Heritage

Heartstrings hits home with new comedy ‘Kenya for Sale’

cast

The cast of “Kenya for Sale” (L-R): Victor Nyaata, Jane Wanjiru, Cyprian Osoro and Silas Ojijo. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG

Kenya for Sale was set to open this past Wednesday night at Alliance Francaise. Instead, Heartstrings Kenya will open on Friday night and run through Sunday.

Sadly we lost chances to have two extra nights of seeing the latest Heartstrings comedy due to unnecessary rescheduling. This was a loss for Heartstrings’ loyal audiences who prefer coming weeknights.

In contrast to HS loyalists, there are some Kenyan critics who think this ingenious theatre company draws house-full crowds just because they are supposedly “rib-tickling” and consistently “hilarious” in their output of shows. The troupe is criticised because they are “teaching” local audiences that theatre is only about entertainment, not enlightenment or in-depth exploration of important and timely social issues.

On the contrary, Heartstrings’ shows are indeed entertaining, providing “a laugh-a-minute”, especially for locals who understand all the nuanced references embedded in the scripts that relate to today’s and yesterday’s issues, headlines and social media talking points.

One genius thing that Sammy Mwangi and his crew understand about entertainment and enlightening “education” is that it is easier to get through to people through humour rather than heavy polemics, political tirades or legalistic speeches. It’s easier to point at Kenyan people’s foibles and psychological flaws, weaving them into comedic scenes.

Sammy has a knack for tickling people’s funny bones while simultaneously addressing social traumas and dramas that would otherwise stay buried and unaddressed except when they are shared with people’s intimate partners or political peers.

So the critics of Heartstrings need to go see their shows, including Kenya for sale.

According to Sammy who devised this script together with his gifted team, the show is literally about the country being on sale. Set at the Coast where there’s a big expo under way, one will see how willing locals are to sell off essentials out of a short-sighted sense of value (meaning monetary).

I don’t know how the show gets resolved as I have not seen it yet, but Sammy takes note of the fact that expats apparently adore this country more than locals do; or at least that would seem to be the case, especially now when political tensions could do enduring damage to our beloved Kenya.

The Heartstrings ensemble includes Victor Nyaata, Jane Wangari, Cyprian Osoro, Silas Ojijo and others. Meanwhile, Sammy directs assisted by Ndeng’a.