‘Accidental Death of Democracy’ Revisited

A play which was premiered by Nanzikambe Arts in 2009 titled Accidental Death of Democracy is set to be staged again by some of the actors who starred in the production as well as other actors.

Veteran actor Mphundu Mjumira confirmed the development on Wednesday.

The visitation of the play came in following some changes that have happened on the ground from the day the play was premiered in 2009.

He said actors have a duty to speak for the voiceless hence coming back with Accidental Death of Democracy.

Mjumira and other actors will be staging the play, having also come out with Built on the Sand four months ago.

“It is a play which has an English and Chichewa version because we would also want to take it to the rural areas. There is too much big man syndrome which is killing our society. I am leading the whole project but it is something serious where we want to speak for the voiceless, there are a lot of things that are going wrong and we cannot just seat back and watch, as actors and actresses we need to speak out through plays,” he said.

In a quest to spice up the edited version of the play, the directors, Mjumira and Dipo Katimba with Robert Magasa as the choreographer, said they are also looking at ways of reaching out to parliamentarians with the production.

Mjumira said they want to make sure that no one is left behind as they want their voices to be heard by everyone.

 “We want to make sure that no-one is left out of this production and this is why we would want to take it to Parliament so that our parliamentarians hear what we are talking about. The Big Man syndrome needs to be removed because it is killing our future. In the play, people will meet Mr Nzunga, who suffered because of the system,” Mjumira said.

He said the play has been strengthened with new information adding that Aaron Ngalonde has been doing the scripting and research on current issues.

“We had this play in 2009 where political leaders and civil society organizations’ (CSO) were invited for a debate. This time we want to perform it in Parliament to the newly elected duty bearers. They need to know that the decisions that they make affect the ordinary person,” Mjumira said.

The play is expected to be staged in Blantyre on June 29 and July 3 and then July 4 in Lilongwe. In Mzuzu the play will be performed on July 6 and then July 7 in Karonga before taking it to Parliament.

Apart from Mjumira and Katimba, the play, which has also been revised by Misheck Mzumara, who is a drama lecturer at Mzuzu University, other actors starring in the play include Blessings Suya, Eunice Mhango, Thlupego Chisiza, Magasa, Joshua Bhima, Felistas Kamuloni, Tendai Scander and Deborah Tandani.