By George Swarei
The number 37 is said to be a very powerful number. It is associated with change, progress, and creativity. The possible meaning of the number is derived from both facts within and history behind the Bible.
For the 37th time, Zimbabwe Theatre Academy performed their multi-award winning production, Zandezi to a full house Friday evening at Jasen Mphepho Little Theatre in Harare.
Directed by Lloyd Nyikadzino and produced by Teddy Mangawa, the play performed by Cadrick Msongelwa and Ronald Sigeca epitomizes physical theater.
With only minor adjustments to their prison garb and a large metal dish as their only prop, Msongelwa and Sigela convey the perpetual struggle for justice and survival in a harsh prison environment through movement, music and precisely chosen diction.
Zandezi set in a Zimbabwean prison revolves around Philani Dube, who was accused of a crime he did not commit, simply because he bought a cellphone on the street that had previously belonged to an actual criminal.
Philani’s arrest is followed by a chain of misfortune which prevent him from gaining freedom at the earliest opportunity.
From the onset, the only witness who might be able to prove his innocence cannot be found and his lawyer demands money to search for him. Dube does not have the money so his trial would continue without his key witness, further weakening his case. With no evidence from his side, Dube is convicted and given a custodial sentence.
While in prison, Dube learns his wife Lucy has given birth to twin boys but his pride prevents him from letting Lucy see how prison has changed him. By the time he has come to terms with who he has become, the COVID pandemic has arrived, no visitors are allowed, one of his sons has died from the virus and Dube cannot attend his funeral.
Along the way, Dube learns a great deal about the realities and injustices of prison life, starting with the widely accepted presumption that “half the people in here are innocent and half the people out there are guilty.” He learns he will be locked up from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the remainder of each day is an endless cycle of work (“In here you are a slave”), bad food, exercise and inmate-created entertainment “to keep our sanity.” It is a dance of power and control.
He learns that accused rapists will be raped and it costs five cigarettes to use a working toilet. He also learns how to put on an act for the courts to petition for his freedom.
When he finally regains his freedom through a presidential amnesty, Dube finds the world a changed place. His wife has remarried and prevents him from seeing his child. He resorts to his default settings, ‘the life of crime breaks into houses’ and the cycle begins again. He finds himself back in prison only six days after tasting freedom.
Zandezi is a provocative, daring, and mind-blowing physical theatre piece that interrogates criminal justice systems through the lens of prison services. The story weighs the roles of “Prison vs. Society,” as Philani battles for his freedom during his stay in prison.
