Holiday cheer begins on Nairobi stage tonight
By MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
Posted Thursday, November 20 2014 at 17:34
In Summary
- With a chorus of 15, including a band led by Jackson Anduru, this year’s Christmas musical at Phoenix should remind us of days of old, when the Players staged seasonal productions that were memorable.
Holiday cheer has already begun on the Nairobi stage
with Braeburn Players opening tonight in their annual Christmas
pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. Then next week Phoenix Players open
in their annual musical, entitled Joy to the World: A Kenyan Nativity
2014, written by Steve Muturi.
Muturi has written earlier versions of his Kenyan Nativity
which were winning productions as he placed the Christian Nativity story
within a contemporary Kenyan context to the delight of local
theatre-goers. He has done the same this time round, following the
Biblical narrative of Mary (played by Maureen Munene) and Joseph (Yusuf
Ang’asa) getting stuck with no place to go. Where the baby gets born,
you’ll have to find out for yourself; but it’s somewhere in Nairobi.
Muturi stretches the story beyond what some
orthodox religionists might find inappropriate, especially when he
replaces shepherds with local ‘celebs’ and even matatu touts have a
place in his story.
But a younger generation of Phoenix Players are
having fun with the script and it is likely to re-introduce Muturi
(who’s been off writing more for television in the recent past than
plays for the stage) to a new brood of local theatre lovers.
With a chorus of 15, including a band led by
Jackson Anduru, this year’s Christmas musical at Phoenix should remind
us of days of old, when the Players staged seasonal productions that
were memorable.
Last night, Friends of Creative Arts opened in
Consequences under the direction of Veronica Wacele amd Mbeki Mwalimu.
It’s only being staged this weekend at Alliance Francaise.
FCA's Consequences at Alliance Francaise . Photo by Margaretta wa Gacheru
Starring Xavier Nato, Maina Olwenya and Robert
Agengo as well as Nice Githinji, Melissa Kiplagat and Umi Rajeb,
Consequences is one more romp between irresponsible adults who don’t
serve as anybody’s ethical role model, but Nairobi audiences never tire
to be amused by FCA shows.
The production that should not be missed this
weekend opens today at Goethe Institut’s auditorium. Water! Scenes and
Beats as Basis of our Life is being staged by the Hope Theatre Nairobi
under the direction of Stephan Bruckmeier and David Thuku.
Water staged by the Hope Theatre Nairobi directed by Stephan Bruckmeir and David Thuku. Photos by Margaretta wa Gacheru
Bruckmeier began working with young people in
Kariobangi and Korogocho in 2009 and quickly got hooked on the idea of
starting a theatre company made up of Kenyan youth who could build what
he calls a “cultural bridge” between Kenya and Europe.
Austrian by birth, Bruckmeier worked as a director
and set designer both in Europe and Southern Africa before coming to
Kenya; but the energy, enthusiasm and improvisational skills of Kenyan
youth coming from the so-called slums compelled him to not just launch
Hope Theatre Nairobi in 2009 and initiate the Slum Theatre Festival in
2010.
Water staged by the Hope Theatre Nairobi
He’s also been able to take his Hope Theatre team
to Germany four times where the troupe has performed in Hamburg and
Stuttgart, and been very well received.
Operating on a shoestring, Bruckmeier didn’t come
to Kenya with some well-funded NGO or UN agency. He began working in
theatre in Austria as a professional pianist for cabaret shows. That
exposure to theatre convinced him it wasn’t music that he wanted to
pursue.
Coming to Kenya, he met the then-new director
Johannes Hossfeld who was receptive to his work with slum youth and
helped get Hope Theatre Nairobi off the ground.
Johannes also assisted with the photographic book
that Bruckmeier put together called Meeting Nairobi. But the
collaboration was mutually beneficial to both men, especially as
Bruckmeier introduced Johannes to the theatre concept of ‘Six in the
City’.
Water staged by the Hope Theatre Nairobi
Johannes brought the concept back to Kenya in 2013.
Inviting six local writers who are not typically scriptwriters to
create short plays of the show, Six in the City was staged last year on
the roof of PAWA254 and was a resounding success.
Bruckmeier enlisted Judith Kunz, a young German to write for Hope Theatre Nairobi. Her first script was The Dream of getting a Job. Her latest script on Water! premieres this afternoon at 2pm and will be restaged at 7pm and on Saturday.
Bruckmeier enlisted Judith Kunz, a young German to write for Hope Theatre Nairobi. Her first script was The Dream of getting a Job. Her latest script on Water! premieres this afternoon at 2pm and will be restaged at 7pm and on Saturday.
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