The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
THE Zimbabwe German Society was the place to be a fortnight ago as theatre’s crème de la crème presented a staged reading of Ariel Dorfman’s “Widows”.
The unique and mind-blowing artistic act, featured top actors of the big stage among them, Kevin Hanseen, Antony Tongani and Charmaine Mujeri.
The two-hour long staged reading was captivating and well-rehearsed that by the time it ended, it appeared like just half-an-hour had breezed by.
The most outstanding factor was that the entire cast had to play two or more characters and when interchanging from one role to another, the transition was on point and each character was duly executed.
Another plus was the fact that without having to go for a break as is common when staging such lengthy productions, the audience stayed steeped into the play throughout.
Kudos to director Zaza Muchemwa for a job well done. Fluency of the readers is an important aspect in such presentations and they nailed it – from anywhere within the auditorium one could clearly hear every word that the actors were saying.
However, for a free gig on a Saturday afternoon and on top of that being just the second staged reading of the entire year, one would have expected a bigger turnout.
Sadly, the numbers were very low.
This goes to confirm that regardless of location, players in the theatre sector still have a lot of work to do with regards boosting numbers that attend their shows.
“The staged reading of ‘Widows’ by Ariel Dorman joins the presentation list of well-developed plays, which serve as an example of dramatic writing,” said Muchemwa. “The reading saw the cast breakdown the story to reveal the multi-layered facets of a dramatic piece whose story is as universal as it is specific to a particular part of the world.”
Muchemwa said she hoped the readings would help artistes enhance their dramatic literacy.
“As we continue with staged readings of plays from around the world we hope African artistes keep finding, in this process, opportunities to enhance their dramatic literacy as well as developing their voice.
“We salute the actors for completing this staged reading of ‘Widows’ and may the seeds that continue to be planted in each of us flourish towards a professionalised Zimbabwean dramatic arts industry,” she highlighted.
“Widows” is about a political protest in a country ruled by a military junta. It was written in collaboration with playwright Tony Kushner (author of “Angels in America”) and based on Dorfman’s 1983 novel of the same name.
The Almasi Collaborative Arts staged readings are designed to advance dramatic literacy in the community.
