Zimpapers Logo

Stanely Mushava Arts Correspondent —
Philani Amadeus Nyoni’s riotous blend of poetry, theatre, visuals and music entitled “A Diary of Madness” opened this year’s edition of LitFest (International Literature Festival) Harare on Wednesday night.

Restless on the littered stage at Theatre in the Park, the one-madman band’s performance to a largely appreciative crowd was too coordinated for someone deploying madness a method.

Nyoni’s kept the bars dropping, his strong voice blending into a multimedia background including Lovemore Majaivana’s “Esambheni Sepholisa,” Buddy Guy’s “Long Way from Home” and short films by his Naughty by Nature label.

“Madness is an interesting gospel. I chose this because madness is a vehicle you can use to get away with a lot of truths,” Nyoni said in an interview.

The 27-year old poet is not only in character with the Shakespearean fool who can pull the king’s beard and brings servant murmurings to court in the name of jest.

This year, he beat Shakespeare at his own game with his book, “Mars His Sword” which contains 308 sonnets compared to Shakespeare’s lifetime collection of 154.

He is the Nama-winning author of “Once a Lover Twice a Fool” and collaborated with literary notable John Eppel in “Hewn from the Rock.”

However, if any stunts were needed for the madness motif in this latest production to stand up, Nyoni’s inordinate taste for controversy passed him for a stark-raving lunatic on steroids.

The unsettling, provocative, genre-straddling omnibus sequenced pieces including “The Fall,” “The Muse,” “Fearless,” “Not Death” and “Jane the Ghost” exploring themes such as religion, sex, HIV, identity, love and politics, mostly from the devil’s end.

One might come to the performance expecting hints of “Diary of a Madman,” the “Mindblast” journal, “Dream of a Queer Fellow,” or the mild Shakespearean fool but Nyoni brain works have a peculiar temperature.

In character with lunacy, Nyoni pulled a bemused beauty out of the audience, seated her on the stage and fastened on her, like Hamlet raving for Ophelia, with a love sonnet before concluding with a marriage proposal to which she muttered something inaudible, evidently under his poetic spell.

“Jane the Ghost,” featuring “Wamuhle” singer Donna Ncube is based on a Bulawayo myth about a ghost prostitute whose clients wake up on the roadside.

The ghost apparently infected the madman with HIV and put him out of favour with his new-found onstage muse but he pursued her with another love sonnet called “Not Death.”

“A Diary of Madness” was produced and directed by Thabani Hilary Moyo.

LitFest director Chirikure Chirikure opened the four-day festival with a word of gratitude to partners including Culture Fund, UZ, Great Zimbabwe University and the newly resuscitated Pen International (Zimbabwe).

Chirikure said the festival is running without institutional funding, powered by the voluntarily services of organisers Elizabeth Muchemwa, Robson Shoes Lambada, Robert Mutsindiri and Rudo Chakanyuka, even as she nurses a three-week old baby, and in-kind partnerships by local creative, academic and cultural individuals and institutions.

“One thing we have learnt is the power of local partnerships,” Chirikure said.

Events lined up include “Mhamba, Sex and Religion” performed by Chirikure, Albert Nyathi, Memory Chirere and Charlene Mangweni Blackpearl, “Morality, Taboos and Ethics” presented by GZU vice chancellor Prof Rungano Zvobgo and “Classic Words” performed by Amakhosi Productions.