School showcases talent at film and drama extravaganza

Loreto Msongari in the solo verse Galana produced by Magdalene Mbugua to be staged today at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.[Photo: George Orido/ Standard]

Loreto Msongari Girls on Friday it presented an award winning play and film at Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi.

The event dubbed Msongari Film and Drama Extravaganza (Msofide) will showcase what the students performed at the annual Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festival. This follows successful screening of the school’s film at IMAX, Garden City last year.

“This is aimed at moving our plays and films beyond the annual drama festival and expose our girls to the local practitioners in media, film and theatre,” said the school’s Principal Madalene Mbugua.

The play is called Tartan Tatters, by Clifford Ouma, the director behind Daniel Owira – he of Otonglo Time story fame.

Tartan Tatters depicts Diego Siloma (Abigael Nyambura), a renowned marathon athlete, who falls victim to the evil machinations of his educated but crafty wife, Juliana (Thandie Oyucho) and unscrupulous agent, Chemos (Samantha Wanjiru).

Motivated by greed for Siloma’s vast wealth, Juliana and Chemos set out on a mission to bring him down in order to benefit from his downfall.

The fact that Siloma is semi-illiterate makes this evil plan all the more easy to execute. In the end, Siloma is saved by the bravery of his teenage daughter Diana (Molly Muthama), who unearths the conspiracy.

The play depicts the plight of sports personalities who are exploited by people they trust the most, leaving them to wallow in poverty.

The play touches on integrity, financial discipline and doping.

Also in the day’s repertoire will be a short feature film titled Scarred.

In this film fate reunites Kanini (Amy Wanjiku) with her childhood playmates Nimo (Nadya Fahmy), Gakii (Stephanie Gesare) and Makena (Dorcas Njoki).

She hatches a murderous plan to revenge the traumatic experience these girls took her through and it seems no one can stop her. This is the story of untreated trauma and the role it plays in the cases of unrest and indiscipline in secondary schools.

The narrative Mbilikimo Mkora, looks into the life of a girl who contravened school regulations.

When a cheeky girl is suspended from high school for playing a prank on the Deputy Principal, the fear of what her father will do to her leads her into the loving arms of a Good Samaritan, but who had ill intentions.

The Good Samaritan turns out to be her Deputy Principal’s husband.

The story advocates for responsible sexual behavior among teenagers and reminds teachers and parents that sex pests are out there and always ready to pounce on innocent girls.

The solo verse titled Galana depicts a nation at crossroads during elections marred with ethnicity.

Through the symbol of the iconic River Galana, the verse poses the question; Must our ethnic diversity be equated to animosity? Is peaceful co-existence that hard?

Mr Ouma, the drama trainer, said the objective of the extravaganza was to introduce students to the professional world of film and theatre through showcasing plays to the public, which raises awareness of talent in schools