Gweshegweshe goes down memory lane

Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Actor William Matenga who plays Gweshegweshe in the popular Gringo series is an interesting character. In one of the memorable episodes of the recent “Gringo The Troublemaker” Gringo (Lazarus Boora) inserts a cell phone in Gweshegweshe’s trousers while he is asleep. The phone rings and vibrates and Gweshegweshe jerks to the amusement of his friend who had just visited him.
Yesterday the actor spoke to The Herald Entertainment about his role and career.

“That is creativity because most people would think that I am a fool indeed,” he said.
“We don’t rehearse most of those things but it just comes when you are facing the camera.”

He described his working relationship with the producer of the drama Enock Chihombori and actor Gringo as the best ever.
“We take those things from the society and in most cases Chimbori just writes the script and gives us just before we play roles,” he said.
Gweshegweshe a journalist by profession has four children with three of them being graduates from different universities.

“I told them that acting is one thing that brought food on the table and they are all happy even to see me on television being fooled by Gringo,” he said.
Born in 1954 Matenga was involved in a number of dramas and a number of radio and television productions.

“I started acting in 1984 and I did a number of television productions. I still have some of the productions in my library,” he said.
The talented actor blasted piracy as the major issue affecting the acting industry. “We started acting at a time when these things were paying off but now it seems to be a thing of the past because of piracy.

“If you are new in the industry you have to be patient because the industry has been affected by piracy.”
Matenga said he was happy that Zimbabwe is full of talented artists that have represented the country well internationally.