Baya resurrects The Taking

Langalakhe Mabena

Celebrated arts doyen and playwright Raisedon Baya is working tirelessly to bring back to the theatre his master stroke play The Taking — a thought provoking production created a decade ago.

According to the synopsis of the play crafted in 2014, “a storyteller is arrested for performing folktales without a censorship or clearance certificate from relevant authorities. During the same week, a young farm labourer/maid is also arrested on suspicion of murdering an old white farmer who had adopted her while she was young. Their stories connect as the play gathers momentum.”

Directed by another theatre guru Memory Kumbota, the new cast of the play fuses experienced and young thespians in the names of Zenzo Nyathi, Alex Marowa, Albert Tshuma, Mzingaye Ngwabi and Lonesome Tapiwa. The rehearsals of the play are underway and the production is touted to be part of the build-up events towards this year’s Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo which was shifted from its traditional dates in the last week of September to a date yet to be announced.

Baya said they decided to resurrect the play because it tells a historic story that will always follow Africans.
“The Taking will always take you back into history — to colonisation, liberation, and the land issue, looking at land as a national treasure, heritage and also as a source of conflict.

“The production is looking into probably the most relevant resource in Africa, land. We aim to show people what land means to Africans in terms of identity, being the backbone of the livelihood of the majority of people on the continent.

“We focus on the historical context of the country looking at the land and segregation that blacks were subjected to under the rule of the white minority during the colonial era. The play is designed to take the audiences back to those chaotic years and make them remember,” said Baya.

He said the return of the play was also meant to correct and teach other playwrights to create productions that will stretch and allow them to tour. “Theatre is a bank where we should keep our very important national narratives and then, once in a while, take them out for everyone to remember who we are and where we come from. In recent years, I have noticed that as play producers and performers we invest so much in rehearsals — we can prepare for a single show for a hard three months and perform it once, and put it on the shelves.

This play has got few people on the cast, meaning it’s easy for us to tour for a whole year presenting this one play to different audiences all over the world. The Taking returns not only for Intwasa but we will go with it to different places,” said Baya.