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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 08 2012 19:06 | LAST UPDATED Feb 08 2012 19:06 |
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The ghost of the fragile government of national unity in Zimbabwe hovers over the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in Woza Joshua! -- a production directed by Warren Nebe, head of the department of Dramatic Art at Wits University. Featuring masters students Bheki and Clayton Ndlovu, the play is an adaptation of Woza Albert!, originally produced by Barney Simon, Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema. Written and performed in the dark days of apartheid, the production anticipated a saviour descending to save South Africans from their taskmasters. The two actors play multiple roles -- a street vendor eking out a living on the streets of Zimbabwe and an exiled prostitute in South Africa -- as well as Zimbabwe's principal protagonists: Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. "One of the questions the play asks is: has Zimbabwe fallen into the murky waters of artificial freedom that comes about as a result of political marriages of convenience and compromise?" the director says in the play's production notes. The play is faithful to current political developments and shows Tsvangirai in the West, begging bowl in hand, courting foreign investors. In the background is the sly, manipulative figure of Mugabe, played passably by Clayton Ndlovu, who forces Tsvangirai to read from Zanu-PF's prepared script. Woza Joshua! seems to be saying that Mugabe eventually manages to convert his opponents and co-opt them into his government. This happened with the late nationalist Joshua Nkomo, who signed a unity deal with Mugabe in 1987 that led to dissidents laying down their arms. The actors seem to be saying that the situation won't improve in Zimbabwe unless there is real change. The present arrangement, like the one before it, might just be another pact between elites. The acting could have been better and there was scope for the actors to inhabit their characters more naturally; but it's an interventionist production that has the potential to start an important dialogue.  CONTINUES BELOW TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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