When did you last see your trousers?
What better weekend for theatre lovers to light up “feelings of pleasant, sunny laughter” in early October, than with two funny blasts from the past now taking pride of stage at the theatres?
Festival of Creative Arts (FCA) and Heartstrings Kenya are respectively staging When Did You Last See Your Trousers? and Out of Order due to, you guessed it, “great public demand.”
For real.
FCA, bowing to patron pressure, returns for the third time with When did you last see your bikers, sorry, Trousers?, the rip-roaring bedroom spoof by Ray Galton and John Antrobus at the Kenya National Theatre (KNT) beginning today through Sunday.
Heartstrings, on the other hand, have been pitching tent at the Alliance Francaise auditorium since Wednesday, with the second and final run of Ray Cooney’s farce until Sunday.
Mbeki Mwalimu, who rose to theatrical visibility via playing the sexy house girl in Trousers four years ago, assists stage delight, Derrick Amunga, in directing this comedy about Howard (Godfrey Odhiambo) who falls asleep in his mistress’s (Hellena Waithera) Hurlingham flat where an intruder relieves him of everything, except his underwear.
Sneak into this mix up, Irene Njuguna, a house girl entangled in a love triangle with, Melvin Alusa, the amorous minister for Internal Security and Francis Amos, a randy policeman.
Others in this star-studded production include some error-prone captain (Amunga), the vivacious Jacqueline Wamuyu, the minister’s mistress and corrupt cop Veronica Waceke. Jimmie Wanjala and George Mwaura, the minister’s spoilt brat, complete the cast that promises a farcical evening at KNT.
Richie Mwendwa, who superbly did the lighting for Undone Theatre Project’s wonderful production of Efua Sutherland’s, Edufa, is the able hand for the set and lighting in this play which has never failed to fun fans of farce.
Trousers was first staged by Charles Bukeko’s Pambazuka Productions in 2004, and featured among others; Angel Waruinge, Kanyeki Sinbad, Kirumburu Ng’ang’a, Anthony Chavene and Githanda Githae, who lit the stage for this evergreen charmer.
Also guaranteed to make the sourest soul slip off the seat in spasms of mirth is Cooney’s, Out of Order, which Sammy Mwangi and Victor Ber are directing Richard (Larry Asego), a Cabinet Minister in a government delegation planning an illicit tryst with Jane (Chao Mwatela), secretary for the opposition.
Things go awry when he discovers a body in the bedroom.
A cover up ensues, but is botched by the arrival of Carter Kavuti, Jane’s jealous hubby. Others include Mark Olang, George (Anthony Kinuthia), Richard’s PA, Victoria Wakio, his wife, Obilo Ngongo, a private detective and Andrew Muthure, the wheeler-dealer waiter.
Suicide chatroom
Talk of giving people what they want and making tidy sums in the process.
Meanwhile, Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s play, Chatroom, opened last week at the Phoenix Player’s.
It revolves around suicidal teenager Jim (Harry Ebale), and the adverse effects of the advice he gets from the “Suicide Chat room.”
Chatroom also delves into teenage emotional turmoil and their take on the damage that results from exposure to JK Rawlings Harry Potter series and Britney as they are caught up in a digital age.
Chatroom is unflustered, and has no movements beyond the sparse set of seats from where the six teenagers deliver their lines to hold the audience’s attention.
Devotees of Internet chat rooms, like the bunch of giggling lasses who sat behind me, will feel eerily familiar with Eugene Oyoo’s debut effort as director.
The snappy, and frequently witty dialogue, however, might get humdrum and escape the anti-internet geezers among us in this one-hour, Two Act show, though.
