Zim theatre, mbira & poetry

our productions to them,” said the founder, Daves Guzha.
“Our artistic expression remains determined in influencing policy through community mobilization. But challenges abound. The enactment and perpetuation of strict laws seeks to silence the booming voice of critical theatre thereby frustrating the nation’s cultural growth,” he said.
Rooftop’s European summer is a menu of damning political satire, Super Patriots and Morons and Pregnant with Emotion.
Super Patriots and Morons is political satire that has already been in trouble with the Zimbabwe government. Banned for hitting too close to the bone, the play has defied the odds resurfacing regionally and overseas much to the chagrin of the government. Rooftop Promotions is challenging the constitutional violation of the ban.
The play has been nominated for Amnesty International’s Big Issue Freedom of Expression Award 2007, and Rooftop Promotions are appealing to the broader civil society network to come to the assistance of the cast to enable them to travel and perform at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007.
Pregnant with Emotion is a realistic reflection of the political environment in Zimbabwe and draws mainly on current events. Poetry, by the celebrated poet, Chirikure Chirikure and the wailing mbira of the accomplished songbird, Chiwoniso Maraire, symbolizes the agony of the nation under siege.
– Staff reporter