A formidable stage actor in his own right, Lucian Masmati directs debut
playwright Zodwa Nyoni’s Boi Boi is Dead, a play about long brewing family
tensions that are brought to a boil after the funeral of the eponymous character
Boi Boi in Zimbabwe. His ex-wife Stella (Lynette Clark) returns from Pretoria,
South Africa days after the funeral presumably to pay her final respects. Boi Boi’s
brother has also returned from England to bury his brother and take with him his
niece who has been brought up by Boi Boi’s lover Miriam (Angela Wyntner), whose
son from a previous relationship, Petu, is an ambitious hustler with plans to own a
billion dollar company. Ezra is at loggerheads with Petu for what to him are his
errant ways.
Family members returning home because of a shared grief (or celebration) is a
familiar story whose tropes have been well mapped out on screen and stage. For
it to be refreshing a significant amount of re-jigging will have to be done which is
not the case here. Tracing the tendrils of plot and character arcs requires little
brain work. The woman leading a wild life turns out to have redeeming qualities
and the wholesome one might not be the model woman she appears to be. In this
manner it is a well-behaved play, uninterested in upending consolidated narrative
forms.
Wynter and Clarke in Boi Boi is Dead
Wynter and Clarke in Boi Boi is Dead
There are some directorial choices that are bafflingly poor. Scenes involving
dining have the actors mime eating from empty plates. This is what you expect
from a rehearsed reading and not a publicised professional production with a
press night. There is also a significant age discrepancy. Miriam and Stella are
portrayed as women knocking down the door of middle age while Boi Boi, the
person with whom both have long been romantically involved, looks like he is only
now peeking into his 30s. A better decision would be to leave Boi Boi off stage for
his looming absence would be more effective than his distracting presence.What holds the play up is an inventiveness of stage design which invokes the
beauty of Zimbabwe at sundown and strong performances from some of the more
experienced actors. Clark’s hard drinking, carefree living ex-wife Stella dials up
her performance to near pantomime levels. This deliberate exaggeration becomes
a source of joy all through even though it looks like a she has just walked in from
a different play where restraint is not a watchword. Andrew French plays Petu
with just the right amount of steeliness and there is a wounded dignity to Angela
Wynter’s Miriam. The decision to have Debbie Korley’s aspiring singer Una belt out
a song would have been a set piece had her voice not been merely good and not
exceptional.