BRITISH-TANZANIAN actor Lucian Gabriel Wiina Msamati will this month premier his 2007 play titled Zuva Crumbling at the Reps Theatre in Harare.
The play is being directed by Zimbabwean theatre maker Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi and the production premise includes notable theatre powerhouses such as Charmaine Mujeri, Jasen Mphepo and Tafara Nyatsanza who played Petruchio in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in 2014.
Tinevimbo Chimbetete, who is credited for a performance of Torvald Helmer in the Henrik Ibsen award-winning Zimbabwean adaptation of a Doll’s House is also part of the production.
Mutumbi, in an interview with Standard Style said being part of the play was a dream come true and that he was thrilled to be working with some of the industry’s gurus.
“I am thrilled and excited to be working on this play with the extraordinary team that I have,” he said.
“It is almost surreal, very satisfying and fulfilling.
“It is such a beautiful dream come true because since I first experienced the play 13 years ago, I have always been dreaming of staging it.
“It was always on my bucket list. Doing it this year is so much fun and fulfilling because what we have created is an awesome experience.”
The show alongside matinee shows, will run from July 19-29, 2023 with Msamati virtually gracing the premier.
“Zuva Crumbling; I hope it will make you laugh a bit, cry a bit and reflect a bit on the price we pay to live, love and survive the choices we make in life,” Msamati told Standard Style.
Msamati was born in the United Kingdom to Tanzanian parents and was raised in Zimbabwe where he attended Avondale Primary School, Prince Edward Secondary School and the University of Zimbabwe where he graduated with a degree in Modern Languages (French and Portuguese).
In 1994 he was a founding member of the Zimbabwe's acclaimed Over the Edge Theatre Company, the country's first multi-racial, professional theatre company that toured and performed to great acclaim in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Scotland, England, Germany and The United States between 1994 and 2002.
In 2003 Msamati settled in the UK where over the last 20 years he has become one of the sought-after actors of his generation.
Between 2010 and 2014 he was artistic director of the Tiata Fahodzi — Africans in British Theatre — a prominent British-African theatre company.