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Finally, Mekuanent's younger brother convinces him
that implementing the recommendations of the study
should start from their own house. This leads to
training Gete to become the lead actor's wife,
replacing his ex-wife, Tafach, who appears in short
flashback and is played by Shewit Kebede. Tafach
left him when she ran off to the US with another
man. Yared takes the initiative to coach Gete, and
make her act modern and look more like Tafach so his
brother can wed her.
The two brothers, who already requested their mother
to give them a total of 800,000 Br to fund the
implementation their separate projects, face
difficulties in translating their studies into
reality. The mother had promised them the funding.
The play shows how the two fail and struggle to get
the money their mother promised, which, in the end,
lands in Gete's hands. The release of the 800,000 Br
from the mother brings Tafach back to Mekuanent's
life. Nevertheless, Menen believes that her two sons
have failed to practically put what was written in
the research paper into action.
Not certain of her son's stances, she starts to
advocate the idea of involving women in their own
affairs.
For instance, although Mekuanent preaches the issue
of women, he fails to practically prove that he
believes in bringing the recommended changes. The
mother's sudden change of mind and her decision to
give the money to Gete, who is in love with Yared,
causes the brothers to lose their mates. The theatre
piece ends with a wealthy Gete.
The slightly over half full audience in the hall
burst into laughter more than a dozen times as they
watched the five scenes of satire comedy unfold
before them; its theme was making fun of a social
problem. The geeky actions of Mekuanent, the
so-want-to-be-Tafach acts by Gete, and Yared's
reaction to Gete's love queries are incidents funny
enough to provoke laughter.
Critics who attended the review and comment session
at the end said that the theme was not only a social
one, but had a political edge as well. They support
their criticism with Menen's assertion that women
are not included in matters that actually are meant
to address their own issues and problems.
In the play, for instance, Gete was told to go into
the kitchen to make coffee, while in the living
room, the family discussed an issue that directly
concerned her and other women like her.
The production of the play, which the producers say
took more than two years and cost close to 40,000
Br, had rehearsal hiccups here and there that
spanned a little more than nine months of the total
duration. These problems are mainly attributed to
the shortage of suitable places for practicing, and
the dropouts by some actors.
"Theatre is something which can be developed through
time with such criticisms," Mickey Tesfaye, the
play's writer, producer and main character, told
Fortune.
The problems with the play tempo were raised by
Gedion, a young artist who took part in a new
Amharic movie entitled Desdemona, whose original
idea was taken from one of Shakespeare's works,
Othello.
"It breaks into pieces when you come to the tempo,"
Gedion commented. "I noticed the play flow breaks in
between."
The other young critic, Andualem, admired the fact
that the plot developed from an unexpected point of
view.
"It is not sort of like a protagonist and antagonist
play; it is a bit different from what I know," he
said.
The play's writer has picked on someone that is in
everyone's house, but nobody bothers to pay
attention to, according to Andualem.
The overall opening ceremony was a success for
Mickey, who thought it was a bit early to bring the
play out for showing. Even so, he is still
optimistic that the play can be developed through
time and more practice on stage.
"There were some who misunderstood the concept of
the play, and did not get the answers for all the
questions they had in the development of the story,"
he told Fortune. "It is partly because there were
mistakes from our part, like sound and tempo
problems."
The new play will be staged on Tuesdays at the
National Theatre at 5:00pm. |
