Nairobi theatre’s menu of shows this fortnight

Nairobi theatre is on the upswing both this weekend and next.

Currently, Heartstrings Entertainment is staging Kiss and Tell through Sunday at Alliance Francaise. All I can tell you for sure about the show is that Sammy Mwangi and his crew have once again devised an ingenious comedy that is sure to generate laughter among Heartstrings’ fans.

Sammy directs the production which stars Bernice Nthenge, Adelyn Wairimu and Paul Ogola among others.

Meanwhile, Joan Otieno and her Warembo Wasanii will be performing on Saturday afternoon at the opening of the group’s new home in Korogocho.

Warembo Wasanii specialises in creating amazing plastic fashion out of trash collected by Joan and the young Warembo women.

Then next week from Thursday through Saturday night at Braeburn’s Gitanga Theatre, Ian Mbugua will be one of the eight murder suspects in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

For murder mystery fans, this is a production you won’t want to miss, especially with professional thespian Chloe Dirksen directing an experienced lot of semi-professionals.

It will be a great opportunity to see the longest running play to ever be staged on London’s West End as well as anywhere else in the world. It has been running consecutively since 1952 (the same year the Kenya National Theatre was opened in Nairobi as well as the same year the colonial governor declared a state of Emergency with the intent of quashing the African struggle for Independence.)

Finally, from next Friday, March 6 through Sunday at Alliance Francaise, Back to Basics will stage a spicy new show simply entitled The Debate.

The idea of the play was conceived by B2B founder-mother Mbeki Mwalimu with the actual script written by Nick Ndeda who, in addition to being a popular radio host and experienced actor, has become a proper playwright.

He has been collaborating with Mbeki in writing scripts like Man Moments and Decompressed which was just staged last December.

Ndeda also directs The Debate although he is tight-lipped as to what ‘the debate’ is all about. All that we know is that it’s bound to be a heated and juicy dispute since all four debaters are passionate about their stance on the issue and they let their passions flow.

The Debate itself is apparently a TV show since the Host is a TV personality, played by Mary Mwikali. The four debaters will be played by Gilbert Lukalia, Bilal Mwaura, Wakio Mzenge and Agnes Kola.