The Sunday News
Rumbidzai Mhlanga, Sunday Life Reporter
BULAWAYO theatre lovers were given a taste of provocative theatre on Wednesday when the Intwasa Arts Festival hosted The Vagina Monologues at the Small City Hall, with the audience left spellbound by a combination of thought-provoking subject matter and skilful performance by the actors.
The Vagina Monologues is an international episodic play which was written by Eve Ensler in New York.
The play was adopted by Intwasa Arts Festival with the aim of getting women to talk about issues that affect them and has been played several times in the city.
The play focuses on sexual issues that affect women, it explores issues of consensual and non-consensual sexual experiences, sexual experiences for women, encounters of child birth, sexual abuse, genital mutilation and vaginal care.
Producer of the play, Chipo Mawarire said they brought the play to Zimbabwe because they felt women in the communities also need to know and discuss such issues.
“The Vagina Monologues is an American classic that is over two decades old. The playwright wrote it after she conducted vagina interviews. We adopted the play as a way of starting conversations that are deemed taboo in our society. It was a way of breaking new ground and creating a platform where we can tackle women’s issues from their core, sexuality being one of them,” said Mawarire.
Mawarire said the challenge they are facing is that people still find it difficult to openly talk about such issues.
“People are not yet ready to talk about these issues publicly but they come back to comment in private spaces and on social media. Although the play is an eye opener for both men and women people find it hard to openly comment or ask questions. For instance, one approached us in Gwanda and thanked us for bringing the play to their community as it made him view women’s sexuality differently and with so much respect. The title of the play doesn’t make life any easier as people come with different expectations,” she said.
The producer said although they presented the play as it is, they changed a couple of elements to make it more relevant in African societies.
“We changed a couple of things to suit our African context and did not include some monologues completely as we felt it was of American descent hence the cast and audience would not relate. So, we just adopted the original theme which is sex and sexuality.
“Our aim is to let women talk about what they go through in their sexual journeys and how they feel about them, it is also to demystify women’s sexuality and be able to start conversations way after the performances. To move people from their comfort zones where sex talk is a taboo and with that stems women who can confidently talk about sex and sexuality among themselves and with their partners as well,” Mawarire said.
Mawarire said they plan to showcase the play in all cities in the country so as to spread the message countrywide.
“The play was shown a number of times in Bulawayo, on 6 December we went to Jahunda Hall in Gwanda. This coming Saturday we are going to Masvingo at Charles Austen Theatre and we have another show scheduled for Harare early next year. Participating in the play are independent performers namely Musa Sibanda, Sithabile Ndubiwa, Agnes Ncube and Lady Tshawe directed by Memory Kumbota,” she said.
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