HARARE Top international and award winning playwright, Stephen Chifunyise, has an impressive 90 plays to his credit. In an interview at HIFA 2011, Chifunyise said he did not know which was his best. “I am working on many others,” he said. He has produced such top plays as “Rituals” which was performed at HIFA, and “Vicious” which deals with greedy civil servants. Chifunyise is a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture.
He quit to concentrate on his play-writing skills, which have won him many top local and international awards. “I deal with issues that affect us especially Africans,” Chifunyise said. “I try to deal with social, political as well as economic issues such as in ‘Vicious’ which deals with civil servants who can be corrupt. It also tackles HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe and how individuals can be stigmatised.”
“Rituals” is a musical and inspirational journey through community driven healing processes that are impeded by lack of political will. It played to packed houses during the festival. German Technical Cooperation (GTC) Junior Expert, Tobias Lemmel said he enjoyed “Rituals”.
“While I do not understand some of the Shona in the play I still managed to get the gist of the theme,” Lemmel said in an interview. “Your culture is very rich. Very rich indeed. Keep it up.”
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