More African Shakespeare on its way from Bilimankhwe ...

Amy Bonsall writes :

CULTURAL ISSUES IN THE EXCHANGE OF SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE BETWEEN THE UK AND MALAWI

This is the name of my PhD thesis. I am hoping to start my PhD AT Roehampton University in January 2014, with the support of Bilimankhwe Arts UK and Nanzikambe Arts in Malawi. It is really a whole new area of research and we aim to create a new international theatre research branch for form part of the work of Bilimankhwe Arts. The idea has developed from the very successful production of Romeo and Juliet in 2012, I felt that there was much more to discover in the text than the 3 weeks we had for rehearsal would allow, and we wanted to create a genuinely cross cultural experience for both UK and Malawi audiences. As a director it will be a big shift in my thinking and practise to go back to academia, but it will have a substantial practical element too and the aim is to develop our discoveries into further productions and collaborations as well as writing papers for academic journals and attending conferences.

It is an exciting time for us at Bilimankhwe, while we don’t have any major productions planned for 2013 in particular showcasing the amazing work of South African writer Mike Van Graan, we have smaller projects and we are doing the groundwork for some very exciting productions and co-productions over the next 3 year. Keep checking the website for more details.

We are also beginning the process of adding to our board of trustees, because we are developing and expanding it is very important to have a board who can support us in our work fully and who are diverse in their skill set. Details of new members to be announced soon.

Love on Trial

We're all rather excited, as Charlie and Roe are going into rehearsals tomorrow for Love on Trial. A one-man show starring Bailey Patrick, it looks like it's going to be rather good. Intercutting the short story by Stanley Kenani about illegal homesexuality in Malawi with the press frenzy surrounding George Michael's arrest for 'lewd conduct' in a public toilet in LA it's lively, thought provoking and often hilarious. Check out the trailer, filmed and edited for us by Fred Rich:

book to see the show ... click here!

In other news ... we've got several extremely exciting potential projects on the go ... a collaboration with Nanzikambe in Malawi, a new play by Roe Lane and a collaboration with a South African writer to name but three. But as the funding is still pending, watch this space for the announcements ...

Happy New Year!

What an amazing year 2012 was ... so it's onwards and upwards for 2013. Our new Associates Roe Lane and Charlie Morgan Jones are creating a new performance piece as a co-production with Ovalhouse based on Stanley Kenani's short story Love on Trial.

The story was on the Caine Prize short list last year and tackles the tricky subject of homosexuality in Malawi (where, despite a president who has publicly promised to address the issue, enaging in homosexuality is still illegal). Roe is juxtaposing the story with that of George Michael's arrest for 'lewd conduct' and the ensuing press uproar. Are we really so different in our attitudes here in the smug West? It is a multi-media show - a thought provoking and exciting piece of theatre which we are hoping to continue to craft and develop.

Love on Trial is at Ovalhouse
Tue 19 Feb – Sat 23 Feb, 7:45pm

And for Amy and I ... there seems to be no end to the proposal writing and strategic planning! Watch this space for news ...

into the future

It's been a really amazing few months for Bilimankhwe Arts ... we have doubled in size to a team of four. Artistic Director Kate Stafford and Associate Director Amy Bonsall have recently welcomed Roe Lane as Literary Associate and Charlie Morgan Jones as Creative Associate.

Roe and Charlie have had no time to catch their breath - they have already started work on a new piece to be presented at Ovalhouse in the New Year. Based on Stanley Onjezani Kenani's short story 'Love On Trail' (nominated for the Caine Prize in 2012), it is multi-media and very contemporary in style, intercutting Kenani’s story of illegal homosexuality in Malawi with the press frenzy surrounding British singer George Michael’s 1998 arrest for ‘lewd conduct’ in a LA public toilet.

In the mean time, our Malawi partners Nanzikambe have been busy showing both Romeo and Juliet and And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night in Malawi. On the 8th November Crocodiles played at Chancellor College, University of Malawi - where Jack Mapanje was Head of the English Department at the time of his arrest. Chanco students are notoriously difficult to please, so it was with some trepidation that we received a copy of the review - however, it seems the production was very well received, by both critic and audience.

"the masterpiece And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night craftily immortalises memories overwritten by 19 years of multiparty democracy"  - James Chavula, The Nation

reviews

Here, for anyone who'd like to see them, are the two reviews so far ...

FINANCIAL TIMES :

"The ensemble is vibrant and muscular ... the sum of the whole is raw and vibrant. You can smell the Mikuyu prison jail from your seat" \

4 stars ****

click here for the full review

TIME OUT LONDON

"Misheck Mzumara's depiction of Mapanje flashes with a desperate, earnest charm ...

" A play which bursts into moments of shocking frustration and touching humanity"

3 stars ***

click here for the full review
 

**** four stars!!

We have a four-star review in the Financial Times. Such a relief when someone really gets what it is we are trying to achieve! So now it's all hands to the plough to try to convert an excellent review into ticket sales.

Time Out were there, so it's just a matter of waiting for the review (a bit nervously: just because one critic loved it doesn't mean another will). We're still trying to get the other London papers. 

Here's a rather shocking fact for those of you who may be interested: the Evening Standard only has one theatre reviewer, and he is currently in Edinburgh. Have I misunderstood? Is the Evening Standard not a LONDON paper? Are we not in the middle of the LONDON Cultural Olympiad? So what in God's name is the reviewer doing in Edinburgh?

Onwards and upwards I suppose. A small but select audience last night and it looks to be the same tonight.  My family are in, so it had better be a good one!

four star review in the Financial Times

opening night

Well it's happened! The press night was wonderful. Free glasses of cava all round, with some fab food and a great show. The place was pretty full and the actors rose to the occasion, so now it's just a case of waiting for the reviews to come out. Let's hope they will be kind.

Stratford-on-Avon also went really well, although the performance space is much more challenging. However, The audience absolutely loved it, and there were people standing to applaud at the end, so I think it was OK! 

The journey to this point has been rocky, to say the least. Poor Dipo Katimba had her visa refused, so we were challenged at the very start, having to replace her with a UK based actress. Angella Ching'amba, who played Lady M in my African Macbeth, and Titania in An African Dream and is now based in Nottingham, stepped into the breach. This was great, because she was also a member of the team at the start of this project, developing and performing in After Mikuyu back in 2006.

In the mean time, I discovered that Misheck, who is playing Jack Mapanje, was committed to another project, and had performances booked right up to the day before we were due to open in Stratford. Some internet diplomacy ensued and we managed to get them to agree to release him a little early, to give us three full days of rehearsal before opening the show. 

The next thing was having to find extra money when Nanzikambe's promised funding was delayed. Air tickets had to be bought whether the funds were in or not! So some borrowing from Peter to pay Paul was organised ...

So the project was still on! Hurrah! And then ... seven of the actors missed their flight. For a while there it was touch and go but after a day which took more than three years off my life, a plane took off from Kamuzu International Airport with all seven of them on board. It seems that Mphundu has a golden tongue and talked them into changing the flights at no extra cost. A miracle! But when they arrived their katundu (luggage and stuff) didn't. It was still in Addis Ababa. So we had the actors, but not the set or costumes.

So all in all, it's completely amazing that we have a show - and not just a show, a good show. Which just goes to show that Malawian performers are resilient, resourceful and pretty fabulous. Second night in London tonight ... fingers crossed.