A scene from ‘A Bedfull of Foreigners’
Doug Hill
On April 28 this year at the Charles Austin Theatre, a little-known comedy called A Bedfull of Foreigners proved to be a success that would go unforgotten for a long time in the memories of those who watched it.
The naughty play, originally penned by British playwright Dave Freeman, follows unusual events that occur in a hotel’s double room when two couples are forced to share it for the night.
Adapted by the Charles Austin Theatre’s artistic director Khetani Michael Banda and NAMA nominated theatre director Charles Munganasa, the play coincidentally featured a cast of real foreigners, which comprised mainly of Zimbabweans and Malawians.
On the night that it was staged at Masvingo’s sole theatre house, A Bedfull of Foreigners played out like the insane laughfest that it is in print.
The audaciousness and hilarity of the play reached peach heights with the introduction of each characters from the lazy and rebellious drunkard hotel assistant Chikatero, played by Malawian Joseph Njoka, the flirtatious hotel manager Fernando, played by soon-to-be-travelling-to-Hollywood-actor Donovan Takaendesa, fake politburo member Claude, played by Ngoni Chinovava, to the sly stripper Bev, played by Nicole Jamu.
Those who went to watch the play because of the “no under 18” were not disappointed. Characters would trot on and off stage half-naked, wives were swapped, kisses thrown about like confetti, Bev served us with a bit of a striptease, not forgetting the infamous last scene of the play when she enters dressed as a nun, with parts cut of her dress to reveal her buttocks.
At times, the laughter from the audience was so intense that the action on stage had to stop for a few seconds and immediately after the curtain went down on the production requests of a re-run of the play were riotous.
On this note, Banda has confirmed the return of A Bedfull of Foreigners to the Charles Austin Theatre on the June 30, with most of the original cast which includes the aforementioned actors and Jane Phisso who plays Helga, a former nurse who feels unloved, Josephine Pedzisayi, who plays Brenda, a spoilt wife to Stanley and Banda who plays Stanley.
