The value of plays in Kenyan native languages

By JENNIFER MUCHIRI

There is something stimulating watching a play in one’s mothertongue. Last Saturday, I watched a play in Gikuyu, Horera Irurume, at the Kenya National Theatre. The play ran from May 1 to 4, with nine shows in total. It was a production of the Fanaka Arts Theatre and the play is produced by Warugu wa Ndung’u and directed by Njomo Nyathira.

Horera Irurume, loosely translated to “hold your horses” or “be patient,” is an adults only comedy with five characters: Mzee Karori (Chege Muthamaki), his daughter Wamuyu (Wambui Ndegwa), his girlfriend Shikskapyenga (Victoria Wanjiku), his friend Kiambuthi the broker (Kimiti wa Gitau), and a “transport manager”, Kago (Njomo Nyathira).

 87-year-old Karori lives with his 30-year-old daughter after his wife deserted him when the girl was barely three months old to seek better life in Saudi Arabia. Having dedicated the last 30 years to taking care of his daughter, Karori feels that it is time he moved on and has befriended Shikskapyenga whom he plans to marry soon. However, their plans of living together happily are in trouble because of Wamuyu who is unhappy about her father remarrying. In fact, she informs Karori that she is willing to do for him whatever it is that his new wife is coming to do. After all, has she not been a devoted daughter who washes his clothes, cooks and irons for him? What else does he need another woman for?

What, therefore, is the way out? Wamuyu has got to get married and leave her father’s house! The problem is that Wamuyu has no known boyfriend and is not keen on young men. Karori and Shikskapyenga seek the services of Kiambuthi the broker who immediately hires a young man to try and win Wamuyu’s heart and eventually marry her. Karori is not too happy about getting a stranger to marry his daughter but when Kiambuthi mentions that Kago is a wealthy manager the prospects of having a rich son-in-law soften Karori’s heart. Kago turns out to be an unkempt, miraa-chewing matatu conductor who eventually cons Karori and marries Shikskapyenga instead of Wamuyu.

The drama plays on the idea of family and the responsibilities and expectations parents and children have of each other. It alludes to some of the difficulties of single parenthood. It is usually very difficult for single parents to introduce new partners to their children who often see the partner as coming to destroy the close relationship the children have with their parents. The new partner may also see the children as a threat to the stability of the relationship and it is no wonder Shikskapyenga will do anything to get Wamuyu out of the house.

 Horera Irurume also satirises greed, which can easily make a father sell off his daughter to a man he has never met just because the young man is said to be rich.  It also reminds us of the reality of the increasing number of adult children who will not leave their parents’ homes, especially in urban areas, thus implicitly referring to the harsh economic times.

 The vanity of women’s excessive worrying about their sizes is also mocked as Karori keeps bragging about his ‘size two Lupita’ in reference to Shikskapyenga, only for the audience to be absolutely amused when the latter appears on stage and she is not anything close to a ‘size two.’

The beauty of Horera Irurume is actually not so much in what it talks about but in the hilarious language employed. However, there is a sense in which, watching the play, one does not at any point get the relevance of the play’s title to the content. In fact, one of the actors has to use the phrase “horera irurume” thrice in one scene in what seems to be an attempt to impose the title on the play and ‘inform’ the audience.

Plays in Kenyan languages other than English enable artists to explore and express their talents better. There are certain words and expressions in our languages that lose their flavour the moment we translate them into English or Kiswahili; often they do not have equivalents at all. The production of plays in these languages addresses this gap and refreshes entertainment from the monotony of what in many cases are poorly scripted plays performed in a language akin to but is not really English.

Dr Muchiri teaches Literature at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]