First of all, this is a one-woman show and for this, Wakio Mzenge of BTM storytellers brought in Helen Keli who happened to be making her debut back on stage after a two-decades-long break.
We quietly walk into the hissing auditorium to find a well-furnished house with a white curtain of the window to the corner dancing with the crazy wind. It is almost as if it is reacting to the infrequent thunderstorms as well. We settle in, the quiet absorbing us. The stage before us makes a performance of its own.
Then Helen walks in, smartly dressed, and first, she goes on to close the window in the corner, halting the curtain dance and the continuous hissing that we were unconsciously growing accustomed to. She then walks back and into her veranda and then out of sight, leaving us in some brief silence before walking back in with a mop to dry the rainwater that must have seeped into the house. She again walks out into her back room, leaving us in awe of the performance that was silence. She then casually walks back in, this time, in her robe, and into the washroom in the other far corner. We hear the sprays of her shower and the loud drips of the determined beads of water, before she re-emerges, and disappears into her perceived rooms. She then returns, dressed so beautifully with those kitenge pants draped around her black tank top. She pours herself some wine then... we finally hear her for the first time, apart from the not-so-occasional soft groans she'd make while going about her business earlier.
I might have missed some details because yoh! Let me tell you that was a whole lot of performance!
They really had us from the onset. While Helen moves around in her element, we are taking in the depths and layers of her space. Kudos to the set design team. Helen does a marvelous job moving around the stage so naturally(the irony of that statement is art itself ha!), that we, the audience, literally get smoothly absorbed into her experience. And this alone is a testament to the depth of this performance. Not just in the physical sense regarding the layers of the set (the sitting room, the washroom, the veranda, the balcony, her changing room) but also because the performance seems to turn you inside out, somehow. You do not watch with the naked eye but with a third eye. We were not bombarded with a show, but instead, we found ourselves watching a woman walk around her house, being NORMAL. And when she starts to talk, it is almost as if we are infiltrating her intrusive thoughts. Yet again her waters run deep, and now we are following along into the deep end.
So, yeah, the story flows into an acceleration, diving deeper and deeper into more touching and intense topics, and it is in this state that you realize just how deeply we, the audience, are engrossed. While we can not imagine it getting quieter, it gets quietest, pin-drop silence. Helen's infectious smile gets us smiling, and her sadness has us reminiscing. Her words are carefully taken in, as others slip by leaving you wishing to rewind and hear them again. Like when she says that her writing starts with inspiration and the rest is left to the imagination, I wish for an echo so I could master her next words too. We catch the all-so-subtle humour, but even the giggles are hushed. Helen talks with other imaginary characters, opens imaginary doors and we watch, our imagination already ignited to the T.
It is worth mentioning that all of Helen's movements were so intentional, allowing us to tap and lock in on our imagination. The part where she dances with her deceased daughter and makes the signature theatre turn, allowing the "daughter" to take the direction she would have naturally taken while she took the alternative side. That gesture alone lets us visualize the daughter, even though it is a product of our imagination. It is a one-woman show, remember?
Helen also did an excellent job voicing the characters she embodied. She was ingeniously switching voices from dad to child to mother to child again all in splits of a second. Not just that but accents too! Switching them up on a whim.
This exceptional performance goes on to her last words; 'I managed to convince myself to attach to life and not to death.'
And as the lights die down and back on to reality, it is as if you experienced a sentimental and nostalgic reminiscence, and your spirit is filled with light.
It has been three days since I watched 'Elements' at Kenya National Theatre and the light I left with from the performance still glows brightly within me, a testament to the enduring power of a story well told. 'Elements' is a decade-old story, or rather, monologue, by the legendary dramatist John-Sibi Okumu. It was not until the 28th and 30th of October 2024 that we got to watch it again. Thanks to the multi-award-winning theatre actor and director Wakio Mzenge that picked it up, and brought together the distinctive BTM team(Beyond The Mainstream storytellers) that specializes in experimental theatre showcases.
BTM, new as it is, represents the future of theatre. Watch that space.
BTM, thank you for the show!
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