Thespian’s passion creates drama vibrancy

By John Kariuki

It wasn’t easy to make fun of a situation through drama in Kenya a few years ago. Then State intolerance of the performance arts was at its height.

Michael Kamunya remembers how government officials routinely read mischief in all forms of artistic expression, from skits to secular music and poetry recitals. Gagging was the order of the day.

One day, Kamunya, who was (and still is) passionate about acting approached the management of a private members club to rent their hall and stage a play. The managers were shocked by his audacity. Only school productions for a few elite institutions ever happened at that theatre.

Undeterred, Kamunya rented a nearby church hall and assembled his team, the Nakuru Playmakers Theatre Youth Group, for rehearsals.

Brave artist

At that time, one needed a licence, which was given by the district commissioner, to perform. Pointedly, at around that time, a performance of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s play Ngaahika Ndenda (I will marry when I want) had been cancelled at gunpoint in Nakuru.

“The DC sent police officers to attend the play rehearsal and inform him about its suitability or otherwise,” says Kamunya.

Finally he got the permit and staged the show. “It was a harmless rendition of Blood Knot by South African playwright Arthur Fulgard but half of the audience was police officers in civilian.

They had come to thwart any attempts of ‘sneaking a loaded line’ in our script,” says Kamunya. Though the show did not get an encore, Kamunya had asserted himself as a brave artiste.

Since then Kamunya’s passion for drama has never faltered in the 17 years that he has been steering the theatre group. And courtesy of him, drama in Nakuru is vibrant although he refuses to claim that honour.

“We owe the renaissance of drama in Nakuru to all the fans that have been attending our shows and the legendary director, Barnabas Kasigwa, who taught me the ropes,” he says.

Kamunya’s path to theatre began while he was at the Mercy Njeri Primary School in Kiamunyi, Nakuru County. He first took the stage when in Standard Six in 1986 when he represented the school in essay writing competitions. A teacher, a Mrs Kariuki, noticed his talent and encouraged him.

“She told me not to falter but soldier on for I was destined to become a broadcaster,” recalls Kamunya.

After secondary school, Kamunya joined the Nairobi Theatre Academy to pursue a course in acting.

acting stints

“It is while here that I rubbed shoulders with theatre personalities Sammy Mwangi of Heartstrings, Edward Waigwa of Riverwood and the late Joni Nderitu,” he says. While in Nairobi, Kamunya had acting stints in Zakale Arts, Mbalamwezi and Theatre Workshop Productions.

“But the competitive Nairobi acting scene did not impress me as everybody was fighting for space,” says Kamunya. He felt that he was not getting into the picture and opted to return to Nakuru in 1995 and revitalise theatre there.

Kamunya says his persistence and patience have paid dividends.

By 2002, the group was staging six shows per year, quite a feat in acting circles. They would stage school setbooks, comedies and local scripts such as David Mulwa’s Redemption, which they performed at all public universities.

Reading from the success of Kamunya’s group, other theatre groups would spring up in Nakuru reaching a peak in 2007.

“I took this competition positively and knew that drama had come of age in Nakuru,” he says. It was time to make yet another major decision. “If I could do theatre in Nakuru, why not in Rongai, my home area?” poses Kamunya.

He got funded to write pieces on HIV and Aids and peace building through drama in Rongai.

Kamunya assembled a team and he has never looked back since. “I am proud to be associated with these outreach programmes in the grassroots and I would like to be remembered for these,” he says.

He is happy that his group, in which he still performs, directs and produces, and has moulded several people who have moved on to successful careers.