A Bed Full of Foreigners cast after the play
Itai Muzondo
MASVINGO – The Masvingo Drama Circle thrilled theatre goers recently with their impressive performance of British playwright Dave Freeman’s 1973 play ‘A Bed Full of Foreigners’ at Charles Austin’s Theatre.
Speaking to TellZim News after the performance, one of the play directors, Mike Banda said they had followed the advice of Charles Austin’s Theatre patron, Doug Hill who recommended the adaptation of the play.
“The play was recommended by Mr Doug Hill who saw that the play was good and would go well with our audience. It would have been played way back but I was tied up with other commitments but after reading it, we decided to adapt it with the help of Charles Munganasa.
“We knew it would be a winner on stage. We also felt bringing it back home would really be good for the audience and the theatre,” Banda said.
He said the drama circle maintained the original themes and the notion of foreigners as depicted in the original play by bringing on board Malawians who are currently on duty with My Age Zimbabwe; Joseph Nyoka who played Chikatero and Jane Phisso who played Helga.
“We stuck to the original themes of the play knowing that they were universal. We also decided to do a foreign play translated to prove that language barriers should be thrown out of the window when art comes into the picture. Art is a universal language and it should be treated as such,” added Banda.
On the play’s future, co-director Munganasa said they were looking forward to stage the play in other parts of the country.
“There has been good reception of the performance and some audiences have asked that the paly be staged elsewhere. We will look into that and see if we will be able to take it out of Masvingo,” said Munganasa.
The cast also featured local talent including Ngoni Chinovava, Josephine Pedzisayi, Nicole Jamu, Donovan Takaendesa and Mike Banda.entertainment
