Brown Mpinganjira

Valentine's Day

Much excitement this morning, as on my third attempt I managed not only to get the right number for Brown Mpinganjira but also to catch him at a time when he could answer his phone. For the uninitiated, Brown Mpinganjira was a journalist in Malawi during Banda's rule, and was imprisoned with Jack Mapanje in Mikuyu prison. He is in fact a major character in the play, and the actors are very keen to get the chance to ask him about his experiences.

Of course he is now a very famous man, known as BJ to many and a popular politician in Joyce Banda's new party, opposing the Goverment. So I tell him I am a friend of Jack Mapanje, and he immediately agrees to meet the cast, even offering to come to our rehearsal studio himself. This was meant to be this morning, but it is now 3.45pm and no sign. But this is Africa, where time does not run in the same manner as the UK, so I have high hopes that we will indeed be meeting him before too long.

As for the rehearsals - very interesting. We tried a run through of what we've done so far but it was not that useful as the actors were using it as an opportunity to try to learn their lines (this is how they're used to working here) so it was INCREDIBLY slow! We have now had a discussion about how we do not have enough time for them to use rehearsals as a place for line-learning ... as a result the afternoon session was fab.

The work we are creating is not what they are used to; these actors have only had one director in the past few years, and she was a physical theatre practitioner. Which in this case meant masks, chorus work and creating the environment with their bodies. This show has practical props and no masks ... although it is fast moving, transitioning from scene to scene quickly with actors playing multiple roles, and also includes poems interspersed with the action, it is more naturalistic than anything else they've done in recent years and they are loving it!