Entry fees slashed for Manganya production
The entry fees for a play titled Mwanayu Ndi Wanu? written by Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Michael Usi, to be staged at Robin’s Park in Blantyre on Sunday, has been reduced to give a chance to more people to watch the production.
The play comes to the commercial city by public demand, having been premiered at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Easter Monday.
Usi, traditionally known as Manganya in the drama circles, said yesterday that the standard ticket is K5,000, with the VIP ticket at K10,000.
The entre fees in Lilongwe were K10,000 for standard ticket and K20,000 for VIP.
“We have done it deliberately to slash the entry fees. This is because the performance is in the afternoon and, so, we want families to patronise the performance. We do not want those who want to come and watch the play to be barred because of the entry fee,” Usi said.
He said that people will experience an improved production at the Blantyre show, which will be spiced up with traditional dances.
“The premiere was different. We looked at this performance and production. We critiqued each other, hence breathing in more life. We identified gaps, hence roping in Charles Mphoka. There is actually another pair that we thought was missing and, so, we had to beef up,” Usi said.
The play centres on a typical Malawian story of gossip where an elderly woman goes around poking her nose into other people’s business with the aim of destroying a couple’s marriage.
Apart from Manganya and Mphoka, some of the members of the cast include Bon Kalindo, popularly known as Winiko, Linda Chatha, Ruth Simika (Mai a Sikono), Mafumu Matiki (Mlelemba), Margaret Chikwembeya (Azakhali), Mcbein Kochi (Giling’ande), Ferguson Magona and Jeremiah Mwaungulu.
Apart from offering entertainment as an art therapy as the country is still managing the effects of Cyclone Freddy, the performance is aimed at raising funds to build houses for some of the survivors of the cyclone, whose houses got damaged.
“We would like to thank people in Lilongwe for their support and, in fact, they are the ones who have motivated us to look beyond and not stop at fundraising but to continue the performances,” he said.
Usi said they will not wait for the rehabilitation of Blantyre Cultural Centre but, rather, give people maximum entertainment.
“Entertainment has come back. We are geared to give people entertainment because this is what they have been missing,” he said.
In another development Letemani Theatre will tomorrow night stage an Athol Fugard production Sizwe Bansi is Dead at Zipatso Academy in Salima.
The performance, featuring Peter Machilika and Kelvin Chiyoyola, is part of rekindling theatrical fire efforts.
Machilika said they decided to bring Sizwe Bansi is Dead because they want to remind fellow Africans “that despite gaining independence from colonialists and abolishing racial discriminatory laws, the black community is still sidelined”.
“We are pan-Africanists. We are people who are like a caged bird. The whites caged us, we are still locked in,” he said.
