway Chase" "Go Out There" – Barnum and Charity Act II "Come Follow the Band" – Potomac Marching Band and Washingtonians "Black and White" – Charity, Choir, Blues Singer, Barnum and Citizens of Bridgeport "The Colors of My Life" (Reprise) – Barnum and Charity "The Prince of Humbug" – Barnum "Join the Circus" – Bailey, Circus Performers and Barnum "Finale Chase" "The Final Event: There is a Sucker Born Ev'ry Minute" (Reprise) Some musicals are fashioned from existing works such as novels, films (eg. Shrek, The Lion King) and TV shows/cartoons (eg. Spiderman: Turn off the Dark). Les Miserablés, said to be the world’s most popular musical, was based on Victor Hugo’s famous novel of the same 29 A parallel can be drawn with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, where one song is a Calypso, another one a ballad etc 30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_musical 34 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com title (one of the most translated stories of all time). The musical was a hit on Broadway and, in 1998, it became a Hollywood box office hit movie. THE ROAD TO BERLIN Name: Irving Berlin Profession: Singer / Music composer Nationality: American Career highlights: - Composed 1, 500 songs - Composed the US National Anthem - Composed music for 19 Broadway musicals - Composed the scores for 18 films In the words of the president of ASCAP31, Irving Berlin was ‘the master, the greatness to which we all aspire.’ He quit school at the age of 8 to become a street singer. He was never formally taught to read or write music but from a tender age, he had an unparalleled knack for composing tunes. This ability would later make him a wonderkid on Broadway where he wrote the music for some of theatre’s most famous productions. He was lured into Hollywood where he wrote music for 18 films. His greatest honour was being commissioned to come up with a National Anthem for the United States of America, for which he wrote God Bless America. The stage plays featuring his work include There’s No Business Like Show Business32 (of which the title song is the showbiz anthem of the world), Blue Skies (starring Bing Cosby and Fred Astaire), Easter Parade (starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers), White Christmas (starring Bing Cosby and Rosemary Clooney) and Call Me Madam (starring Ethel Merman). ‘The butcher and the baker and the grocer and the clerk Are secretly unhappy men because The butcher and the baker and the grocer and the clerk Get paid for what they do but no applause They’d gladly bid their dreary jobs goodbye For anything theatrical and why? Because there’s no business like show business’ - Irving Berlin, There’s no Business Like Show Business (song) 31 32 America’s version of the Music Copyright Society of Kenya Starring Marilyn Monroe 35 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com The Role of Theatre Critics ‘A theatre critic is a person who leaves no turn unstoned.’ – George Bernard Shaw, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature ‘A dramatic critic is a person who gives a theatre the best jeers of his life!’ - Anon. Let’s begin with a couple of definitions. First off, the word ‘critic’ (as it applies to the arts). The Oxford dictionary describes this as ‘a person who judges the quality of something, especially works of art, literature and music’. And then there is ‘critical’ which is defined as ‘of or relating to the judgement or analysis of sth, esp literature, art, etc.’ This leads us to ‘critique’ (noun) which refers to ‘a critical analysis’, and therefore ‘criticism’ refers to ‘the art of making judgements in literature, art, etc.’ These definitions are important because in Kenya, the word ‘critic’ has a negative connotation: artists fear that their work will be ‘criticized’ (as opposed to ‘critiqued’). The dictionary definition of a ‘critic’ as ‘a person who expresses a low opinion of sb/sth, shows faults etc’ is another meaning to the term and has nothing to do with the arts. Most critics are usually fans of their subject matter and will, on the balance, give encouraging reviews, especially if the show was genuinely top-notch. For example, after watching the multiAcademy-Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, a film critic wrote: ‘Every once in a while, a movie comes along that reminds you why you still go to the theatre even after so many disappointments. Slumdog Millionaire is such a film’. After watching the awardwinning, interview-style, biopic of Mike Tyson - simply titled Tyson - one critic wrote: ‘I watched, mesmerized.’ Due to constraints of space (especially in newspapers or magazines), some critics adopt a star rating system and place their opinion above or below a brief description of the subject (movie, play, CD, DVD etc). Usually, five stars are employed (just like hotels ratings) and half a star (denoting 0.5) is acceptable. When Ogutu Muraya’s Swahili translation of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor premiered in London, it received 5 stars from The Guardian (UK) newspaper. Ogutu is a Kenyan playwright, actor and storyteller. His other plays include What Are the Odds? and Are We Here Yet?. He is an Associate Director of The Theatre Company and is an Editorial Assistant at Kwani Trust. In movie reviews, it is common (perhaps too common) to see ‘thumbs up’ summaries eg. ‘Two thumbs up!’ or even ‘Two thumbs way up!’ In Kenya, we rarely actually use the word ‘critic’; the term ‘reviewer’ is more often employed. For example, one of the first part-time jobs I got when I came to Nairobi was writing movie reviews for a website called Kelele.com (which at the time was probably EA’s first entertainment website). Even in my CV, I still refer to myself at that time as a ‘movie reviewer’. ‘Film critic’ sounds too formal and even pretentious: I never studied it in school, or anything like that. In fact, I initially wanted to do restaurant reviews (for free meals) but 36 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com somebody else beat me to the punch (Don’t cry for me, Argentina – I still got to watch bigscreen films for free!) Also, in Kenya we rarely have pure ‘theatre critics’. Usually, the critics cover all the arts: visual arts, performing arts, literature etc. Noted Kenyan theatre critics include Margaretta Swigert-Gacheru (mainly for Nation Media Group), Faith Oneya (LiteraryChronicles.com, et al), George Orido (for Standard Media Group), Anthony Njagi (for NMG), Ogova Ondego (ArtMatters.info), Oby Obyeodhyambo (who is himself involved in theatre), Kamau Mutunga (for NMG) and Joseph Ngunjiri (for NMG) and Ann Manyara (member of the International Association of Theatre Critics). Margaretta Gacheru is the longest-standing of these writers, having been covering the arts in Kenya since the 1970’s! Photo: Margaretta Gacheru Photo: Faith Oneya Theatre critics Margaretta Swigert-Gacheru (left) and Faith Oneya Do not be afraid of art critics. Invite them to your shows (or galleries as the case may be). Get their contacts (which is usually easy enough because they want to be found/invited/updated). Most of them, especially bloggers, are huge fans of the art form they are covering (that’s usually why they are doing it in the first place). Here’s part of what Margaretta had to say concerning Cajetan Boy’s Backlash: ‘Phoenix’s professional cast make Backlash one of the most memorable shows I have seen all year.’33 Nowadays, the ‘blogosphere’ (which incorporates interactive news/entertainment websites not just personal blogs) is a force to reckon with in show business. Websites like IMDB.com and RottenTomatoes.com are now often the first stopping points for people seeking reliable information on recent films (Entertainment Weekly and Premiere magazines must be tearing their hair out). Some movie bloggers have been flown to movie 33 Saturday Nation, August 17, 2013 37 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com premiers in private jets and otherwise entertained by movie producers (a privilege that was traditionally accorded to influential columnists). Understand that, like death and taxes, there will always be critics. Even if no established journo/blogger attends your show, the audience members can still massacre it on social media. Some of them send updates as an event progresses, or take pictures illegally. Still, you can’t blame technology for ruining your show. It is merely a tool in the hand of a livingbreathing human being – no different from the human beings who watched cathartic plays centuries ago, laughed at comedies and cried at tragedies. George Bernard Shaw had some harsh words for critics which is surprising coming from the man who authored the classic play Androcles and the Lion34 . Picture this: It is during the time that Christians were being persecuted in Europe but the torment only emboldened their faith. One day, a loveable Christian man named Androcles is travelling on foot when he is startled by the roars of a massive male lion in pain35. The panther has a thorn stuck in its paw and is in too much agony to bother with anyone. Androcles gathers his courage and manages to pull out the thorn and the relieved cat limps away to recover. Shortly thereafter, Androcles and a handful of other (quite funny) Christians are rounded up and sentenced to death in a public arena. Among the damned is a brave, beautiful and humorous girl who is the object of affection of one of the Roman captors. The fateful day arrives and the Christians bravely face their fate – they march into the arena where a new, ravenous lion is waiting to pounce...until it recognizes Androcles as the human who once pulled a thorn from its paw! Androcles and the lion embrace and happily dance away as the curtain falls... G. B. Shaw (Man and Superman) could have switched Androcles and the Lion into a tragedy just by letting the lion kill the prisoners. In a similar vein, Shakespeare could have made Romeo and Juliet a comedy just by changing the last page to let the lovers live (The play is otherwise very funny, if you understand the lingo). Plays are generally divided into two broad categories: Comedy and Tragedy (hence the two famous ‘theatre masks’ that denote theatrical activity). How skilful do you have to be to write a play that until the last page, or even the last sentence, can go either way? I hated G. B. Shaw’s screenplay for the Hollywood movie Caesar and Cleopatra which depicts Cleopatra as a beautiful, timid woman while in reality she was neither beautiful36 nor timid. In fact, she was terrifying. By today’s standards, she would be labelled a ‘dictator’. But with works like Androcles and the Lion, G. B. Shaw more than redeemed himself. Two thumbs way up! And, talking about lions, how come there is no single Kenyan play about the man-eaters of Tsavo? The two international movies about the beasts that terrorized the Kenya-Uganda railway builders, Bwana Devil and The Ghost and the Darkness, were both Hollywood productions. The latter, starring Michael Douglas, was controversially shot in South Africa. And while we can excuse our underdeveloped film industry for not taking up the mantle (a 34 Based on one of Aesop's Fables In the original fable, Androcles was a slave who escaped from his master and was thus hiding in a forest 36 We have a clue of what she looked like from coins dating back to her murderous reign 35 38 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com period piece involving wildlife might be too challenging for our filmmakers), there is no good reason why theatre groups can’t re-tell the story. Unlike movies, most theatre productions are minimalist in nature. You want the least amount of fuss – not too many scenes, no superfluous characters, no unnecessary costume changes etc. If an actor went on stage wearing a lion mask and making roaring sounds, the audience is ready to make believe that he is a lion. And the man-eaters of Tsavo are good material for a story (they were even discussed in the UK parliament during their reign of terror) for many reasons: - It’s a Kenyan story - It’s multicultural (has Europeans, Indians and Negroes) - It’s a period piece (chance to win a Best Costume Award!) - There’s a chance for multiple languages (Hindi, Kiswahili, English etc) - It’s well known so critics will be eager to see ‘your take’ on it (creativity, ladies and gentlemen, creativity) - It’s a true story - It has a (relatively) happy ending with a lesson in courage The only thing the saga lacked was a beautiful woman. But the writers/director can get creative eg. Lieut-Colonel J. Patterson (the mzungu hero) or Ungan Singh (Indian platelayer) could dream/reminisce about his wife one night in the jungle and as he does, she appears on stage in a pale light and sings a song (or they do a duet) and as the song ends, she vanishes... For those who are not familiar with what happened at Tsavo during the construction of the Kenya-Uganda railway, the best reference material is Lieut-Colonel J. Patterson’s own book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. But just to jog your memory, here’s an excerpt from a narrative poem: ‘Shortly after work commenced, the chilling nightmare began: Night after night, coolies37 would mysteriously disappear And it soon emerged that lions were the mystery’s authors. Two maneless lions were especially notorious Never before had wild animals shown such contempt for man. They lived in a den and hunted down people for food and fun. One of their first victims was Ungan Singh, Patterson’s foreman, Who was dragged away patently screaming and grabbing earth. Bwana Patterson grabbed his .303 and 12-bore shotgun, Fully determined to turn the two brutes into carrion. At every opportunity, he fired round after round of ammunition But he may as well have been shooting blanks For none touched the beasts nor did they exhibit any fear. “They are not lions but devils!” concluded the workmen’ - From Remember the Lions (poem), The Moon is Made of Green Cheese 37 Indians; now dated 39 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com By the way, don’t let the foregoing paragraphs give you a bad impression of savannah cats. Lions and cheetahs are generally wonderful creatures, as evidenced by ‘Elsa’ and other specimens. As in the title of the famous wildlife documentary, ‘animals are beautiful people’ (Personally, I have never heard of lions that carried out genocide attacks or dropped atomic bombs on populated cities). The most dangerous living thing is, and has always been, humankind. Thanks to us and our appetite for destruction, almost every large wild mammal is now in danger of extinction38. ‘Animals fight but they do not wage wars. Only man – unique among primates – practices the large-scale, deliberate and enthusiastic destruction of his fellow creatures.’ - Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Civil War But let’s return to the subject of critical analysis. Theatre critics are also utilized in theatre award processes. In Kenya, for instance, Margaretta Gacheru was enlisted as one of the judges for the 2013 Sanaa Awards. Arts critic Anthony Njagi actually won a Sanaa Award for ‘Best Theatre, Art and Culture Writer’. So, by all means involve professional critics. If your show is good, then you have nothing to fear. If it’s bad, then why are you selling it to the public anyway? Remember that ‘content is king’ so if your king is naked, he will be criticized. Below is a sample of a newspaper review by a Kenyan critic: The Musical That Never Was By ANNE MANYARA, Daily Nation (Dec 2013) Musical theatre combines music, drama and dance in equal measure while the Phoenix production was simply a concert that would have been better suited for any of the Jamhuri Day parties that we are just recovering from. The quote “Let’s sing our way out of this,” attributed to Mexican poet Isabel Fraire, could have inspired Kenya at 50, Phoenix Players’ end-of-year musical, which I watched on December 4. The performance, described on the poster as an original musical, is supposed to be a musical history of Kenya from the days “before there was a flag” to the present day. It is performed by talented and energetic artists — who would probably have a thriving career in the music industry — but it is not musical theatre... 38 If you care, then ‘Cause an Uproar’ by supporting any of the many reputable conservation movements/organizations, like ‘Friends of Nairobi National Park’ and ‘Hands off our Elephants’, that are trying to preserve our national heritage 40 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com I would not say that theatrical critics are harsher than other reviewers (of music, books etc), but they have been known to come up with some of the most poisonous barbs, to ‘give the best jeers’. Examples: - British author Jeffery Archer has apparently dabbled in every kind of writing there is (novels, short stories, scripts etc). His first stage play, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, opened in London in September 1987 and played to packed audiences for years afterwards. More recently, while facing fraud charges (for which he would later go to jail), Archer wrote and staged a play entitled The Accused, about a man on trial. The courtroom drama was staged at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket and at the end of every show, the audience would be asked to decide whether the accused was guilty or innocent (ie. the audience was the jury). The ageing Archer himself starred in The Accused and while he is universally acclaimed one of the greatest novelists that ever lived, his acting came in for a lot of criticism. British theatre critic Nicholas De Jongh famously wrote: ‘To describe Lord Archer’s acting as wooden would be to insult even the humblest piece of furniture.’ - According to an article in the Independent, reviewer Dorothy Parker was a true Queen of Mean. She said of one play by Leo Tolstoy: ‘It isn't what you might call sunny. I went into the Plymouth Theatre a comparatively young woman, and I staggered out of it three hours later, 20 years older, haggard and broken with suffering.’ And in a book review, the same Dorothy Parker wrote: ‘This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.’ 'I just think that there are enough neurotics who want to work in the theatre and hopefully, they'll get their shot.' – From Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway (Documentary) 41 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com The Fourth Wall Most performers don’t acknowledge/interfere with the The Fourth Wall (the invisible line between them and the audience) until the end of their performance. This is just as well because some audience members prefer not to be bothered. During the DVD recording of British comedian Rhod Gilbert’s act, Rhod Gilbert and the Award-winning Mince Pie, he tries to engage a former serviceman (soldier) but the audience member yells back, ‘You’re the entertainer!’ It is hard to say whether or not the players should bother the audience. Opinion varies from troupe to troupe and from show to show. Some groups like The Theatre Company and Artistes for Contemporary Theatre (A.C.T) routinely break the Fourth Wall. A.C.T, for example, likes the actors to ‘come through the audience’ en route to the stage and encourages audience members to join in songs and dances. The cast of My and My Girl interact with audience members as they perform the song Lambeth Walk ‘Asides’ are common in comedies like The Government Inspector but not in dramas and thrillers. This is why workshops and other discussion fora are so important. The company can decide whether audience participation is necessary for their particular show or not. For example, when I and a theatre actor were discussing a possible stage adaptation of my spy story Kiss, Commander, Promise, we both agreed that in a ‘street espionage scene’ (where spies are ‘shadowing’ each other at night in the streets of Nairobi) it would be great for the performers to follow each other along the aisles of the theatre (the mere fact that the sitting area is usually darkened would help with the whole ‘night scene’ element). But for another of my plays, The Stacy Walker Interview, acknowledging the audience would be a mistake because the audience is supposed to be almost voyeuristically watching a secret love affair unfolding. The Stacy Walker Interview (a drama) is about marital infidelity and is as serious as a heart attack. In it, a magazine writer is interviewing a young, rich businessman when the nature of their conversation takes a decidedly romantic turn... 42 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Incidentally, The Stacy Walker Interview is based on actual events. I used to be a writer for a magazine and one time, one of my female colleagues was sent to interview a Member of Parliament. When she returned, she told us how the interview had been proceeding quite routinely until the (married) MP discovered that he and the (single) reporter hailed from the same tribe. He switched language to their vernacular and, in Act II of their conversation, informed her that he was looking for ‘second wife’... 43 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE ROAD AHEAD: What Next For Kenyan Theatre? ‘Where your talent and the needs of the world cross, their lies your vocation.’ – Aristotle ‘We don't have to wait for someone to greenlight our (Black people's) projects, we can create our own intersection.’ - Tyler Perry ‘I think it's important to follow your heart and follow your dreams, and have dreams.’ - Reese Witherspoon, Oscar-winning actress ‘No matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.’ – Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar-winning Kenyan actress (Best Actress in a Supporting Role, 2014) Photo: Getty/AFP, Kevin Winter GOLDEN GIRL: Lupita Nyong’o brandishes her trophy at the 86th Academy Awards Methinks that what the Kenyan theatre scene needs, at the present time, is a catalyst – a local production that will create excitement and galvanise other thespians into action. I am talking about the kind of inspiration generated by Sarafina! in South Africa and Fela! in Nigeria. Locally, Lupita Nyong’o’s Academy Award buzz has created a flurry of publicity rarely seen since Barack Obama was nominated for the US presidency. Lupita Nyong’o now shares front-page status with presidents and governors – a rare thing for an artiste. The papers keep citing her meteoric rise in Hollywood and calling for ‘more Lupitas’ to arise from our midst. Other people who have single-handedly generated national excitement include boxer Conjestina Achieng’, comedian ‘Churchill’ Ndambuki and footballer Dennis Oliech. All it takes is one catalyst. 44 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com ‘Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people do but great people make you feel that you too can be great. Associate with people who see your potential, judge you on what you can become and push upwards rather than down. If someone doesn't celebrate and cherish your company, shun them like a plague. You ain't gonna be great when you are surrounded by cynics and pessimists. When they say you can't, tell them “watch me” and walk away!’ - Ezekiel Mutua, former Secretary-General of Kenya Union of Journalists (2001-2007) For Kenya to produce its one smash hit there might be a need for collaboration between heavyweights from several fields eg. comedians, actors, directors, set designers communications/publicity/PR representatives, star musicians, music composers/producers, business experts with experience in the arts (eg. event organizers) and, of course, scribes. And all these people need to be brought together in a workshop environment39 where they can begin working towards a stage experience. You might be saying that working with artistes (as opposed to businessmen etc) is very difficult and the project might be marred by petty arguments, rivalries and jealousies but that is par for the course. It’s even worse in America, where there is much more at stake (money, reputations etc). In his book, Writing Screenplays That Sell, Michael Hauge says that due to egos, monies involved, technicalities etc, ‘It is a small miracle every time a (Hollywood) film is made, let alone is any good.’ So expect some ‘differences of opinion’ among participants but remember the proverb that ‘iron sharpens iron’, so the clashes might actually be for the best. Ngugi wa Thiong’o has famously written about ‘de-colonising our minds’. The day when most (if not all) of the professional plays performed within our borders will be homegrown (and at least some of them in vernacular) will be the day that Kenyan theatre will be sufficiently ‘de-colonised’. Until then, it is Not Yet Uhuru. Personally, I long for the day when Kenyan thespians, musicians and other stakeholders will come together in a workshop environment and hammer out a ‘gold standard’ for others to emulate. One big, fat, family-friendly show that can run for years, not one week; a production containing something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone... ‘Something familiar, Something peculiar, Something for everyone: A comedy tonight! Something appealing, Something appalling, Something for everyone: A comedy tonight! 39 I don’t know where we will get the funding for this, but there are some senior companies that have in the last decade sponsored theatrical activity to the tune of millions of shillings 45 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns; Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns! Old situations, New complications, Nothing portentous or polite; Tragedy tomorrow, Comedy tonight!’ - Comedy Tonight (song), From the play, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 46 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING AS A FORM OF THEATRE - ‘If Shakespeare was alive today, he’d be writing wrestling shows.’ Canadian wrestler Chris Jericho promoting his book, A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex ‘I look at (pro) wrestling as theatre at its most base. And guess what – so do most of the fans. The way I see it, the critics have it all wrong: It’s not about fighting, it’s about spectacle.’ – Barry W. Blaustein, Beyond the Mat (documentary) Donald Trump (left) and Vince McMahon (in grey suit) face off ahead of their ‘Battle of the Billionaires’ WrestleMania encounter, as ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin (centre) looks on Wrestling, in its raw form, has been practiced since the dawn of man. Depictions of wrestling have been found in everything from cave walls to Egyptian hieroglyphs. It also appears in ancient stories and texts like the Bible (apparently even angels wrestle40). In ancient Greece and Rome, it has been practiced as a sport for centuries. We still have Greco-Roman wrestling in the Olympics and in colleges around the world. In Africa, wrestling was mainly employed for entertainment but was serious competition for the participants (young males) for it was a test of strength and the winner gained village glory. In some parts of Africa, like the Sudan, wrestling was used in actual warfare (what would today be referred to as ‘hand-to-hand combat’). Professional wrestling – a form of entertainment that simulates actual wrestling but is in fact just a show – has been around for a much shorter time and has gone through many innovations. It is widely believed that pro wrestling began just after the American Civil War. During the war, some US servicemen passed long hours of boredom by engaging in 40 Genesis 32: 24 – 32, The Holy Bible 47 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com wrestling exhibitions before their comrades. Wrestling was a useful pastime, because it’s about combat41 but at the same time, they didn’t want to hurt their comrades in a time of war. After the hostilities, some soldiers had a hard time adjusting to civilian life (as is often the case). Getting jobs and making money was especially difficult. Some former soldiers decided to make money by giving wrestling exhibitions in town. America’s fabled President Abraham Lincoln was a man who wore many hats (literally and figuratively). One of his pre-politics activities was being a professional wrestler. He is said to have participated in over 300 matches! ‘I am a showman by profession . . . and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.’ - P. T. Barnum Professional wrestling as practiced today is believed to have been invented by P. T. Barnum of the ‘Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus’. Barnum ran a grand, multi-ringed circus where the main ‘curiosities’ were in the main tent and lesser ‘attractions’ were in surrounding tents (ie. they were side-shows). Wrestling made a great side-show. To spice things up, Barnum (a genius in marketing and the inspiration for Robert Ripley42 among other greats) gave his wrestlers outlandish costumes and fake bios/back-stories/legends (now called ‘gimmicks’). Even then, audiences suspected that the action wasn’t real so the wrestling team often included someone called a ‘hooker’. A hooker was a real wrestler who would challenge any man in the crowd to a fight. The hooker’s chief method of subduing the fan, without causing much harm, was to lock him in a submission manoeuvre (a pretzel hold, full nelson, choke hold etc) until he gave up (Hence the name ‘hooker’, from ‘hooking’ the opponent). In the last century, pro wrestling has become very entertainment-oriented. In the words of one documentary, there’s ‘no semblance of a sport’ anymore. The current P. T. Barnum of wrestling, Vince McMahon of WWE, refers to the modern, televised product as ‘sports entertainment.’ Have Pen and Paper, Will Write 'That Ted Turner is a genius...He has taken what used to be a carnival side show and turned it into a gold mine. Yes - wrestling has become prime time for the masses. He's making these giant men into millionaires with movie star status.' - Samantha Bar, TV’s Channel 5 Sports (Sting: Moment of Truth DVD) ‘Wrestling has always been, and always will be, Shakespeare to the masses. People can live vicariously through us (wrestlers); they can enjoy it; it’s an outlet, it’s very entertaining…It’s incredible the connection you can have with people.’ – Jeff Jarrett, wrestler/promoter (Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain documentary) 41 Imagine how angry their commanders would have been if they found them doing standup comedy or singing Idols-style! 42 Of Ripley’s Believe it or Not 48 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Pro wrestling is popular all over the world but more so in North America, Mexico, Southern Africa, Australia, Western Europe and Japan. Pro wrestling differs from ‘amateur’ wrestling in that it the outcomes are predetermined and the performers are paid like any other job. In ‘amateur wrestling’, you win titles, medals or other considerations, but it is not a commercial venture. Due to the popularity of such pro wrestling companies as WWE and TNA and global stardom of such performers as Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, The Undertaker, Sting, El Santo, Big Daddy and others, more and more wrestling companies are springing up. So if you’re a fan, you could very soon be in a position to write wresting shows! Before you can write for wrestling, you must first acquaint yourself with the basic lingo: Promotion /Federation/Fed – A wrestling company Face/Babyface – The ‘good guy’, ‘hero’, especially the promotion’s top star eg. ‘Cena needs to put someone over, he’s been the babyface for too long!’ Heel – ‘Bad guy’; opposite of ‘babyface’ eg. The wrestling world shook to its foundations when Hulk Hogan turned heel (ie. went from good guy to bad) and joined WCW’s ‘NWO’ clique (It was the equivalent of the comic book Superman character deciding to become a villain) Tweener – A performer who is neither heel nor face but somewhere in between eg. Stone Cold Steve Austin who was initially supposed to be heel but became a fan favourite Promoter – The guy running the fed eg. In one British fed, wrestlers complained that top face Big Daddy43 (Shirley Crabtree) was always booked to win. The promoter was Big Daddy’s brother, and the young girl who often accompanied him to the ring was his daughter. Bloodlines are common in promotions. Booker – The person who decides who will win or lose a match; usually the promoter. Making a match, which requires creativity, is called booking and involves deciding which two wrestlers or tandems will make the most money for the promotion eg. A WWE fan sign once read: ‘WHO BOOKED THIS CRAP?’44 Zebra – Referee Gate – The money collected at the entrance to a venue. WWE’s annual WrestleMania extravaganza has the largest gates in the world. Gorilla45 – The area just behind the curtain through which the wrestlers enter the arena eg. ‘Tell those guys to stay clear of the Gorilla position!’ André shot46 – A low angle camera shot, designed to make a wrestler look even larger than he actual is. Named after André the Giant. Feud – A series of matches between two wrestlers. Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin had the longest pay-pay-view feud: 9 PPV matches, including an emotional one just after 9/11 in which ‘American hero’ Kurt Angle kicked out of three ‘stunners’! Gimmick – Persona/character. Wrestlers often create/suggest their own gimmicks. Also, a 43 A world-famous ‘face’ who held the Guinness World Record for the largest chest; formerly a rugby player Incidentally, fan signs are some of the most entertaining aspects of modern wrestling 45 Named for wrestler/promoter Gorilla Monsoon 46 Named for André the Giant 44 49 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com gimmick can be completely different from a performer’s real personality. John Cena once rapped: ‘You’re not All-American, Kurt (Angle). You wore out the gimmick.’ GIMMICK: ‘Akeem the African Dream’ (left) squares off with ‘Hulk Hogan’ (real name Terry Bollea). Akeem was not even an African. Storyline – A pre-conceived series of events, usually leading up to a single match/encounter Kayfabe – ‘Be fake’; making believe that a gimmick, storyline or rivalry is real; it was espoused when people thought that wrestling was real, especially when it was a carnival side-show. It is still used nowadays but never stressed eg. WWE and TNA have staged many kayfabe weddings in the ring Over – Popular (with fans) Manager/valet – A person, usu. female, who escorts a wrestler to the ring VALET: Japanese wrestler The Great Muta with a female manager Sell – (verb) Fake an injury eg. A booker/writer may tell a face, ‘You’ll call him out while facing the ring entrance but he (the heel) will sneak up from behind you and whack you in the back of the head with a chair. Sell the head and keep selling it until he runs away through the crowd.’ 50 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Job – (verb) Lose a match Jobber/Jabroni/Enhancement Talent – A wrestler who is perennially booked to lose a match in order to get his opponent over eg. WWE’s Brooklyn Brawler lost over 1000 matches Shoot – (verb) Break Kayfabe/character; either accidentally or for personal reasons (eg. frustration with promoters) Card – The list of matches to take place on a given event The Boys – The people in a promotion who actually wrestle as opposed to writers, bookers, ring technicians, accountants and other non-wrestling staff Bump – (noun) Any wrestling move performed on an opponent eg. ‘Being a valet is the closest you can get to the ring without taking a bump.’ Lucha Libre – Mexican-style pro wrestling, famous for use of masks and acrobatic action LUCHA LIBRE: A scene from the movie Nacho Libre Screwjob – A situation (kayfabe or not) in which a wrestler unfairly loses a match. Canada’s Bret Hart lost his last WWE title in an infamous incident dubbed ‘The Montreal Screwjob’47 Foreign object – (jocular: International object) Any unsanctioned item that might give unfair advantage to its user. It is usually used by a heel and its use could lead to a screwjob. When WCW was owned by CNN founder Ted Turner, a directive went round that the word ‘foreign’ was to be replaced by ‘international’ across Turner broadcasting networks, with the result even wrestlers were forced to call foreign objects ‘international objects’ which made no sense but was good for laughs! Street fight – A no-disqualification match in which normal restrictions, such as fighting within the ring, are lifted. Pinfalls count anywhere. Hardcore match – An extreme no-disqualification match in which the use of foreign objects is actually encouraged. Pinfalls count anywhere. Dark match - A match that is not televised (despite that capability), usually because the performers are still in training Promo – An interview before a match. In one infamous viral YouTube video, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is seen reading notes on his wrist during a promo! 47 For the full shocking details, see the documentary, Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows 51 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Heat – Audience reaction esp. towards the heel eg. In the documentary, Beyond the Mat, The Rock says, ‘I’m banking on there being a ton of heat on me,’ referring to his upcoming title match with hardcore legend Mankind at the ‘Royal Rumble’. Heels will sometimes insult fans or the town they are in, just to draw heat Shoulder block (UK: Body Check) – Hitting an opponent with your shoulder (usually after a run). This can happen several times before one wrestler hits the ground Drop kick – A kick delivered by leaping and planting both feet into the opponent Superkick – A kick delivered sideways with the executor’s head lowered Suicide dive – A leap from inside the ring to an opponent on the outside. Considered a high-risk manoeuvre. Go home – (instruction) End the match eg. If the crowd is not into a match, the referee might whisper to the performers, ‘Go home in two(minutes)’ Juice/blade/geek – (verb) To cut yourself in order to bleed (by means of a hidden blade). Rarely used nowadays and banned in some promotions eg. ‘Look - Ric Flair is blading!’ Seatviction – Yanking someone from their chair so that it can be used as a weapon Gorilla segment/vignette – TV segments that take place away from the ring, usually to advance a storyline 52 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com Have Tights, Will Wrestle ‘I didn’t start out the 10-time world champ. I started just like everybody else, with a dream. I hustled, I trained, I fought, I conquered.’ – WWE wrestler Hunter Hearst Helmsley, in an ad for Raw vs Smackdown video game ‘To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. Instead of back-biting, why don’t you fight like a man? Forget SMS, let’s go face to face But I have to warn you that I come from a long line of warriors.’ - Alexander Nderitu, To Be The Man (poem), Where the Kremlin Live The problem with just writing the shows is that few fans will ever know of your existence. It’s a backroom job. The guys in the ring get all the fame and glory and some, like Hulk Hogan, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin have gone on to become bona fide Hollywood movie stars. Some people might feel that they belong in the ‘squared circle’, not some backroom cubicle. So, if you feel that you have what it takes to be a wrestler; if you believe that you are ‘Ready to Rumble’; that, like Ric Flair, you can go ‘From Unemployed to Undisputed’; or that, like Bret Hart, you are ‘the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be’, then by all means grab a pair of tights and head off to a pro wrestling training facility! ‘I’m obsessed with wrestling, I can’t lie Every fight night is a Just Another Day in Paradise Vince McMahon, it’s you and me Let’s take this game to an all-time high I’ve seen rookies go from starlight to starbright Every night’s a bullfight It’s always war time in the garden of good and evil Don’t stop the carnival Let it rumble Let it resonate like Mohammed Ali’s fight in the jungle’ - Alexander Nderitu,Who Spoke? (poem) The Spoken Word (Vol 1): The Great Black Hope - If you want to love wrestling, watch the movie Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black. If you want hate wrestling, watch the movie The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke. If you want to love and hate wrestling at the same time, watch the documentary Beyond the Mat by Barry W. Blaustein. If you want to understand pro-wrestling – its history, psychological appeal etc – watch the documentary The History of Pro Wrestling. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME 53 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com All televised wrestling shows will occasionally display the cautionary message, ‘Don’t try this at home’ (all something along those lines). This is generally aimed at young children and cannot be emphasized enough. Be part of the solution. Always discourage young wrestling fans from imitating professional wrestling moves. They may not realize that there are certain tricks involved, almost like a magician’s tricks. For instance, a real head butt (jocularly referred to as ‘a meeting of minds’) would be injurious to both performers. The reality is that wrestlers’ heads barely touch. Stay safe. Leave real grappling to wrestlers and MMA48 pundits. They spend years training to do it right. 48 Mixed Martial Arts 54 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com If you would like to make any comments, suggestions or corrections concerning the above material, you can do so at www.AlexanderNderitu.com or e-mail [email protected] 55 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com WHEN THE WHIRLWIND PASSES Alexander Nderitu OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE! Maggie's encounter with Michael Othaya, the young heir to a multi-billion-shilling fashion empire, marked the beginning of a cataclysmic cycle of events that would involve sex, manipulation, conspiracy...and first-degree murder. To be sure, the Sultans of Fashion had had their fair share of scandals and intrigues in the past. Overly ambitious and genetically predisposed towards greed, the rich and famous Othayas were no strangers to controversy. But it wasn't until Michael and Maggie - a laundry woman's daughter - started romancing that the feuding family's civil war reached its climax... Easily digested and written with a handle on humour, When the Whirlwind Passes is doubtless one of the best crime novels to ever come out of Africa. ‘Brilliantly written...The story is fast-paced and the characters are built well. This is a book that is guaranteed to keep you seated ...If you can access the book, please do. It will be worth the energy.’ - SATURDAY magazine/Daily Nation ‘Set around a filthy-rich African family, Nderitu weaves a wicked narrative of romance, greed and murder in high society.’ – The Highland Tribune ‘Nderitu certainly harbours a lot of talent.’ - Gitura Mwaura, author of Portraits of the Heart ‘A Kenyan novelist in a class of his own.’ – mmnjug (arts blogger) E-PUB and other e-book versions available at www.alexandernderitu.com Amazon Kindle version available at Amazon.com Now available in paperback at www.lulu.com 56 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE (and other poems) Alexander Nderitu From a writer who was born on William Shakespeare's birthday comes this delightful collection of poems crafted over several years. The Moon is Made of Green Cheese is a literary safari that will take you from the world's beaches to the depths of the cosmos, from human relationships to the feeding habits of crocodiles, from philosophical thoughts to love in the time of malaria... Like a great pot of jambalaya, there's something here for everyone, and if this anthology doesn't become an instant hit with readers, then the world is upside down and the moon is made of green cheese! ‘Master of prose and poetry’ – The Highland Tribune E-book version available at www.alexandernderitu.com Available both as a paperback and e-book at www.lulu.com Amazon Kindle version available on www.amazon.com 57 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com KISS, COMMANDER, PROMISE™ (And other short stories) Alexander Nderitu In Kenya, an Egyptian defector becomes the focal point of an African Cold War - but is he a player or a pawn in the international game of political chess? In North Korea, a disillusioned spy plays a cat-and-mouse game against his own secret service… In Canada, a successful businesswoman must outwit a stalker who has come a little too close for comfort… In Israel, a secret plan to bioengineer an army of cloned soldiers creates ‘the perfect storm’ of controversy… Back in Nairobi, an investigator is called in after an Indian family’s wedding plans turn into funeral arrangements… Elsewhere in Kenya, ripples of alarm begin to spread when a soon-to-be-crowned Nobel laureate goes missing, believed kidnapped… Meanwhile, a love triangle between a high-strung cop, a naïve writer and a beautiful girl spirals dangerously out of control… And finally, the Rwandan Genocide is revisited in a heart-rending tale of courage, sacrifice, hatred and fear… E-book version available at www.alexandernderitu.com Available both as a paperback and e-book at www.lulu.com Amazon Kindle version available on www.amazon.com Click here for a free preview 58 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com AFRICA ON MY MIND (Children’s fiction) Alexander Nderitu When Lizzie Matu was eight years old, her mother moved to the United States, taking Lizzie and her six-year-old brother, Caleb, with her. Now, ten years later, Lizzie is back in Kenya! And she can’t wait to re-connect with her childhood friends (especially her old classmate, Timothy)! But just like Lizzie, her small home town has changed a lot, flooding her with mixed emotions. As our Lizzie struggles to achieve her dream of becoming a singer, Africa itself struggles against freak weather and an outbreak of disease. With vivid descriptions, unflagging sense of humour and every stylistic device in the literary canon, Africa on My Mind is a tender story of love brewed in the African pot. ‘A bit of a slow start but it soon turns into a wonderful comedy. Lizzie’s driving lessons were the best part!’ – Stan Kiprop, journalist ‘Alexander Nderitu is the face of digital publishing in the country.’ – The Nairobian Only available www.Amazon.com 59 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE STACY WALKER INTERVIEW (Stage play) Written by: Alexander Nderitu Genre: Romance Running time: Approx. 1 ½ hrs At the age of only 35, Mike Muriuki is a multi-millionaire with a beautiful wife, two adorable kids, a suburban mansion, a fleet of luxury cars and a private plane. Stacy Walker (half Kenyan/half English) is a beautiful magazine writer with a secret crush on Mike. Aged 29, she lives with her parents and has a German boyfriend who ‘can’t even commit to a toothpaste.’ Mike and Stacy’s worlds collide one unforgettable evening when Stacy is sent to interview the youthful tycoon. Sparks of attraction start to fly immediately and the line between business and pleasure becomes thinner and thinner as the two are drawn into an illicit affair that could derail both their lives… Script available on www.AlexanderNderitu.com 60 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE BOARDROOM (Stage play) Written by: Alexander Nderitu Genre: Comedy Running time: Approx. 2 hrs ‘A secretary once shredded important documents instead of photocopying them. I swear that girl had a million-dollar body and a ten-cent brain!...I hope she went to work for one of my competitors.’ – Chris In the world of finance and investments, Chris - young Kenyan businessman - is ‘a giant among insects’. But when it comes to matters of the heart, he's a dunderhead. The surprise engagement of two of his employees precipitates an encounter with his diva-licious exwife, Yolanda, and sets the stage for scenes that are by turns comic and tender! Written by a guy who was born on William Shakespeare’s birthday, the smart money is on this play becoming a hit! Script available on www.AlexanderNderitu.com 61 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Stage play) Written by: Alexander Nderitu Genre: Comedy Running time: Approx. 1 ½ hrs Meet Jack Lloyd, a British-born film director teetering on the brink of a personal crisis. His flashy wife is dating a younger man, his teenage daughter has puberty issues and his latter films are as unpopular as second-hand underwear. At all events, Lloyd’s life is ‘flying apart at the seams’. But this is a comedy and we’re at the movies so put on your happy face and get ready to meet Lloyd’s wild bunch of workmates as well: philandering French film producer JeanPierre Paquito, heart-throb Ronnie Hunk, weepy Production Assistant Anne and a cast of cranky actors. Written in the best tradition of humourist S. J. Perelman, What’s Wrong With This Picture? Shows why there is no business like show business and no writer like Alexander Nderitu! Script available on www.AlexanderNderitu.com 62 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com HANNAH AND THE ANGEL (Stage play) Written by: Alexander Nderitu Genre: Comedy Running time: Approx. 2 hrs ‘Because you have made the Lord your refuge…He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ - Psalms 91: 9 – 12 When Hannah, an adorable teenage girl, is visited by an angel, she thinks that her hip-hopobsessed friend, Jack, is playing a trick on her. But the winged visitor turns out to be “the real deal… an angel from Heaven.” It turns out that these ‘winged messengers of God’ are just as flawed - and humorous! – as mortal humans, and through her encounter, Hannah learns the virtue of tolerance and importance of forgiveness (and I almost said ‘The Importance of Being Earnest!’) Hannah and the Angel is a play for people of all religions. It’s a morality tale about the complexity of human relations, the struggle between the young and the old and the duel between good and evil. It’s a sunbeam for a world made chaotic by human imperfections. It’s like being touched by an angel. ‘Nderitu is his own competition…Nobody even comes close.’ – A.C.T Theatre Group Script available on www.AlexanderNderitu.com 63 | P a g e KENYAN THEATRE: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly www.AlexanderNderitu.com 64 | P a g e