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Theatre in the Park will be hosting the play ‘Secret of the Siren’ written and produced by Nelson Mapako and performed by Mildred Nkomo from Wednesday 24 to Thursday 25 November 2021 between 6 PM and 7 PM. The admission is $5 and all the creatives can donate what they have to the show.
The play is about a rushed marriage that eventually goes wrong. It interrogates sexuality in the African context while also encouraging African people to open up on issues to do with marriage, love, and sexuality. The production experiments on the fusion of narrative monologues and physical theatre, multi characterization, shadow puppetry, use of visuals as well as other forms of multimedia.
In compiling this work, the writer was inspired by one of the short stories that he had written in prose form into a stage play with the same title ‘Secret of the Siren’. He adds that people have secrets about their origin, ethnicity, sexuality among secrets.
“The dire consequence of the secret has been kept a secret until the day one gets to hear the truth,” he said.
According to Mildred Nkomo, the production seeks to foster collaborations among artists in Zimbabwe while also creating new markets and building new audiences amid the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Secret of the Siren was first performed at the 2021 edition of the Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo. It has travelled and was performed in different parts of the country including Bulawayo Theatre, Hwange Little Theatre, Memorial Public Library in Gweru, Kwekwe Theatre, and will soon be performed at Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo and Courtauld Theatre.
“We appreciate the support we are getting from the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Provincial offices around the country for the support rendered in organising for the performances. I should also single out the support rendered by the Hwange Colliery Company.
“This project is supported by an ANT Adaptation Fund grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC),” Mapako said.