Kamirithu theatre group rises from the ashes of ‘Ngaahika Ndeenda’ ban

Members of Kamirithu theatre group re-enact a scene of the controversial play "Ngahika ndeenda" at Kamirithu grounds where they met after a break of 33 years they want to train young people on theatre works. PHOTO: GEORGE NJUNGE

KIAMBU: “Shh, a very hot issue has come up. Your daughter has been impregnated by the son of a rich man called Kioi.”

This line is engraved in 64-year-old Choru Muiruri’s mind. It’s now about 38 years ago, but the line still flows freely:”Shh, he undu wa bata woimira. Mwariguo ni ahiritwo ihu ni mwana wa gitonga gigwitwo Kioi.”

It was one of the lines in the play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) by Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o and his co-author Ngugi wa Mirii, which irked the Jomo Kenyatta government.

And after three decades in the cold, 15 members of the Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre, who treated many to gluing pieces of open air plays, have now spoken out following the lifting of the play’s ban.

The group met and rehearsed at a youth centre, formed in 1976, where adult education was taught and this is where the theatre group was born.

“Most actors came here to learn how to write and read and acting came about to enhance the course,” says group spokesman Mr Muiruri. None of the actors were trained but they all had an inborn talent that needed just a small trigger and guidance.

TOOK UP THE CHALLENGE

They then approached Prof Ngugi, a son of Limuru, who embarked on scripting plays for the group. He took up the challenge as a director and with Ngugi wa Mirii now deceased co-authored the groups first master piece Ngaahika Ndeenda.

The play that would rub then administration the wrong way was meant to enlighten the public about oppression and exploitation by the authorities. It also called on the mwananchi to wake up from slumber and speak against evils that were being perpetrated against them.

“We had a scene where Kigunda, a poor man and a peasant farmer was cheated into getting a loan against his shamba by Kioi to do a wedding only for the shamba to go with Kioi,” recalled another actor Mr George Kabunyi, now 64, adding that the play was critical in pointing the wedge between the halves and have-nots.

“We were a very successful group by all standards considering the audience that was drawn to our works,” said Muiruri.

The group staged the play in 1977 to an enthusiastic audience of at least 2,000 people.

“We staged two shows on a weekend one on Saturday and another on Sunday and each of them would attract enormous fans who travelled from as far as Nyeri, Murang’a and Nyahururu and many are the times we got white people attending and as much as they did not understand the language they enjoyed our pieces, the parking along the dusty road leading to the centre would host buses that ferried people this was a big boost to our morale and creativity,” added Muiruri.

“I acted as the rich and flamboyant man, a character that made the audience hate me especially when I lied to Kigunda’s daughter that my son will marry her. Kigunda was a peasant farmer and marrying her daughter was a ploy to grab his land. This accelerated the hatred people had for me on stage considering that the whole script was speaking against oppression,” he said.

STAMPEDE

“I remember vividly one time at a bus stop when a man told me that we will finish you all rich people you cannot take our belongings and our girls, I was shocked to see that the audience actually thought that the character I was staging was real life and this made acting very interesting,” added Muiruri in a chuckle.

Watching the drama would attract an entry fee of Sh5 for adults, Sh2 for students including university students and Sh1 for children but it would be free after 30 minutes to allow people who didn’t have money a chance to watch the play. This would cause a near stampede as hundreds of fans jostling for a space inside fought at the entrance. Ngugi and his co-author were floor and prop managers and directed the actors.

Barely after five consecutive stagings of the play Ngaahika Ndeenda the administration of the day felt that the group was