Saturday, August 13, 2011

Open air theatre’s message draws crowds in Kibera and Korogocho



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By MARGARETTA WA GACHERU margacheru@gmail.com
Posted  Friday, August 12  2011 at  22:49
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Not since the Nairobi University’s Free Travelling Theatre have we seen theatre taken to ordinary people, staged literally out of the bus.
The biggest difference between FTT and Safe Ghetto’s production of Nisisi, which was staged at the weekend in Kibera and Korogocho, is not just that a real “stage” pops out from under the Safe Ghetto bus every time the cast performs.
It’s that Safe Ghetto is strictly theatre with a message; it’s unabashedly “Sponsored Arts for Education” or Safe.
Even before the group obtained sponsorship from the Australian High Commission, they were committed to take theatre to Kenyas.
They have a compelling storyline and an underlying message but might never have set foot in the National Theatre, Phoenix Theatre or French Cultural Centre, the stages for most plays in Nairobi.
Public education
The last time it went all around Nairobi’s slums, Safe Ghetto focused on public health education.
Kamau wa Ndung’u and his British co-producer Nick Reding, set up Safe in the first place to spread information about HIV and Aids. It started in Mombasa, as Safe Kwani, then Safe Ghetto, and finally, in the Loita Hills called Safe Maa.
The work began in 2002 after Reding came from the UK to help construct an Aids clinic and paediatric hospital in the Coast.
Stunned by the massive scale of the problem, particularly the lack of knowledge among poor women, Reding, a professional TV, stage and film actor, asked himself what more he could do.
Hearing that lots of “little plays on HIV-Aids” had tried to address the problem, Reding’s response was: “Then let’s do a big play and break the silence!”
Reding said his plan was to create “World Class Theatre for Education”, which could have a profound impact on people’s fears and deeply-held beliefs.
Safe’s strategy worked so well in HIV-Aids awareness that Reding and Ndung’u changed focus and address the burning issue of Peace before and after next year’s election.
Working closely with John Githongo’s group ‘Inusa’, which works with Kenyan youth across the country, Reding and Ndung’u did some homework before devising Nisisi, a play that addresses all the fears, false rumours and politicians’ manipulations of the poor to win public office.
The script mixes Kiswahili and Sheng, blends humour, romance and political intrigue with the message that Kenyans can control their own destiny and live together in peace, once the tribalists with vested interests are exposed and thrown out.
It’s a heady message, but the story moves swiftly and has a lively love triangle, political intrigue (orchestrated by the conniving local MP Mtajiri (Anthony Ndung’u) and his scheming wife Zwene (Krysteen Savane) and three lovely local mamas (Mercy Wanjiru as Nene, Sharleen Njeri as Maria, and Judy Jacinta as Zippy).
The acting wakes the whole village up to what is at stake and why people need to see themselves as Kenyan, not one group pitted against another.
I won’t be a spoiler and tell too many details of this delightfully powerful play, suffice to say it’s a spine-tingling production whose cast members are practically all newcomers to theatre.
Reding and Ndung’u made open auditions for their Nairobi cast in 2004.
They drew people from 10 slums including Dandora, Kibera, Korogocho and Mathare Valley, which is Safe Ghetto’s target audience.
Impressive CV
Ultimately, the two chose a company of 17 (with a few recent additions, like Wanjiku Karanja, a regular with Heartstrings), all of whose family were affected by the 2007-8 post-election violence.
Reding is modest about his own professional CV, but it’s impressive to know he’s not only performed at the Royal Court and National Theatre in London; he has also been a “bad guy” in films like Blood Diamond, Constant Gardener, and Croupier.
He’s also been an occasional good guy in TV shows such as Judge John B, of which he turned down a renewing contract to continue his work with Safe.

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