THEATRE: Vernacular Plays Give Audiences a Voice

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Philip Ngunjiri

NAIROBI, Oct 1 1996 (IPS) - In Kenya, which embraced multipartyism in 1991 but remained a de facto one-party state, theatre has blossomed into the voice of the people, with anti-establishment plays staged again and again to packed houses.

Especially in the capital Nairobi and its environs, plays have become the favourite form of entertainment, with about 10 running at weekends. Drawing on popular rather than official history, the plays lead to a deepened awareness of political, social and cultural circumstances here.

At the forefront are plays by Ngugi wa Thiongo, who gained renown for his politically engaged and culturally authentic portrayal of the condition of ordinary Kenyans. Ngugi was forced into exile in the United States after the banning of ‘Maitu Njugira’ – a play which targeted a peasant and workers audience and was acted by the villagers of Kamiriithu – in 1982.

In the 1970s, the villagers built a cultural centre to further adult education and the arts by staging traditional plays in their own Kikuyu language. It was here that ‘Maitu Njugira’ and other plays were created.

The centre was torn down by armed police. Now, a technical school stands at the site.

“Authorities forbade future theatrical activities,” says Mbugua wa Kamau who was in the original cast of the play.

Through theatre, “people understand their situation and change their attitudes, thereby making them act more positively in the society,” says Martha Gathambo, a Nairobi-based lawyer and ardent theatre-goer. Therefore, she argues, art can “become a threat to the status quo”.

Despite his absence, Ngugi’s legacy lives on today.

In his endeavour to safeguard the Kenyan oral tradition, Ngugi had collected songs, music, mimes, proverbs and stories from different cultures in Kenya which he has incorporated in most of his plays.

“That’s why Ngugi’s plays have a wider appeal. A closer look at vernacular plays in vogue today shows they have Ngugi’s clingings,” says Kamau, who adds he has a play in the pipeline himself.

Ngugi, who no longer writes in English, arguing that one can only communicate effectively in one’s mother tongue, has been imitated by others, unleashing a wave of popular plays translated into the indigenous languages.

There was ‘Ciagana ni Ciagana’, a translation of Proteass Assengs’s ‘Enough is Enough’ in 1991 which ran throughout 1992 – making it the longest-running play in the country. Then came ‘Cia Mukari’, ‘Wangu wa makeri’, and ‘Mucuthi’, a translation of Robert Serumanga’s ‘Majangwa’. Later there were translations of Wole Soyinka’s ‘The trials of brother Jero’ and Aristophen’s ‘Assembly of Women’.

Few can be said to be professionally directed, but thousands of Kenyans flock to the theatres anyway.

The latest favourite is ‘Mugathe Mobogothi’, which has been performing to packed houses since January. It is the brainchild of Wahome Mutahi, a Kenyan novelist and leading columnist.

‘Mugathe Mubogothi’, focuses on a post-independence nation whose freedom fighters are lamenting the regimes failure to award them and to recognise their efforts, a favourite theme of Ngugi. The play shows plots for assassinations, plundering of government assets and other scandals common in post-independence Africa.

“The play is about Africa; the kind of leadership we are experiencing, the fact that we have been going in a vicious cycle,” says Mutahi. As in Ngugi’s works, the dialogue is interspersed with music and songs, which makes it easy to follow for those who don’t understand the language and allows audiences to participate.

Packed houses show the power of art in society, especially when materials recognized and understood by the people are used.

“The magical function of the African theatre shows how it has eradicated fear and anguish and has given the audience back their self-confidence and self-esteem,” says Gitura Kanyoni who has watched Mutahi’s play three times.