Bringing the curtain down

How Mugabe's men are moving back stage to save their boss from the deadly weapon of satire!

Ten minutes before curtain-up is a nerve-racking time for any actor. But ten minutes before curtain-up at the Amakhosi Arts Centre in Bulawayo last week turned into ten minutes of chaos, when police stormed in and stopped the show before it started.

This was the latest in a series of aggressive actions by the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI), which is another of our multitude of thuggish paramilitary forces, and whose duty is to stamp on free speech, dramatic entertainment, and anything else that might carry the anti-Mugabe message.

The play they chose to hamstring this time was "Overthrown", a political satire written by Stanley Makuwe and produced and directed by Cont Mhlanga. And one must admit it was a production that pulled no punches. How's this for an in-your-face scene:

Three corpses meet, after their lives are over, and they ask each other how they died. One says: "I died because I had malaria and the hospital gave me painkillers." Another says: "My anti-retroviral allocation was taken by a government official." And so on.

"Overthrown" was the latest in a number of productions banned recently by the PISI. Three weeks ago the premiere of The Good President, also in Bulawayo, was halted, on the imaginative pretence that the audience constituted a "political gathering".

Again, you know where the PISI are coming from. The subject of the play is the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland, and the torture of opposition leaders. The title "The Good President" is an example of extreme irony, possibly gross sarcasm.

Then only a few days ago the cast of another satire, "The Final Push", being staged in Harare, were arrested. Their punishment was unique, even in the murky annals of the Zimbabwe police. They were placed in a large cell and made to perform the play repeatedly for a gruelling nine hours.

This did not deter the actors. Ignoring what was clearly a warning of dire action if they offended again, they staged another performance of "The Final Push" at Harare's Quill Club, in front of an audience of journalists and diplomats.

That's the dramatic scenario in today's Zimbabwe - widespread repression studded with small acts of heroism.

Comments

[albert]

we count on you artist to Overthrow the buffon
we need such pressure from you, dont give up the fight

[tonderayi]

finally the Cont you have joined the struggle. Bravo.
we know you can pulll off something great.
Overthrow the idiot for us

[karen]

we dont nid the plays folks, we now he must go so left toyi toyi to state house in numbers
but viva artists viva

[gift]

Mr Mugabe, i have no underwares left in my waderobe, could you borrow me one of yours which you bought recently in New York, please Good President

[Daniel Pallant]

How can an obvious sociopath like Mugabe survive in charge for so many years without someone trying to assassinate him? Or have they?