Chronicle Editor
Beaven Tapureta : Bookshelf
The late international thespian William Shakespeare whose legacy is invincible across continents and cultures is still being remembered, four hundred years after his death. On Saturday, April 23, different events to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare, commonly described as the painter of nature and of man, reminded the discerning minds how great the power of theatre, poetry, and writing in general, is in influencing the individual and society.Zimbabwe, an avid consumer of Shakespearean literature before and after independence, could not be left out in the celebrations that raised the flag over the heritage of Stratford-on-Avon, birthplace of a child who became a great “maker of words” the world has ever seen.
According to an old book “The Smaller History of English Literature” (1872), William Shakespeare is believed to have left his birthplace Stratford-on-Avon and adventured to London where he earned his living first by “holding horses at the doors of the theatre”. His “pleasant wit”, it is said, attracted the actors who accorded him access “behind the scenes” and gradually he became a celebrated actor and author.
The celebration in Zimbabwe was dubbed ‘Shakespeare in Harare’ and took place at the Alliance Francaise last Saturday, April 23, exactly the same date that other Shakespeare celebrations were taking place worldwide.
More than ten artistes drawn from areas such as music, spoken word, and comedy (sadly none from theatre) took turns to entertain a huge mixed audience. Surprisingly, the audience included a number of local actors and a few playwrights who, if they had been included in the programme to perform a Shakespearean piece, could have made the celebration complete!
However, the performances, with some focusing on Shakespeare either in Shona or English languages, proved that Zimbabwe is endowed with talented creators whose works likewise should be celebrated now and even long after the creators/artistes are gone.
In between performances, NAMA-award winning comedian Doc Vikela, who was also the emcee, would throw in his irresistible gags! With his locally contextualised jokes, he sweetened the afternoon at Alliance Francaise.
The melodious tweaking of mbira often introduces one to a certain native spirituality and one word echoes in its sound: Roots. This happened when popular Afro-jazz musician Victor Kunonga came on stage with his mbira, opening the show with tunes one of which was dedicated to the great writer Shakespeare. With Kunonga setting the momentum faster, the next performer, Tehn Diamond, one of the celebrated young rappers around, did a poem about “the God in you” with Kunonga providing rhythmic mbira beats in the background. He later on came back on stage to render a beautiful solo performance of his poem or acapella singing of “Chronicles of a Cave Man”.
NAMA award-winning writer Cynthia Marangwanda, known as Flowchyld in spoken word circles, read a poem which she said was inspired by Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”, one of Shakespeare’s most quoted tragedy and which some critics have said is second to “Macbeth” in popularity.
Her poem, Marangwanda said, is a dedication to all the Juliets out in the world, the brilliant, passionate women who suffer for choosing to follow their hearts. In the poem, the persona describes how secretly she is inspired by a woman whom she meets “in the usual places/ mutual spaces where sub-cultures converge”. Later the woman, that is, the persona’s celebrity, dies and society’s biased lambasting of the life she lived begins.
Spoken word artistes seemed to rule the roost on the day. Mutsa Shiripinda aka Rae Lyric, a blogger and journalist as well, opened her performance with profound tribute to Shakespeare.
“This celebration of Shakespeare is not something I take lightly because I wouldn’t know how to write with as much gumption or rather tenacity if I hadn’t read ‘Macbeth’ and other works by Shakespeare,” she said.
And she went on to do her poems with one of them called ‘Brave”. Peggie Shangwa, aka Umind, also read a piece by Shakespeare and fused music with poetry.
It was 26-year old spoken word artiste popularly known as Madzitatiguru (real name Tendekai Tati), who stole the show with his mixture of poetic brainpower and humor. His first poem extolled the man Shakespeare while his second was highly comic that when he finished and started to walk away, he was called back by public demand.
He then did one called “Mapete” and people just nearly fell from benches and chairs with laughter as he dished out expressions such as “mapete ma rebel/kupinda mubhachi raHonourable’ and the “annual cockroach conference”.
In terms of Shakespeare’s poems, known as sonnets, Biko Mutsaurwa aka Godobori had the generosity of explaining what a sonnet is before he did his “Shona-spearan” ones (sonnets in Shona language). Seniors in spoken word, Chirikure Chirikure and Albert Nyathi, also performed their popular poems including their masterpieces “Ndove” and “My Daughter” respectively. Later they read some poems with local jazz diva Hope Masike providing musical backing. Masike herself did not disappoint!
The serious engagement with Shakespearean texts was amusing after Chirikure and Nyathi led a short contest which invited any member of the audience to come on stage and recite a line or paragraph from any of the works authored by the great man being honoured.
In a brief interview after the event, British Council-Zimbabwe director Samantha Harvey said there is huge amount of local talent which she believes needs as many platforms as possible.
“For us as British Council it is about being able to provide a platform for young Zimbabweans to showcase their talents. Not everything focused on Shakespeare but there was a lot of content around that,” she said.
Harvey said British Council, prior to the event in Harare, also held a poetry slam in Bulawayo and had Shakespearean film shows for learners in some provinces to help them understand and enjoy Shakespeare.
While Pamberi Trust’s Youth Development Projects Officer, Hector Rufaro Mugani, said the event was successful, and writer Virginia Phiri said the celebration was relevant and very encouraging, renowned playwright and actor Daves Guzha saw it differently.
Mugani said they have held other events such as hip-hop Shakespeare workshop building up to the Saturday major celebration.
“I would liken Shakespeare to our own great storytellers or even to legends such as Mbuya Nehanda though we celebrate them differently. Today’s event confirmed the greatness of Shakespeare’s influence upon English language which is one of our official languages. His works were a central point during our school days studying literature,” said Mugani.
Phiri, who had just arrived the same day from Atlanta (America) where she was attending the African Literature Association 42nd Annual Conference, said she remembered reading/watching the play “Julius Caesar” in primary school in the 60’s. She urged writers to take a leaf from Shakespeare who, despite some criticism during his time, took himself seriously and soldiered on.
“Shakespeare wrote about day-to-day issues of life which people usually take for granted,” she said.
In his evaluation of the event, Daves Guzha said, “I wanted Albert (Nyathi) and others to talk about how William Shakespeare himself as a person affects him and his children through the sonnets, etc. That exactly was my expectation. However, I sincerely hope that when there’s another celebration, it will be seriously Shakespeare text-driven.”
The “Shakespeare in Harare” celebration was organised by partners British Council, Pamberi Trust, Patsime, TV Yangu and Intwasa.
Online Reporter