In the Continuum and other plays

Description

Theatre and drama are very much part of our every day lives. These four plays: Belonging by Mirirai Moyo, When I Meet my Mother by Kathleen McCreery, In the Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, and Power Failure by Jide Afoylan reveal the dynamism and variety of theatre. They also reveal that from Zimbabwe to Brazil, Nigeria to the USA, societies despite their diversity share many common problems and challenges. Annotated for schools with questions and notes by Rory Kilalea, teachers and students will find this a richly accessible text.

Informations

• Publié par: Weaver Press
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781779223654
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

In the Continuum and other plays ( SCHOOLS EDITION )

edited by

Rory Kilalea

Published by Weaver Press, Box A1922, Avondale, Harare. 2009

© Each play, the individual author © This collection, Weaver Press ©Notes and Questions, Rory Kilalea and Weaver Press

Typeset by Weaver Press Cover Design, Danes Design, Harare Printed by Sable Press, Harare

The publishers would like to express their gratitude to all the playwrights for enabling their plays to be published in this collection. They would also like to thank the BBC African Playwriting competition and in particular Catherine Fellows for assisting us with and introduction toBelongingby Mirirai Moyo andPower Failure by Jide Olubenga Afolayan. We would further like to the Harare International Festival of the Arts for introducing us toIn the Continuum, performed in Harare in 2006. Thanks are due to Rory Kilaea, Michael Bourdillon and Megan Allardice for their assistance with the development of this text.

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978 1 77922 084 4

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Rory Kilaleais trained in theatre, education and film, and has acted in many theatre productions, from comedy to Shake- spearean tragedy. He has worked as a director in films from the 1980s, and was part of the crew who produced many interna- tional anti-Apartheid films. He is currently teaching film at the MET film school at Ealing Studios in London and travels to teach workshops and direct shows around the world. As a theatre director, he has written his own plays, and had them produced in South Africa , at the Market Theatre, The Na- tional in London and at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. He is currently the recipient of the Suzie Smith Oxfam award for his short story and play ‘Colours’ which explores the issues of HIV and AIDS in Africa. He has lectured on broadcasting, writing for stage, screen and radio as well as stage craft at the University of Zimbabwe and around the world.

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Contents

Belonging, a radio play by Mirirai Moyo Introduction toBelongingby Rory Kilalea Notes and Questions

When I Meet my Motherby Kathleen McCreery Introduction toWhen I Meet my Motherby Michael Bourdillon Notes and Questions

In the Continuumby Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter Introduction toIn the Continuumby Rory Kilalea Notes and Questions

Power Failure,a radio play by Jide Olubenga Afolayan Introduction toPower Failureby Rory Kilalea Notes and Questions

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1 3 25

27 29 52

55 57 94

99 101 118

Belonging

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Mirirai Moyo

Miriai Moyois a freelance writer. Born in 1979 in Mberengwa, Mirirai’s first work to appear in print was a composition published in a school yearbook when she was ten. During High School, she also had a few stories published inThe New Generationnews- paper. In 1996, she was the Harare Region Winner for the Randalls National Essay Competition. Her short stories have featured inThe Sunday Mail,Fascinating Talesand Paradeas well asDrum Magazine’sfiction segment. Her radio play,Belonging, was awarded Honourable Mention in the BBC African Performance 2008.

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Introduction to Belonging by Rory Kilalea

Belongingby Mirirai Moyo is written for radio. It was broadcast on the BBC World Serv- ice where it received a Special Commendation. One of the judges, Shimmer Chinodya, said that it was probably the ‘most original and inventive’ of all the plays he read.Belongingex- plores issues of identity and asks whether it possible for us to transcend the limitations of our culture, class, ethnicity – or species. Every type of play, whether for theatre, radio or film, relies on a special agreement be- tweenyouand theplay. It is called ‘Suspension of Disbelief’. This is not a complicated concept – it simply means that you suspend your sense of reality and allow your imagina- tion to embrace the story, whether it takes place under a marula tree in your school yard, or is heard on a radio.The ‘suspension of disbelief’ is a concept first developed by the ancient Romans. It simply represents a pact between the audience and the writer, playwright or story-teller. It means that we will allow ourselves to engage with a different reality, no mat- ter how fantastic or impossible, as long as the story captivates us. The concept is as true or relevant today – and of video games – as it was 2000 years ago. Radio drama has a different method of making us believe in what we hear. Think about it. When we listen to a football commentary on the radio, we cannot see the players, we cannot see the hush as someone lines up to take a goal, we cannot feel the excitement – in- stead, we rely on the broadcaster toshowus the action, allow us tofeelthe moves of each player through his voice and the sounds of the crowd. And that is the real skill of commu- nicating through radio. Writing for radio employs a different style from writing for theatre. For a start, we do not see the people in a radio play, we onlyheartheir voices. That means the voices and their ex- pressive form have torevealthe characters to us – their age, their attitudes, their characters, their gender and their background. Because we do notseethe play, Sound Effects (SFX) are used to inform us of where we are, what time it is, and where the story is set. Radio plays allow our imagination a much freer rein that than watching a play on the stage or television, as we have to visualise what we are hearing. So before reading this play, read the character background, and imagine how your voice would show the personality of each chicken and each hyena. If necessary, walk around like each character as you say the lines – you will then see how the movement can inform how

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