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allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Cry Thinking - New Play Coming Soon (Page 1 of 1)
WHEN a child at Emerald Hill School for the Deaf was asked what it is like knowing that he is different from others, he said:
"Every night I used to cry, thinking that I was the only deaf person in the world."
And this simple but painful answer gave birth to the title of a television play coming soon on ZTV as part of Chipawo's Media Onstage series.
Cry Thinking tells the story in two parallel streams. There is the realistic portrayal of how everyone is so happy when Rumbi is born but then one day her mother discovers that she cannot hear.
This prompts her husband's sisters to blame her and urge him to drive her away. Rumbi is taken to a doctor and to an n'anga but there seems little hope as they all proclaim her incurably deaf. The story goes on to show how she manages to partly transcend her condition and lead, with her family, a more normal life.
In the other stream, the experience is shown not realistically but through mime. Deafness is conceived of as a box. The mimers first discover the box then explore it and try to break out. They see people but the people cannot help them.
Eventually, they find a way out and they try to talk to each other and others but as they are deaf, they find they cannot do this either. Finally, they are taught Sign Language and this gives them the power to communicate with each other but not with the rest of the world, as they cannot speak their language. The play is a powerful argument for the teaching of Sign Language to the hearing.
Of the actors, one of them, the principal mimer, has subsequently become famous. This is Audrey Chakara, who recently represented Zimbabwe in an international deaf beauty competition.
After Cry Thinking, she went on to be a presenter in Chipawo Media's Sign Language television series, "Handspeak".
Cry Thinking was first performed at the Reps Theatre, where it was also filmed for television. It subsequently went to Germany for the 7th World Festival of Children's Theatre, Lingen, in July 2002.
WHEN a child at Emerald Hill School for the Deaf was asked what it is like knowing that he is different from others, he said:
"Every night I used to cry, thinking that I was the only deaf person in the world."
And this simple but painful answer gave birth to the title of a television play coming soon on ZTV as part of Chipawo's Media Onstage series.
Cry Thinking tells the story in two parallel streams. There is the realistic portrayal of how everyone is so happy when Rumbi is born but then one day her mother discovers that she cannot hear.
This prompts her husband's sisters to blame her and urge him to drive her away. Rumbi is taken to a doctor and to an n'anga but there seems little hope as they all proclaim her incurably deaf. The story goes on to show how she manages to partly transcend her condition and lead, with her family, a more normal life.
In the other stream, the experience is shown not realistically but through mime. Deafness is conceived of as a box. The mimers first discover the box then explore it and try to break out. They see people but the people cannot help them.
Eventually, they find a way out and they try to talk to each other and others but as they are deaf, they find they cannot do this either. Finally, they are taught Sign Language and this gives them the power to communicate with each other but not with the rest of the world, as they cannot speak their language. The play is a powerful argument for the teaching of Sign Language to the hearing.
Of the actors, one of them, the principal mimer, has subsequently become famous. This is Audrey Chakara, who recently represented Zimbabwe in an international deaf beauty competition.
After Cry Thinking, she went on to be a presenter in Chipawo Media's Sign Language television series, "Handspeak".
Cry Thinking was first performed at the Reps Theatre, where it was also filmed for television. It subsequently went to Germany for the 7th World Festival of Children's Theatre, Lingen, in July 2002.
