‘Broken’ comes to Theatre in the Park

FOLLOWING its world premiere at the famous Carlo Theatre California, United States as part of the Thesis Festival last year, physical theatre play “Broken” will today have its first local staging at Theatre in The Park.

Co-created and performed by Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi and Everson Ndlovu, the play is an investigative journey into the world of ritual theatre for healing.

Mutumbi said the play started off as his graduation thesis.

“It started out as a thesis for my studies at Dell’Arte focusing on ritual theatre particularly focusing on Zimbabwe.

“I then invited Ndlovu to join me as we co-developed the concept, writing the script together, working on it until it was good enough for stage,” he said.

Mutumbi said the play is an experimental mixture of Zimbabwean healing tradition and the Greek form of tragedy.

“Broken is a meeting point between a broken past and a broken future.

It is a journey into the world of Zimbabwean ritual tradition and Greek tragedy,” he said.

The storyline is a tale of a mother and child who went missing and the grieving father returns to his village in search of a reason.

After its premiere Broken earned an invite to the Mad River Festival, in Blue Lake, California in July last year before staging at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Theatre as part of California State Summer School of the Arts, guest performances.

Mutumbi dreams to tour the country, region and international theatre spaces with the play.

“We are already in talks with various individuals and organisations to make our dream a reality,” he said.

Mutumbi is a performer, storyteller, theatre maker, poet, writer, director and voice-over artist from Chitungwiza.

Just like his colleague Ndlovu, he is a graduate of Theory X Theatre Initiative`s three-year acting program in Harare and Dell’Arte International School.

They have both have featured in renowned local plays, at some point directing and producing.