The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
DAVES Guzha and his team are over the moon. Who would not be after taking part in the world’s largest arts festival — the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
Their theatrical production, “Lamentations at 12”, got the attention of many during its month-long showcase at the recently ended festival. The play, which was being showcased every day from August 3 to August 28 at the Assembly Rooms, also got featured in one of Europe’s esteemed theatre websites, The Stage.
We caught up with Guzha, the director and producer of the play, who was overjoyed by the play’s success.
“Assembly Rooms is one of the key must-do and highly respected brands. With this year accepting 203 shows from around the globe, it was such a warm, gracious and humbling feeling to have one’s work being selected,” said Guzha regarding the venue which was home to his production.
“Out of the 203 William Burdett-Coutts curated programme, only two African countries were there. Zimbabwe with its one show ‘Lamentations at 12’ and South Africa with eight shows. Overall, from the 3 300 shows, Africa had only three countries participating, namely South Africa, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.”
Another significant factor about this trip was that this marked the return of Guzha’s Rooftop Promotions to the festival after a 10-year sabbatical.
“Having been absent for 10 years from this space, Rooftop Promotions saw it fit to re-enter with a bang in a bid to introduce new young talent to the global stage. What better way than to do it with the fresh and original writing of Getrude Vimbayi Munhamo’s first ever play and the effervescent, Dalma Chiwereva. Two fantastic actresses ably supported by a master drummer, Lewis Ndlovu of Drums of Peace.”
Guzha also revealed that Rooftop will be returning to Edinburgh next year where they will be focusing more on nurturing young fresh talent.
“The critics and audiences were wooed by our show. From a producer and director perspective, this global acceptance meant that our decision to transform the sector by way of radically focusing on the 35-year-olds and below was the right choice in terms of performers. The future will see us applying this template more. As for Edinburgh, we have already made a date for next year,” revealed Guzha.
Writer of “Lamentations at 12”, Getrude Munhamo, also shared her experience at the festival saying: “The reception we got was five-star. We were treated like very important people and felt proud and confident with my work and craft. I learnt the importance of planning, preparing for events on time and excellence in all that one does.
“Everything was taken seriously at the festival. Be it time, lights, sound, props, changing rooms and above all the artistes. Nothing was taken for granted.”
From Edinburgh, the play will go to Leicester today and on Wednesday it will be in Stockholm, Sweden, with shows from September 7 to September 19. The play rounds off its European tour in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with shows from September 21-26.
