Irreverent, sarcastic and downright hilarious, this is the news as you’ve always wanted it presented! Created by two of the country’s pioneering creative minds, Comrade Fatso and Outspoken, Zambezi News roars hilariously from one topic to another with comical news presenters MandapeMandape (Outspoken) and Jerome Weathers (Comrade Fatso). Also featuring the talents of actor and comedian Michael Kudakwashe, and cheeky accent impersonator, Fungai Machirori, this show will have Hifa audiences in stitches.
When Angels Weep
FROM the Nama award-winning team who presented Burn Mukwerekwere Burn to huge acclaim at Hifa 2011 comes another scorching tale of lost youth, greed and familial betrayal, When Angels Weep, in the ZB Bank Reps Theatre Upstairs. When 13-year-old Sarita is sold into sexual bondage by her favourite uncle, her childhood comes to a screeching stop. Fate brings her back to her village 17 years later, forcing her to face a past she buried in order to survive.
Supported by Developing Artists, UK, When Angels Weep reunites the full team from Burn Mukwerekwere Burn. Written by Blessing Hungwe and directed by Giles Ramsay, it features award-winning actor Michael Kudakwashe, actress Priviledge Mutendera and the musical talents of Patrick Tembo, Brezhnev Guvheya and Rumbidzai Karize.
The Dogs Must Be Crazy
FROM Grahamstown comes a satirical romp from a dog’s eye view, in The Standard Theatre. Each episode takes a look at some of the pressing concerns of our age, with hilarious, sometimes heart-breaking results.
Based on an original concept by Mike van Graan, and bristling with black humour, the show digs up many of our absurdities with an irreverent, energetic, and demandingly physical glee.
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Recently playing to standing ovations at the Western Cape Schools Festival, this clever, amusing play is suitable for all ages.
The Bed in Her Head
PRESENTED by Arts Lab in partnership with the British Council, the Culture Fund, the Zimbabwe German Society and Belgravia Sports Club, this play bears an intriguing title that will undoubtedly arouse the curiosity of theatre lovers to see it!
Staged in the ZB Bank Reps Theatre, The Bed in Her Head brings us stories from the bedroom in a stunning new work which combines dance, theatre, poetry and film imagery. The audience is taken on a journey into the intimate self. How do you sleep?
When you think of your bed, what do you imagine? How do your dreams mess with you?
With a no under 16 age restriction, this play is directed by Leeroy Gono, no stranger to Hifa, with choreography by Sbonakaliso Ndaba and Zaidi Dance. It features an impressive cast of Zimbabwe’s star performers, including Edith We Utonga, Tinevimbo Chimbetete, Kudakwashe Ndoro, Catherine Douglas and Everson Ndlovu.
24583 Little Creepy Wonders: An out of the ordinary theatrical experience
PRESENTED by the Italian Embassy, this captivatingly named theatre piece, 24583 Little Creepy Wonders, is performed by renowned Italian theatre group, Scarlettine Teatro and staged in the ZB Bank Reps Theatre. In name alone, it is sure to arouse the full curiosity of all theatre loving festival goers!
Inspired by the whacky minds and imaginations of the likes of Tim Burton, Roald Dahl and Italian poet Cesare Viviani, this somewhat unusual new production follows a child called Pasquale as he grows up and meets his Mum and Dad, his friends, and people who aren’t his friends. He glimpses their various worlds with a child’s perception and understanding, and tries to make sense of these.
Director Anna Fascendini describes children as “small disturbing wonders. They are ‘tests of life’, not perfect, not able, in a world that wants them ready to be ready.”
The performance is played out through poetry and nursery rhyme, which technique helps to bring the character’s voices to life. Written by Giulietta Debernardi, Anna Fascendini and Marco Mazza, directed by Anna Fascendini, with texts by Barbara Pizzo and live music by Adalberto Ferrari and Andrea Ferrari, 24583 Little Creepy Wonders is original, innovative, very different and very touching.
It shows us how children are not only smaller than adults, they are also very different. Physically their proportions are poles apart; for a start, a child’s head takes up a quarter of the body’s length, while an adult’s head takes just an eighth. The way children think and act is different from the way adults think and act. They don’t have the language skills and capacity that adults enjoy, and so, do things a little differently. With this in mind, be prepared for a unique theatrical treat with this unusual play.
Third Person: Bonnie and Clyde Redux — a fresh perspective on the murderous pair!
PRESENTED by the British Council and the British Embassy, notorious criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde are brought back to life in a fresh and entertaining production by Proto-type Theatre. Founded in 1997 in New York, the company has made a reputation for themselves for innovative theatre and live art and is coming to Hifa this year with its latest production, Third Person: Bonnie and Clyde Redux which will be presented in The Standard Theatre.
While the title suggests the production will be a narrative about the two outlaws, it instead focuses on “what it means to be on stage” according to writer and artistic director Peter Petralia. The show is performed by two actors, Gillian Lees and Andrew Westerside, who, accompanied by an overhead projector, tell a fragmented tale of the couple, making surprising connections between love, life, death and doughnuts!
They deliver the tale to the audience in the third person, picking apart the particulars of this strange love affair, veering between the emotional, factual and fantastical.
Lees and Westerside, who have their own onstage timid romance, attempt to redeem the two notorious murderers’ love for one another. Failed heists, murder victims and near captures are captivatingly illustrated through a variety of lo-fi media, such as the projector, video and drawings. The actors slip seamlessly in and out of character as they tell this twisted Romeo and Juliet tale with guns and a mounting body count.
Lees and Westerside shed an almost blinding light on Bonny and Clyde’s devotion to one another. In the end, audiences are almost convinced that the murder and robbery were collateral… “almost” being the operative word!
This splendid Hifa 2012 play takes an enthralling look into the lives of these two murderous lovers and is for adult audiences only.
