Raw talent behind bars as prisoners take centre stage

By Kiundu Waweru

Prisoners recently showcased their skills on the stage when Nairobi Remand and Allocation Prison hosted inter-prisons drama festival.

The festival, dubbed Ongea Prisons Rehabilitation Theatre Festival organised by Institute of Performing Arts Limited showcased raw and untapped talent locked behind bars.

The contest featured four prisons including, Langata Women, Nairobi Remand and Allocation, Nairobi West Prison and Kamiti Medium Prison. Each prison performed a play and surprised the audience with their execution especially of their own accounts of life in crime.

There were poem recitations, song renditions and even traditional dancers. Ramogi group from Industrial Area Prison boasted of refined acrobatic antics that kept the audience on edge.

The best actor, Pascal Sabas ‘Kawau’ of Nairobi West Prison [PHOTO: EVANS HABIL/STANDARD]

The prisoners looked real and gave their all, perhaps to prove that despite the sentences, they could amount to something.

Plays

In each production, certain inmates stood out for their acting prowess. In the play Matata High School, undisciplined students dealing drugs and mugging parents is finally confronted by Inspector Alfa from Kurekebisha na Haki Police Station to restore calm.

The actor who played the inspector was hilarious, imitating the popular police speak wowing judges Joseph Murungu, Neema Bagamuhunda, and Kawive Wambua. Matata bagged the Most Entertaining Award while the inspector scooped the Best Actor’s Runners Up.

Another notable performer was Kawau, a teenage orphan who is recruited into crime in the play Iga Ufe.

He acted so well that audience identified with him through his tribulations. Kawau, who represented Nairobi West Prison had strong voice projection that reverberated through the open yard. His prowess saw him bag the Best Actor trophy.

And the best play, highlighting stigma ex-prisoners get as they reintegrate back into the society by Langata Women Prison, showcased several refined actors. Ann, released from jail after 10 years, is begging her mother to accept her back that she is reformed.

The mother dismisses her saying she has disgraced them and then enters Ann’s father — a woman acting as a man.

She scoops the Best Actress Runners Up. Indeed, at the end of the day, the skills were evident.