Kuldip Sondhi’s play salutes martyrs of Mombasa

When I settled down to watch Don Geronimo, a play by Kuldip Sondhi, last Sunday evening after celebrating Easter, little did I know that one of the silent themes was the unknown Mombasa martyrs.

Whilst the story is about the Arab conquest of the Portuguese to take control of Fort Jesus and the political power that comes with it, the story also focuses on the sheer slaughter of innocent believers.

Interestingly, not much has been written about and few have talked about the martyrs who cut across all races; Blacks, Portuguese as well as Arabs.

Don Geronimo is also insightful to the extent that the killings revolve around an Arab Sultan, Yussuf, formerly a Christian Arab who was baptised when he was a child after his father was slain by the Portuguese.

The details of Mombasa Martyrs are best captured in the book, The Martyrs of Mombasa by the Catholic priest Malachy Culleen of the Order of St Augustine and it is clear Kenyans had their martyrs long before their Ugandan counterparts.

Another finding is that whilst history books always recognise the first missionaries as the ones who landed in the hinterland Rabai, the truth is actually that they landed in Mombasa and Malindi where Augustinian priests came to East Africa to serve as chaplains to the Portuguese who had settled at various places at the Coast.

The Rabai narrative tells of Ludwig Krapf, a Church Missionary Society explorer, coming to Rabai in 1840 with his Egyptian wife – 200 years after the first Augustinian Catholics had landed at the Kenyan coast.

An odd king

Set in 1631 in Fort Jesus, the play is also a sneak peek into how some people in power are just but puppets manipulated by unseen powers.

Don Geronimo is a story about the struggle between a young Catholic Arab king and a Portuguese captain.

Don Geronimo, also known as Yusuf bin Hassan, returns home to Africa’s shores as King of Mombasa after studying in Goa and Portugal and serving in the Portuguese Royal Navy.

He meets a fitting challenge in Don Pedro, the Portuguese captain in charge of Fort Jesus and representing Portuguese interest in Mombasa.

Captain Pedro insists on tax increases while Geronimo objects, intent on pleasing his restless subjects.

Being an Arab who converted to Christianity, Geronimo seems to have trouble marshalling the requisite support from Arab-Muslim population.

Matters are made worse by the dilemma of having married a Portuguese woman, Queen Angeline.

“There is real fear and oppression everywhere these days, my lord. The people are angry about these tax increases, though they know it is not your fault,” says Salim Ali, Geronimo’s Prime Minister.

As a way to earn the public support the king denounces Christianity and goes back to Islam, this time spelling doom on the Portuguese population.

His wife is shocked and asks why he had to fire at the convent with his own hands.

Turn-around

“I had to. No one else knows how to fire the cannons in Fort Jesus. But if one of those Christians had said, ‘Forgive me, Don Geronimo, for all the evils my face has done to you’ – if one of them had said that to me, I would have spared them all,” he responds in deep reflection.

Whilst Kuldip’s play ends with the wife being banished for sticking to the Christian faith and later dying in the high seas, other literature such at The Martyrs of Mombasa detail that she was made a slave instead.

The acting in this play is great with the main character , Ashik Yussuf, being a consummate storyteller and with equally profound performance by Stephanie Makise (Angelina) who together combine in a theatrical conspiracy to drive the audience to tears with emotion.

Anthony Mbithi is truly priestly and depicts a true saint even as he is sentenced to death by the same person who has been his chaplain for years, in this production supported by General Motors.

Peter Mbugua’s portrayal of the mean and arrogant Portuguese captain representing his boss based in the Indian town of Goa was credible as it injected energy into the scenes. Kuildip kills it with that brothel scene excellently acted by the trio of sailors Salim Nyoka, Silvanus Juma and Abdul Juma especially with the Anne Awuor the dancer who brought Kamasutra alive on stage.

The play is as reflective as it is discerning, perhaps reflecting qualities of Kuldip, the man with 17 titles to his credit and who had his 92nd birthday celebrated at the end of the show, at the Little Theatre Club.

Among those in attendance were by Mombasa Senator Omar Hassan.

Producer Gilbert Owino has announced that the play will be staged in Nairobi sometime in August and I would not envy anyone who misses to watch this great piece of drama.