It was only in August last year that actress, Getrude Munhamo ventured into the business of writing plays and her first play, ‘Lamentations @12’ has seen her tour throughout the nation and the African continent at large.
Today, Tuesday March 21, 2017, her third play, ‘Look No Further’ at Theatre in The Park.
Zimbo Jam spoke to Munhamo about how her transition from being just an actress on the big stage to doubling as a playwright has been.
“It has been quite an interesting experience. Acting in a play I wrote was a bit of a challenge because I sometimes found myself trying to also direct the play as well,” said Munhamo.
“I also learnt that as a writer one should allow for their work to be given life. Daves Guzha who directed Lamentations brought to life my vision for the play. Being a very dark, brutal play, it was quite difficult to bring it to the stage, but the director solved that problem.”
She also highlighted some of the keys areas she has developed in since venturing into writing.
“An area I have continued to develop since I started writing is the ability to come out of the box. I love writing and even in my love for writing I have continued to develop sincerity in my writing to achieve a work that people are able to relate to.
“I have also developed a deeper love for research in general. You will notice that three plays I have written; ‘Lamentations@12’, ‘The dead are alive’ and the latest one, ‘Look no further’, all have different themes. This variation is all because of research,” highlighted Munhamo.
The actress also revealed that it was humbling to get positive response from foreign audiences when touring with the play Lamentations.
“Firstly to be directed once again by one of Zimbabwe’s highly celebrated director and producers, it’s actually grace, I thank God for that. I am a bit nervous as well because I never thought I’d see my work go this far.
“We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback in all the countries we have traveled to with Lamentations.
“In some countries audiences were conservative about the whole issue of abuse and child marriage since it is part of their strong cultural heritage.
“In other countries there was a lot of tear shedding as audiences were touched by the fact that there was nothing that the victims of abuse during the war could have done unless their leaders took a stand.
“In a nutshell it’s a great experience for me and in the process I am meeting great artists and also learning a lot about their work and style of writing and also acting,” revealed Munhamo.
