Dictator ends his life on stage

What happens when an eighty-year old dictator falls in love with a woman half his age? The country’s economic and political structures crumble to the ground, leaving millions of people at the edge of starvation and extreme poverty. This seems to be the message in Stanley Makuwe’s latest play, His Excellency is in love.

On 4 July 2009, African-Pacific Productions, a new African community theatre company based in Auckland, New Zealand, performed His Excellency is in love to a full house at the Auckland University’s Maidment theatre. The show was unanimously declared a refreshing piece of art by an appreciative audience, which included the University’s academics and scholars.

‘Congratulations on your success,’ said Auckland University’s associate professor of Theatre, Dr Murray Edmond.

‘You gave us more than we expected,’ said professor of English, Michael Neill.

‘You have proved that there is a market for African theatre in New Zealand,’ commented New Zealand’s celebrated painter, John Reynolds.

His Excellency is in love is a political satire about an imaginary African country, Mateshona, whose leader, His Excellency Comrade Jongwe, after falling in love with a younger woman, Marunjeya, loses his mind in an effort to maintain a strong grip on power. Comrade Jongwe is obsessed with power to the point of going on a killing spree, eliminating those opposed to his leadership, while on the other hand his new woman goes on a shopping spree around the world, spending the hard earned taxpayer’s money on designer clothes, perfume and G-strings.

‘Teachers on strike for pay rise? Do I care? I used all their money to buy my son a toy in Europe,’ Marunjeya brags on a phone call to a friend.

To keep his hands clean of blood, Comrade Jongwe uses Chibagwe, his right hand man and news reporter to eliminate perceived enemies within his own party. After killing, Chibagwe is quick to go on TV to announce that the murdered are in fact killed in road accidents. Most of those killed are quickly declared national heroes, receiving state burial at the national shrine.

When those killed return to haunt Comrade Jongwe, the end result is fatal as he guns himself down while attempting to shoot the voices of the dead in his office.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/445/58285_Makuwe_play2_tmb.jpg… Excellency Comrade Jongwe is played by Rwandan actor, Francois Byamana. Francois is one of the fast-rising stars from New Zealand’s African community. He has featured in New Zealand’s plays and documentaries, including A thousand hills, a play that traces his life as a refugee from Rwanda to New Zealand through DRC and Kenya. Francois’ amazing story dates back to 1994 when he was one of the thousand people who took refuge in a luxurious hotel in Rwanda when a hotel manager risked his life by opening the hotel doors to Tutsi refugees.

Zimbabwean Melissa Musakwa plays Marunjeya, while Chibagwe is played by Shona poet, Solomon Nyamazana. Theatre director Ali Kanwal plays Chiromo, a minister who wets his pants when secret agents throw him before His Excellency Jongwe to respond to allegations of wanting to topple the aging dictator. Another actor involved is South African traditional dancer and performer, Sesi Francis. Francis plays the president’s witch, whose role is to supply traditional medicine that makes the dictator a feared man to those who look at him in the eyes.

‘I rub lion fat on my forehead so that those who look at me in the eyes tremble with fear. This is hyena saliva. It keeps me hungry for power. Whenever I hear the word “power” I drool like a starving hyena in the plains of Serengeti,’ boasts the dictator to his young woman.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/445/58285_Makuwe_play3_tmb.jpg… part of encouraging African youth participation in theatre, young traditional singers and dancers, Somalia’s Mohammed, Sudan’s Fate, Brazil’s Kelvin, Mali’s Seydu and Betty Fogogo from Burundi, took part as the witch’s apprentices.

Directed by Zimbabwean director, Sam Mudzanire, His Excellency is in love was first performed at the Auckland Performing Arts Centre (TAPAC) in June 2008 followed by other performances at the Salvation Army Conference Centre in July 2008 and at the Meteor in Hamilton in March 2009 before coming to the Maidment, bringing instant success to the ambitious theatre company.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/445/58285_Makuwe_play4_tmb.jpg… Stanley Makuwe is a Zimbabwean based in Auckland. He moved to New Zealand in 2002. His first book, Under this tree and other stories, was published in 2005 and was voted book of the week on New Zealand’s top radio station, TalkBack ZB. In the same year he was a runner-up in the BBC World African Performance followed by making it to the Highly Commended List in the 2007 International playwriting competition. Groomed by controversial and politically charged award winning playwright Cont Mhlanga, Stanley’s other play, Overthrown, was banned by the Zimbabwe police on its opening night at Amakhosi Cultural centre in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Produced and directed by Mhlanga, the police accused the play of being intended to embarrass the Zimbabwean president, Comrade Robert Mugabe.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/445/58285_Makuwe_play5_tmb.jpg… latest show was funded by Auckland City Council and Sky City Auckland. There is no doubt that expectations are now higher from the promising works of Stanley Makuwe. He is currently working on a new script about migration due to be staged at the Auckland International Cultural Festival to be held in March 2010.

When asked to comment on the success of His Excellency is in love, Makuwe had this to say: ‘As Africans in foreign soil we always have work harder than an average local to prove what we are capable of doing, and this time we proved beyond doubt. It’s a victory for Africans. A victory for Africans means a victory for the African continent.’

Makuwe’s dream is to climb up the ladder and sit with theatre heavyweights such as Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka and Uganda’s John Ruganda.

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