Kenyan Play Touring India Comes Back Home

Back from a successful International Tour of India, The Theatre Company will present Wanawake wa Heri wa Winsa, a Swahili translation of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor at the Nairobi National Museum Amphitheatre on the 15th and 16th of December 2012 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. daily. Tickets for the show cost Kshs. 500.

The cast represents the best of East African talent and features talent from Tanzania, Mrisho Mpoto as Falstaff as well as Ogutu Muraya, Neville Misati, Mourad Sadat, Eric Wanyama, Veronica Waceke, Sylvia Namussassi and Kitt Nyang’aya Kiarie.

The production was well received at the Globe to Globe Shakespeare festival in London, England in April this year and received 5 stars from the Guardian Newspaper. Dubbed “Visually intoxicating” and “slapstick…tinged with genius” by Andrew Gilchrist of The Guardian, it is a must see for any theatre lover and enthusiast.

In November this year, the production toured three cities in India where it featured at Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival in Hyderabad, Ranga Shankara Shakespeare Festival in Bangalore and the United World College (UWC) in Pune.

The play is set in Kiambu County in the plush environs of Windsor. Falstaff makes his love and desires know not to one but two married women in identical letters. Upon comparison, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page plot their revenge on Falstaff for being so bold and assuming.

The revenge plan unveils itself with almost catastrophic but hilarious consequences. The strength of some relationships with doubts creeping and some grow ever so stronger as the inhabitants of this small town watch and are a part of the unfolding comical events that surround Falstaff amorous adventures.

The cast of Wanawake wa Heri wa Winsa in India