Poet brings versatility on stage with interactive show
Elsaphan Njora in the role of a wise elder (right) advises a a member of the audience he brought on stage at KNT. Margaretta wa Gacheru
Elsaphan Njora had lots more to boast about than what he said last Saturday night at the end of his performance of 51 Nzilani, A Man on a Journey at the Kenya National Theatre (KNT).
Standing next to his talented cast of musicians, dancers, beatbox and hip hop artistes, (all of whom were with him when he first staged 51 Nzilani last March at Michael Joseph Centre), Njora proudly announced he was the first poet to perform on the KNT stage since it was refurbished over a year ago.
Ironically, his was an understatement, an assessment confirmed by the standing ovations he received from a nearly house-full crowd who had come to see how he would incorporate 14 of his original 51 poems into a delightful musical dance drama that saw the poet perform as actor, singer, hip hop dancer, stand-up comic and storyteller— all in an hour and a half!
The way he blended his poetry into so many different genres was charming, especially as he shifted quickly from one style, scene and soulful mood to another.
He even set some of his poetry to music so he could sing with his group TKE (T for Tim Nightway on guitar, K for the vivacious vocalist Kendi Njoroge and E for the versatile poet himself.
Yet it was not just the form of the performance (directed by June Gachui) that impressed.
The content of the characters that he took turns to portray — including a teacher, preacher, broken-hearted lover and wise elder counselling young men that he handpicked from the audience—all reflected Njora’s pertinent perspectives on life, love, education, politics and religion.
The poet never failed to keep all his characters light and ebullient. He also ensured his show was interactive as he exchanged quips with the audience and even brought several up on stage with him to spontaneously perform.
Doing delicious parodies of all sorts of authority figures, he clearly critiqued old-fashioned styles of teaching and preaching. But one of his most enchanting parodies was with members of TKE and June Gachui as they all played child orators at the Kenya Musical Festival.
They portrayed beautiful primary school kids who earnestly orated their poetry in demonstrative unison that anyone who had attended past festivals easily recognised.
Hilarious comedy
But what was possibly the most exhilarating moment in the show came when Njora referenced Gachui’s recent album launch and her dancing in funky fashion with her elastic hip hop artists, Art in Motion. He challenged Gachui to a sort of dancing “duel” claiming he could do better. That was the lead in to his amazingly agile high-energy dancing with the same hip hop-dancers.
When his time was up, Njora invited us all to the book launch of his ‘51 Nzilani anthology on November 8 where he will again stage his show only with a different selection of 14 original poems. He also pledged to produce a fresh new anthology of 51 poems every year for the next 51 years, all based on “a man on a journey”, the man being himself.
Meanwhile, Heartstrings also performed last weekend, bringing back My Fish My Choice for appreciative audiences, some of whom just enjoyed the show as a hilarious comedy, while others might have seen the more subtle social implications of the play which covertly addressed issues of democracy, human rights and resistance to corruption and oppression.
