4th February 2012. Saturday
This is my second full day in Blantyre and I have already had two encounters which shape my ideas on how to adapt Jack’s memoir for the stage.
The first is with Ben Mankhamba, a well-known local musician with whom I am lodging. As I talk about the play, he suddenly becomes engaged when I speak about Mercy. “But how did it affect her?” he asks. When I tell him that soon after his imprisonment Jack’s salary was stopped and his wife Mercy was evicted from the university property together with their three children, he asks “is this in the play?”. “It’s a true story”, I say.
Suddenly he is angry. This morning he is sitting writing a song inspired by Mercy. I realise again that this story must be told through those affected – it’s not just politics, it’s real people in pain, and that’s what touches us.
The second encounter is with the lady who runs the Central Bookshop in Blantyre. She is from the Netherlands originally but has lived in Malawi for more than 50 years. I am looking for an anthology of Jack’s poems as I had left mine behind in the rush to pack. She doesn’t have any of his work on sale – she did have Of Chameleons and Gods and Chattering Wagtails but has sold out. In conversation, she says “it’s such a pity he is so bitter against Malawi. We were all supportive of him at the time but …” She clearly believes that he should be over it by now, and feels uncomfortable by the searing rage which leaps out of the page through his poems. I am more determined than ever to present the story truthfully in all its pain and rage. I’m sure that she is not alone in her opinions that those who suffered under Banda’s regime should forgive and forget. I hope that they will all come to see the play and begin to understand; there has been no ‘truth and reconciliation’ in Malawi, no apology, no understanding, no recompense for the victims of Banda’s brutal regime. It is time.
No comments:
Post a Comment