Over the last 3 years Zimbabwe's Over The Edge Theatre Company has carved a significant niche for themselves at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing their own writing and reproducing sparkling new versions of Shakespearean productions. Many will remember their 5 man "Twelfth Night", that garnered a Spirit of the Fringe Award in 2000 and earned Wiina Msamati a nomination for Best Actor from The Stage Magazine in 2001. They also were nominated for Best Ensemble last year for their production of "Born African", directed by Zane E. Lucas, a play that examined what it is to be a Zimbabwean amongst the radical challenges that that country is facing.
This year they are bringing "Born African" back again, re-worked and obviously deeply effected by the events that have occured since this moving piece of theatre had its outing at Edinburgh 2001. Mr. Msamati and Mr. Craig Peter are joined this year by talented actor Mr. Adam Neill (Director of the acclaimed "Twelfth Night" production) who is now touring with the company.
In dealing with this material, Over the Edge look not so much at the politics of the country formerly regarded as the jewel of post-colonial Africa, but, rather more tellingly, with the people that inhabit it. Ordinary people; black, white, mixed-race, lawyers, businessmen, domestic workers, sons and lovers. It is this angle that really gives the show it's strength as we are given a perfect kaliedescope of the way in which this complex group of people operate. Social issues that are rarely given a look-in by the western media are teased out to their conclusion; black on black violence, mixed-race relationaships and colonial hangovers are intertwined to give a tapestry of events and people that truly show what it can mean to be Born African.
If the one of the 'fringe' benefits of the Edinburgh festival is watching great ensemble work then this show is an absolute must. As Diane DuBois noted in last year's 'Scotsman' review; "The three-strong male cast is superb. Whipping off the simplest of costumes, they transform themselves into multiple characters. The audience clapped at the end of every scene and gave a standing ovation. What more need I say?"
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - PRESS RELEASE
Over the last 3 years Zimbabwe's Over The Edge Theatre Company has carved a significant niche for themselves at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing their own writing and reproducing sparkling new versions of Shakespearean productions. Many will remember their 5 man "Twelfth Night", directed by Adam Neill, that garnered a Spirit of the Fringe Award in 2000 and earned Wiina Msamati a nomination for Best Actor from The Stage Newspaper in 2001.
This year they bring the British premier of their latest Shakespearean work, "The Taming of the Shrew". In keeping with the Company mandate to produce theatre that is quintissentially African in its style and influences, Over the Edge have removed this production from Renaissance Padua to a 'hyper-modern' Africa. Unlike the almost rustic fantasy of their "Twelfth Night", Wiina Msamati's direction of this production comes out of the urban elite of Africa's big cities, stealing, re-inventing and often subverting the western influences that they are bombarded with, creating an African-grotesque.
Similarly the tale of Katharina the Shrew, tamed in traditional patriachal fashion in Shakespeare's original, has been re-discovered by Over the Edge. Directed by Wiina Msamati, the company of six men take on the cast of ten characters, lending a particularly, and purposefully, male edge to the story. The result is a high tostesterone examination of the failings and manipulations of men and women when out seeking a mate for life.
Whilst Over The Edge's "Twelfth Night" was lauded as a 'joyful sunburst' of a show, this production of "The Taming of the Shrew" is an acidic comedy of lust and purchased love, decked out in what can most accurately described as Lumbumbashi-chic on an over dose of coca plant.
