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Jasen Mphepo

Godwin Muzari : Memory Lane

Actor Jasen Mphepo’s role as hilarious Marcelino in yesteryear local sitcom “Waiters” earned him immense popularity and many still refer to him with that screen name. Working in the kitchen of a popular restaurant “Marcelino”, who spoke with a Malawian accent and often fused his statements with Chewa words, was a marvel to watch and his acts enhanced the humour of the comedy.With a talented cast of the likes of Eyara Mathazia, Wilson Dylan Max, Bart Wolfe and Walter Muparutsa (later replaced by equally-talented Mackay Tickeys), the comedy that was produced by Rooftop Promotions made a mark on local television.

Mphepo, who is now director of arts production house Patsimeredu Edutainment Trust, says “Waiters” was a springboard for his career as it opened many other doors that he has gone through in his colourful acting career.

This week Mphepo went down memory lane, revisiting the excitements at “Waiters” and talking at length about his career.

He said his most exciting episode at “Waiters” came when musician Oliver Mtukudzi made a guest appearance on set.

In the episode, Marcelino emerged from the kitchen and recognised the musician in the restaurant and his antics began. Marcelino was so excited and danced around praising Mtukudzi and telling him how happy he was to see him.

Everything was done in a comic way that left viewers in stitches and Marcelino was leading in providing the fun. He sang Mtukudzi’s song “Hear me Lord” in a comic way, making the episode one of the most fascinating sects of the comedy.

“I was personally excited to interact closely with Mtukudzi for the first and I also wanted to show that excitement in Marcelino, so it was a double excitement and it became really hilarious,” Mphepo recalled.

“There was more fun beyond what people eventually saw on screen because Mtukudzi could not contain his laughter on set and we ended up doing numerous re-takes to come up with the episode. Mtukudzi was not used to the humour that surrounded him in the restaurant and I think we made acting difficult for him that day. He had to put extra effort to portray a serious guest in the restaurant.”

Mphepo said every moment on set at “Waiters” was a time of fun, which made the working environment exciting and made the cast a happy family with director Daves Guzha making sure they came up with a good production from that light setting.

The other memorable “Waiters” episode came after the national football team had just won an international match and the song “Go Warriors Go” became a hit. Marcelino turned the song for his personal praise and changed the lyrics in a humorous way. He would just throw such unexpected acts, which kept “Waiters” lively.

Mphepo said he enjoyed the last episode of “Waiters” the most, making its ending a climax. The closing episode was celebratory and a jukebox was brought into the restaurant.

Marcelino showed his love for music in an amusing way. He kissed and hugged the jukebox. He called it ‘juku bhokisi’ and made sure no one else came near it. He wanted to be the only selector in the house and Mphepo laughs at how he acted that day, which became the last appearance of the first run of “Waiters” on ZTV.

The comedy also went on to theatre stage and was shown on many other platforms and many comedy lovers concur it is one of the best comic productions to be done locally.

Mphepo is happy to have been involved with the successful production that made him popular, despite getting the Marcelino role accidentally.

“I got the role by accident. I used to go to Rooftop Promotions offices regularly to visit Muparutsa. They knew I was an actor but I was not in their plans for ‘Waiters’. The person who was supposed to do the role pulled out and I was told to try it out. I auditioned and impressed the team and that was the beginning of my journey to limelight.”

On a lighter note, Mphepo said he bought a commuter omnibus with the salary he got for the “Waiters” role.

“I wanted to be a businessman doing acting as a hobby, but it did not work out. The ‘kombi’ I bought was not in a perfect condition and I did not make much from it because I spent more time under it than inside.”

Before “Waiters” Mphepo had done a number of theatre productions with the group Together as One that specialised in community theatre before he founded an orgnaisation called Singers, Poets, Actors and Dancers Amalgamated (SPADA) that was based in his neighbourhood in Highfield.

He returned to SPADA after the “Waiters” production and continued with community arts until he formed Patsimeredu Edutainment Trust that specialises in productions based on sexual and reproductive health themes.

Patsime has a project called Buddies for Love that works with 120 schools countrywide. The Trust educates youths on various topical issues through theatre.

The organisation also does films for edutainment and entertainment in general and has so far done productions like “Pfuma”, “Suburb D”, “Paradzai” “New Dawn”, “Mudiwa”, “Decorder” and “The Funeral” that was released last week.

At Patsime, Mphepo directs productions, but he has continued on his acting role outside the organisation, which has seen him having roles in theatre productions like “Super Patriots and Morons”, “Prisoner XYZ”, “Ghetto Buddies”, “10 Years From Now” and “A Thousand Miles” that he staged at Theatre in the Park recently as a one-man act.

Mphepo started acting after high school and says he never thought he would venture into the arts industry because he was a shy guy at school.

“I did plays when I was in primary school and I never had anything to do with acting when I was at secondary level because at that stage I was reserved. I think coming from a poor background drained my confidence and I never participated in club activities. We had our group of pupils ‘from the poor side’ and we had our own interests away from club activities.”