a067  0731  22 Jun 87
PM-Zimbabwe-Theater, Adv 01,0641
$adv01
For Release Wed PMs July 1 or Thereafter
Play about Political Corruption Causes Stir in Zimbabwe
By LAWRENCE BARTLETT
Associated Press Writer
    BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) - A play focusing on corruption among
political leaders and staged by a karate club turned drama group has
become a hit in Zimbabwe, but it has been banned from being performed
abroad.
    A satire titled ''Workshop Negative,'' the play was written by Cont
Mhlanga, 29, a factory worker, black-belt karate expert and
self-taught dramatist.
    It depicts the relationship between two adversaries in Zimbabwe's
seven-year war for independence - one white and one black - who are
exploited by their black employer, who professes to be communist but
is a blatant capitalist.
    Zimbabwe, the former British colony of Rhodesia, won its
independence in 1980 and adopted an avowedly socialist policy under
the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.
    The play, which has won both critical and popular acclaim, is about
''people who preach socialism and practice capitalism,'' Mhlanga said
in an interview.
    The play, however, angered the minister of youth, sport and culture,
David Karimanzira, who said it denigrated socialism and portrayed the
country's political leaders as corrupt.
    His ministry endorsed a decision by the National Arts Foundation,
which originally funded the play, not to allow it to be performed
outside the country.
    ''The play does not depict a true reflection of the political
developments in Zimbawe,'' Karimanzira was quoted as saying in an
interview with the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
    After Karimanzira saw the play and assailed it, the president of the
country, Canaan Banana, cancelled plans to see it.
    John Mapondera, chairman of the National Arts Foundation, told The
Associated Press he banned the play's performance outside Zimbabwe
because it needed improvement in its artistic content. He did not
elaborate.
    Mhlanga said the play is meant to show ''what ordinary factory
workers like me are thinking.''
    ''I am not against the authorities. How can I be attacking socialism
when the play attacks the abuse of socialism?
    ''The trouble is that politicians everywhere like to open their
mouths and close their ears.''
    Mhlanga said he got hooked on acting seven years ago when the karate
class he taught at a community hall was bumped from its space by a
drama workshop.
    ''I didn't know what a drama workshop was, but I had nothing else to
do so I paid 20 cents (12 U.S. cents) and went in,'' he said.
    He started weaving stories about ''good guys and bad guys'' into his
karate lessons and got his class involved, he said.
    A few months later, Mhlanga, the high school-educated son of peasant
workers, wrote his first play.
    ''It had a lot of karate and very little dialogue,'' he said.
    Since then he has written a play a year, performing in the townships
and in the rural areas, sometimes putting on a show under a tree
after beating the drums to announce the show.
    Gradually Mhlanga's plays lost their martial arts bias and in 1985
his play ''Here is the Man'' won five awards, including best original
script, in Zimbabwe's National Theater festival.
    ''My plays were always set in the townships but I felt that
sometimes our drama did not touch the people's lives closely
enough,'' Mhlanga said. ''I listened, and realized politics did
(touch people's lives) - that's how 'Workshop Negative' was born.''
    Mhlanga says audience reaction during the play's national tour was
good.
    However, he still is trying to get permission for his group,
Amakhosi (The Royals), to perform outside the country.
    Restrictions on the play have created ''a very dangerous junction''
for Zimbabwean writers who ''will have to make a choice about who
they are writing for,'' he said.
    But, he added, ''if they throw us in jail, they will find us
performing a play for the prisoners.''
    End Adv Wed PMs July 1
    
 
AP-NY-06-22-87 1018EDT
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