So this morning, we were rehearsing on the stage when Thlupego looked up past the auditiorium, nudged me and said quietly “Brown Mpinganjira has just arrived”. And sure enough, there was the great man himself.
Two hours later he left again, having sat on a plastic chair on the stage with the actors and answered questions and talked frankly about his time in D4, the cell in Mikuyu Prison which he shared with, among others, Jack Mapanje.
This was a tremendous gift to us; the company asked intelligent, forthright questions which were answered in similar vein. We gave him our spare copy of Jack’s memoir, with which he was delighted, as he had not yet managed to secure a copy himself, and he has promised to be there at the launch of the show.
So the short amount of rehearsal which remained today was spent slightly revising some of the show in the light of Brown’s contributions. We have lost a day’s rehearsal but gained an immense amount of insight. Aaron especially has been affected: he is playing Brown and was fascinated to see his physicality and manner of speaking which have already started appearing in his characterisation.
This afternoon Stanley Kadzuwa, now a radio journalist but previously an actor with Nanzikambe came to interview Misheck and I. Stanley first came to Nanzikambe to perform in Chilly Heart (directed by Melissa Eveleigh) in 2003; I also directed him in African Macbeth and A Flea in Her Ear, so we go way back! It was a delight to see him, and I hope he will give us good coverage on his programme on MIJ radio.
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