Borrowed Parts

Harare theatre lovers are in for another spectacular treat from 23 to 25 November as Rooftops Promotions launches yet another play. Produced by veteran theatre maker DavesGuzha and directed by Innocent ‘Sino’ Mwapangira, the play Borrowed Parts is set to entertain audiences while it sheds light to an ever ongoing social ill of gender based violence. Adapted from the play of the same name written by Walter Wykes, Borrowed Parts, a play in one act, features a day in the life of Otto, a young ex-convict who strives for control, love and belonging, but cannot commit to a woman as he sees himself as a real man, and Martha, a young married woman who is bored with her marriage, is caught up in an abusive extra marital affair with her neighbour, Otto.Otto and Martha are invovled in a relationship driven by lust, uncontrolled passion, jealousy, varying power plays and abuse, typifying gender dynamics. Otto acts and breathes masculinity, while Martha is the typical female who longs for independence but is trapped in the traditional norm of womanhood. Centred on the passions that characterise male and female relationships, Borrowed Parts explores humanity and its need for acceptance, identity, freedom, happiness and love, yet failing short of these as both men and women are caught up in a vain social structure that propagates abuse based on gender differences.DavesGuzhaproduces yet again another entertaining yet insightful play directed by Innocent “Sino” Mwapangira, a beneficiary of the Wits University Drama for Life programme and a former assistant lecturer in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Zimbabwe. Mwapangira has worked on various theatrical productions that address gender imbalances that include The Sun Will Rise Again, Master Harold and the Boys (July 2016), In Her Shadow (2015), Ibsen’s Miss Julie (2012) and Nyaradzo: The Spirit of Nehanda(2011). Mwapangira is assisted by Tafadzwa Hananda, two time NAMA nominee and 1 time NAMA award winner for Best Actor. Melody Chiza makes her Theatre In The Park debut as Martha. She has worked with Media Chama Theatre Productions and is currently working with Tsimba Arts under Patrick Tembo. Her co-star is Lucky Mpofu who makes his third Theatre In The Park appearance after staring in The Sun Will Rise Again and Furgard’sMaster Harold and the Boys (2016). Borrowed Parts opens its doors at the Harare gardens venue on the 23rd of November and will run until the 25th.