Online Reporter
Mthabisi Tshuma,Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hun
FRESH off rave local reviews, Zimbabwean stage production Song Unburied is set to dazzle international audiences at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival that runs from July 30 to August 25.
Before it jets off to the global stage, the play will enjoy a short encore run at Theatre in the Park in Harare on July 18 and 19 starting at 5:30pm each evening.
Song Unburied is the latest creation of celebrated novelist and journalist Panashe Chigumadzi. It was produced and directed by veteran theatre guru Daves Guzha of Rooftop Promotions.
The play stars an award-winning cast led by Charmaine Mujeri and Dalma Chiwevera, supported by Tinevimbo Chimbetete, and is beautifully underscored by haunting music from composer Abel Mafuleni.
Guzha said there are raring to fly the Zimbabwean flag high.
“It’s a great opportunity for brand Zimbabwe to be amongst the Mecca of creativity. The last time Zimbabwe had a footprint was 8 years ago when we took the play “Lamentations”.
“This global window is both a testament to our ability and quality of our work as well a fantastic opportunity to have scouts from other global festivals have a chance to see what we can do with the intention of them buying the work,” said Guzha.
As Song Unburied prepares to grace one of the world’s largest arts festivals, it carries with it the echoes of ancestral voices, the pain of colonial theft, and the enduring power of spiritual and cultural reclamation.
At the heart of Song Unburied is the story of Rambisayi Mangosho, the British Museum’s first Black curator of Zimbabwean descent.
Haunted by dreams and unable to return home to bury her grandmother, Rambi is drawn into the spiritual and historical mysteries surrounding the unreturned remains of Mbuya Nehanda, Zimbabwe’s legendary anti-colonial heroine.
Guided by Tsitsi, a war veteran-turned-museum caretaker, Rambi begins a ritual journey of remembrance, resistance, and reparation.
Together, they uncover a spiritual connection and a shared totem — both are vaChihera. But as they discover Nehanda’s bones in the museum basement, they must confront the truth: the bones cannot simply be sent home — not without ritual, not without consequence.
Chigumadzi’s storytelling interweaves myth, memory, and modern politics in a play that’s equal parts poetic and political.
Panashe Chigumadzi, born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, is no stranger to storytelling that challenges colonial narratives and reclaims Black identity.
She’s the award-winning author of Sweet Medicine and the critically acclaimed essay collection These Bones Will Rise Again.
She has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Die Zeit, and Chimurenga, and was the founding editor of VANGUARD, a magazine platforming young Black South African women navigating Pan-Africanism, queerness, and Black consciousness.
Follow on X -@mthabisi_mthire
Ends//
