KING BAABU is an African epic, tracing the rise and fall of a vicious dictator. It`s obviously a story to which Zimbabweans can relate. The situation of the play is grotesque, bloody and complex; much like our own. The bizarre Baabu world often seems right next door, especially in the second act as Baabu and Co. stop using their heads and begin literally using their groins: making decisions based on their animal desires - for sex, power, money - and abandoning even a pretense of `ideology`, slogans or promises. A grim story, certainly, but not at all a grim play.
BAABU is (if it can be classified at all) a comedy; even a farce. We laugh because we are appalled or because we don`t know what else to do with Baabu`s excesses, his ludicrousness. In this also it is strangely Zimbabwean. We hope that in KING BAABU we can share the hash and brutal comedy that is the daily life of most Zimbabweans with the rest of the world, if only for an hour and a half. Despite the fact that we have no oil reserves, we think our plight deserves attention: both in and of itself, and because the theme - the corruption of power - is universal. It is ours particularly today, but will be someone else`s tomorrow; and the play contains much that is wise not just about corruption but about ordinary people - such as our audience members - and their complicity in that corruption. Soyinka once said that democracy is a `marathon, not a sprint.` With this production of this play we hope to move our much loved country - even our continent - one small step closer.
Sarah Norman
Director
Choosing the Play
"On the eve of our tenth birthday it fell upon me to decide what our merry band of players was to tackle next. Born African continues to cut a swathe through audiences around the world currently celebrating its 104th performance (and counting).
I have to say that I was bombarded in the small hours of the night with the weight of expectation... Do we pen another original piece? Do we revisit Shakespeare (That was met with a resounding no in my head... after three almost consecutive stabs at it we've had enough for the moment); How about a name from our very own school of African Theatre....Perfect! But Who?
The merry-go-round of names ensued - Rotmi; Ngugi; Marechera; Fugard; Soyinka... Bingo! Wole Soyinka is our man. He most tellingly out of all this hallowed bunch seemed most in tune with the absurdity that Zimbabwe was going through, with the notable exception of the late Marechera, naturally, (No disrespect or thematic undermining of the Rest of the Gallery of Genius in case any libel suits come our way).
As fate would have it, Wole Soyinka's most recent play was right up our street; King Baabu (2001) is the nobel laureate's re-imagining of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi from the end of the 19th Century. The play acheived noteriety for its absurd theatricality and more crucially the complete moral and physical corruption of its protagonist.
I had come across Jarry's Ubu Roi in University and had seen a school production (directed by our very own Gavin Peter) of it some years after that.On first reading Of The Soyinka Version I was sold...the humour, the critique, the characters all resonate with a bittersweet "africanicity" that we are all too familiar with.
This in no way diluted the challenge that was ahead. This is a play that should in fairness (and sanity) be tackled by a cast of twenty; In Over The Edge Land that means we do it with a cast of six! How do you maintain the scale and impact of this macabre tragi comic opera with a small cast?
Lock down on the essence of the story. Lock down on the fact that in every corrupt system any dysfunctional association is a constitution of a few thoroughly misguided, plainly evil or greedy individuals. Soyinka's ouevre contains an acute understanding of these "Grotesques", of this "Boot of tyranny and the colourlessness of the foot that wears" (liberal and profuse apologies to the author himself).
Where Born African had accounted for the purity of brutalised humanity surviving, King Baabu tackles the Dark Puppeteers and attendant sycophants whose sole aim in life is impose a vision and a will upon an already marginalised population. And as for the results?
We'll wait and see!"
Wiina LG Msamati
Actor-Artistic Director
Production Profiles
SARAH NORMAN
(Director of King Baabu)
Sarah Norman was a founding member of Over the Edge. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Directing (Macalester College, Minnesota) and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting (University of Delaware, Delaware). Favourite roles include Vivie in MRS WARREN`S PROFESSION and Armande in THE LEARNED LADIES; favourite directing projects include Vaclav Havel`s PROTEST. She is very happy to return to directing Soyinka (her directing debut was with one of his early plays) and to be back in her theatre home with the Over the Edge crazies.
DANAI GURIRA
(Guest performer in King Baabu)
Danai Gurira, 25, is currently in graduate acting training at New York University (Tisch School of the Arts) where she is about to enter her third and final year. The roles she has most enjoyed there include Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", Ivy in "Playboy of the West Indies" and Lady Chiltern in "An Ideal Husband". A native Zimbabwean, though not home as often as she would like, there she has enjoyed theatrical roles such as Lady in Red from "For colored girls..." for which she won Best Actress in the Zimbabwe Theater Festival and various other productions and commercials. Her undergraduate work at Macalester College (Minnesota, USA) included Roach in "Slaughter City", Pope Joan in "Top Girls" and a self-written one woman show entitled "Womandla". Danai enjoys creating scripts and hopes to adapt African Literature into plays and film. She thanks God for sustaining and inspiring her thus far in her passion and sees the artform as a vessel for awareness and accountability; es pecially as it pertains to her beloved homeland.
DENTON CHIKURA
(Guest performer in King Baabu)
Denton Chikura was born on March 30th 1983. Growing up in a large family, he learnt cutthroat survival skills which have helped him in his acting career - a loud, strong voice, dashing looks and an ability to consume a three course meal in 7 mins and 53 seconds.
He attended high school at Harare´s prestigious Prince Edward School where his love for drama grew under the guidance of Over the Edges very own Gavin Peter. He became passionately involved in Drama, Debating and Public Speaking, all with a good measure of success. He won the National Public Speaking Competition three years in a row and recieved National awards for Drama and music. After School, Denton was invited back to Prince Edward as a Drama coach where he wrote and directed two award winning plays. Favourite roles include Othello in Othello, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Fagin on Oliver, Nhamo in Nhamo the Mandinka Warrior and his tantalising wife Chipo and Baugrelas in Ubu Roi directed by Zane E Lucas. He is currently working on his first project with Over the Edge, King Baabu, which will premier at the Edinburgh fringe Festival in August. He plans to study Drama next year when he commences University.
FIVE THINGS DENTON WAS TRYING TO KEEP SECRET FROM THE WORLD
1 Spent half his life living in Bindura.
2 Youngest cast member of King Baabu and arguably the the best looking.
3 His second name is Musekiwa. It means Object of laughter.
4 Denton can't cook anything except sadza and tea.
5 His parents tried their best.
The merry-go-round of names ensued - Rotmi; Ngugi; Marechera; Fugard; Soyinka... Bingo! Wole Soyinka is our man. He most tellingly out of all this hallowed bunch seemed most in tune with the absurdity that Zimbabwe was going through, with the notable exception of the late Marechera, naturally, (No disrespect or thematic undermining of the Rest of the Gallery of Genius in case any libel suits come our way).
Lock down on the essence of the story. Lock down on the fact that in every corrupt system any dysfunctional association is a constitution of a few thoroughly misguided, plainly evil or greedy individuals. Soyinka's ouevre contains an acute understanding of these "Grotesques", of this "Boot of tyranny and the colourlessness of the foot that wears" (liberal and profuse apologies to the author himself).
