“A disorganised majority shall continue to be enslaved by an organised minority…”
The aforementioned quote is one of the many thought provoking statements that are spoken of in the award-winning play, ‘Liberation’ which was showing at HIFA.
Talk of staging an intervention, this was the ideal production, one of the very few shows across the board that is in-sync with the theme of the festival.
Cut down from its original runtime of over 90 minutes to just within an hour, the play displays the rot of Zimbabwe’s political system and how those in power manipulate the poor by giving them material things so that they keep voting for them- but the reality is they never really care about the electorate.
Another aspect that is brought up in the play that is rarely explored by most writers who wright on Zimbabwe’s political struggle, is the abuse of women.
Women are grossly abused by those in power and are treated as rags and not human beings, a very sad scenario which justifies the need for the girl child’s call for equality in recent years.
The Leonard Matsa written play also takes another twist which takes us to the spiritual world which again is rarely explored, and reveals that even the nation’s spirit mediums such as Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi are not happy with the current state of things.
In other words, they are turning in their graves in utter disgust with how the nation they fought for to liberate is being mishandled.
Sadly though, the spirit mediums cannot do much to assist the majority of Zimbabwean’s suffering and that is when Mbuya Nehanda played by Nyaradzo Nhongonhema says these words, “A disorganized majority shall continue to be enslaved by an organized minority…”
It was clear why the play took all the awards in the theatre category at the 2017 NAMA’s as it tackles a lot of pertinent issues affecting the development of Zimbabwe in a dexterous manner that brings out the inimitable artistic qualities of the cast.
Liberation only had two slots at HIFA, with the final one being the Wednesday evening show. But be sure to drop by HIFA and be mesmerized by both local and international theatrical productions.
