‘Diamonds in his Son’s Grave’ hilarious!

son’s grave.
The father (Charles Matare), who is the headman and custodian of the traditional aspects of the community, turns down a request by his son-in-law (Tinashe Chirisa) that they form a joint venture to mine the diamonds.
The unfortunate part is the diamonds were only discovered when the son-in-law and his relatives dug the grave.
But the father refuses to allow his family to mine the diamonds saying their heritage was worth much more than the stones.
He argues that despite the diamonds and whatever minerals may be found, his forefathers and ancestors were buried in the same area and could not allow such a thing to happen.
His main concern was if he were to allow diamond mining in the area, will the minerals be put to good use such that his ancestors and forefathers would be happy about it?
And worse still he did not approve relocating their homestead where they had lived for years.
Furthermore, he wants his family to keep the diamonds discovery to themselves and not share it with anyone although the mineral resources are not only for the benefit of his family but for the entire nation.
However, this did not augur well with the aspirations of the younger generation comprising daughter played by Gertrude Munhamo, her husband and son Solomon (Teddy Mangawa), a retired schoolteacher.
The play ends in a surprisingly thought-provoking note with the family gathered at the grave and the father asking: “Should the family fight each other because of minerals? Should the family disintegrate because of minerals?”
He even goes further in his eulogy to ask Mbuya Nehanda to intervene.
The suspense leaves the audience to ponder what could be the best way to deal with the dilemma. This is a play not to miss!
In all fairness, the play was well acted especially by Mangawa who played the role of a drunk son. He added laughter to the already well written script by Zimbabwe’s foremost playwright Stephen Chifunyise.
Kudos to Eunice Tava for the moving play that was well complemented by a befitting set design.
The play was sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy in partnership with HIVOS while Delta Beverages refreshed the opening.
It runs at Theatre in the Park until October 20 with shows every Tuesday to Saturday starting at 5.30pm.