{"id":75133,"date":"2019-03-04T09:06:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T07:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=75133"},"modified":"2019-03-04T09:06:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T07:06:45","slug":"du-chisiza-celebrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/03\/04\/du-chisiza-celebrated\/","title":{"rendered":"Du Chisiza celebrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Banda Jnr & Faith Kamtambe: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
FOR DU\u2014Doreen (right) and Saidi in one of the scenes and (below) Tchumbo and Ngongite (right) play prison warders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of theatre maestro Du Chisiza Jr\u2019s children led by his first born Doreen Chisiza, who is based in United States of America (USA), finally came out to celebrate his life at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The team re-staged his 1994 production De Summer Blow <\/em>about politics and society which was published into a book in 1998.<\/p>\n

Celebrating the life of a man who was born on March 26 1963 and died on February 24 1999, the programme of the show on the night featured several performances including showcasing some clips of his performances that reminded people of Du\u2019s exploits.<\/p>\n

De Summer Blow <\/em>is a story of a brilliant \u2018A\u2019 student played by Kelvin Ngoma, who also starred in Chiwetel Ejiofor\u2019s film, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind<\/em>, from a rich family who is introduced to the world of drugs and alcohol and then gets caught up in a web of conflicting parental love and peer pressure.<\/p>\n

The cast matched Du\u2019s standards, had the energy on stage and blended well. The costumes and props were on point, strengthened with sound.<\/p>\n

Doreen, who played mother, described the show as an extremely beautiful endevour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no pain that I wasn\u2019t happy to experience, it was so stressful at times, but actually in those moments I reminded myself that you want to do this, and you want to do it for your father and this is my only opportunity to honour him in my own capacity and ability to do so,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the show, Doreen introduced to the audience some of her siblings, including Thlupego Chisiza, Khumbata Chisiza, Ngongite Chisiza, Tchumbo Chisiza, Du Chisiza III and Serah Chisiza.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult at the moment for me to continue because I stay very far but if the team would like to continue with the play, I can definitely help and facilitate but I will see how things transpire,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the selection of De Summer Blow <\/em>cast, she said it was easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was easy for us to do since it is already on the book and we didn\u2019t have to go to the archives and I am glad we chose it. People were laughing to the content made 20 years ago and it shows relevance. De Summer Blow is one of those plays that is exciting and we just wanted to do something that was already out there, Du\u2019s plays stood the test of time and we didn\u2019t change the jokes,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She also stressed that the play was challenging for them and that they had to undergo massive rehearsals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrowing me in the mix was tough but having Jeremiah Mwaungulu and Edwin Saidi, who worked with my father, they understood the discipline and professionalism required to go ahead and put up a performance. But the group worked really hard and are such a hard working crew,\u201d Doreen said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next up for them is another performance at Blantyre Cultural Centre on March 10 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so excited to go to my dad\u2019s home, I call it home because it is where my father\u2019s every play and performance started, it will be amazing because I love playing outside and, maybe, memories will come. I actually haven\u2019t been there since my father died,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saidi played Du\u2019s role of grandpa in the play, said it was an honour for him to take a role done by the theatre genius.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminded me of the early Wakhumbata Ensemble Theatre years when I was 18 or 20 years. I starred in a number of plays such as Tatuya Futi and Sir Daniels. I would like to thank the cast for putting this together,\u201d<\/em> Saidi said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The veteran actor, who directed the play alongside Ben Wandawanda, encouraged fans in Blantyre to join them as they celebrate the life of Du Chisiza Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Misheck Mzumara, who played father, said Doreen was serious about celebrating her father\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been fun and, with hard work, we executed a very good show. \u201d<\/em> Mzumara, who is a drama lecturer at Mzuzu University, said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wandawanda, who was the host, said he was proud of the cast<\/p>\n

Reflecting on Du, who he worked with in several productions, Wandawanda said he was exceptionally gifted.<\/p>\n

Musician Kelvin Sings and poet Julius Jules Banda also performed on the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Banda Jnr & Faith Kamtambe: Some of theatre maestro Du Chisiza Jr\u2019s children led by his first born Doreen Chisiza, who is based in United States of America (USA), finally came out to celebrate his life at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe on Saturday. The team re-staged his 1994 production De […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75140,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75133\/revisions\/75140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}