Politically charged play debuts at Theatre in the Park tonight

Staff Reporter

Theatre in the Park (TITP) will tonight stage the first instalment of Blood Tongue, The Musical, a play aimed at fostering audience engagement and facilitating community dialogue on leadership and election processes.

Produced by Nhimbe Trust, the production, written by the award-winning Zimbabwean playwright and author Christopher Mlalazi, will also show tomorrow as the country prepares for harmonised polls on Monday.

In a statement, Rooftop Promotions media and information officer, Sesedzai Mavedzenge, said the refreshed version of the play explores leadership accountability, the manipulative excesses of the political elite and the struggles faced by strong-willed women in present-day Zimbabwe.

“The 2018 edition reflects and strengthens the Get Out and Vote message, while the 14 musical pieces that make up the score of the original musical have sufficient relevance and emotional strength to remain unchanged,” she said.

Mavedzenge added that the theatrical fusion, directed by South African Bafana Dladla in conjunction with Eunice Tava, is an effort to influence the audience to think about their political choices and the effects they have on the future.

“(It) not only aims to encourage citizens to exercise their constitutional right to cast a vote for their candidate of choice, but to exercise this right with a conscience, and, with a conscience to consider how they might hold their elected officials accountable in fulfilling their mandate to serve them,” added Mavedzenge.

Meanwhile, TITP has been attracting full houses following the hosting of the hilarious Robert Mugabe coup play, Operation Restore Legacy which got sold out for three weeks, earlier this year.

Recently, the venue also hosted a fascinating Gukurahundi production, 1983, The Dark Years which also attracted a significant audience.