This comedy was staged by `The Friends Ensemble and Fanaka Arts Theatre' from Friday,8th November through to Sunday, 10th November 2013.
let me star by saying that this is a review of the last show and may not necessarily reflect the views of he show you attended. the play had a star studded cast comprising Sam Psenjen, Maggie Karanja, Joe Kinyua, Mwajuma Doreen, Joshua Mwai and thankfully new faces in the form of Yvonne Mwawuganga and Philip who must be lauded for their wonderful performances nonetheless.
The script, being a comedy ofcourse had the laughlines expected in a comedy. well, some of them worked while some o fthem fell flat with thier faces for lack of a better phrase. i must laud the delivery of these laugh lines by one Joe Kinyua. the most notable and memorable one being `I cant recall, I cnat recall'. Johua Mwai's character was lauded with these punchlines inn the script but the audience failed to notice most of them maybe ue to their delivery. the goood news is that, though the script looked rather taxing to pull off, the actors were able to give the audience a good laugh and worth their money at teh end of the day.
the actors were terrific. they all tried to do theri very best to do the script justice and all who were involved too. the co-operation to make this rather long, uneventful play to life was incerdible and they deserve a pat on teh head. the one who runs away wwith the prize however, is Veonica. ofcourse I know her personally but this is a reaction from the audience plus she did deliver all factors considered. she was the newest face in the cast, plus her character had a chance to display three personalities which were all executed beautifully- the seductress, the nun and the infiriated woman. however, I must point out the the caharacte of Fiona looked like she was holding back a litle too much. a little more vigour and sductivity on her part would have helped lif her character a great deal. the character of Hon Sepele seemed to weigh too much on Joshua Mwai an he looked like he was struggling a great deal to pull off thisb character.
the lighting on this production looked so amateur. in my opinion, there was a lot more that could have been done with the lighting bearing in mind that the auditorioum has the resources to provide an lite lighting system for a production. white light throught the production did very little to enance the execution of teh play. the last scene wwas a romantic scene depite it being in the night yet it is the exact time that the technician decided to put a bright whwite light. sadly, this is a sector that needs to be thoroughly worked out in the future. the sound was also poor to say the least save for the loud doorbell and the telephoine ring whic at some point was also late or missing. music is supposed to enhance the happenongs on stage, the music playing for this play was the same music played at Aliiance for every other production. I honest;y wish that teh music would have been more deliberate and able to arouse the mood of the actors.
In my opinion, the costuming was above average.
The overall stagecraft was below par for a production of this magnitude. the stage manage should have taken her/his work with a little more zeal. the set should be more convincing and definitely way more aesthetically appealing. it was a senator's house but brought out the illusion of a rich bachelor's house rather than that of a senator complete with military secuiriy. the bedroom set looked like a makeshift set after the real one was lost or burnt. at the very least, it would have had at least a lampside stand and more properly arranged.
the audience reception was generally positive. all in all, i beleieve there is a lot of room for improvement especially on the production sie specifically the lighting, sound and the overll set design.thank you for proving that there is talent in Kenya.
All the best and God bless you all,God bless art.
