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Nanzikambe zeroes in on sex work

Katimba and Misheck Mzumara in a Romeo and Juliet
Katimba and Misheck Mzumara in a Romeo and Juliet

All eyes and lights will be on the intricacies of sex work when The Secret of Uspremieres at Nanzikambe Arts Café on Saturday evening.

According to a press statement from Nanzikambe Arts, the play, co-written and co-directed by Dipo Katimba and Effie Makepeace, will be curtain-raised by South Korean Jess Park.

When it springs to life around 6.30pm on the D-day, the play will take Malawians into the underworld of the oldest trade which is not only associated with the country’s nightlife culture and dark corners but also  a flurry of religious and cultural myths.

However, the play—starring Katimba, Maureen Mathala, Flora Suya, Mphundu Mjumira and Denzel Mathala—gives a glimpse into the untold stories about lives of Malawi’s sex workers. Three women dance, drink and make money in a bar in a rural setting.  What brought them there? How do they live? Are they innocent victims or successful businesswomen?

“The play has been presented at the Women Playwrights International Conference in Stockholm, Sweden and is in the process of being published in a collection of female African playwrights,” says the statement.

According to its website, the playwrights’ conference themed ‘Democratic Stage’ will strive to give women a voice often suppressed in a male-dominated world and build bridges between people from different parts of the world.

Its itinerary shows Makepiece will discuss the Malawian playwright and the environment she works in when the play takes its slot at the cultural exchange themed “the democratic stage”.

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