In a performance that invoked mixed feelings and emotions, a local play 3Sum, left the audience with a lot in their imagination during the 2023 Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo on Friday.
The play, written by veteran theater director, Memory Kumbota and playwright and author, Raisedon Baya, took the audience on a roller coaster of emotions.
3 Sum centres around various dynamics that affect families, making or breaking sibling relationships as well as parent-child relationships.
Qonda, played by Bonakele Ncube, is a troubled girl, who fled home and stayed away for six years after her father raped and impregnated her.
Amahle, played by Lady Tshawe is a girl who stayed at home and took care of her parents, who both later died, with the father succumbing to COVID-19.
As the play unfolds, Qonda unexpectedly returns home, two years after the death of her father.
She has nothing but anger over both her parents because of the sexual assault.
Qonda blames her mother for the abuse she suffered, accusing her of not giving attention to the issues affecting her children. She resents her sister, Amahle, because she was just but a happy child who could not help her in any way.
What riles her the most is that she finds her ex-boyfriend having a relationship with her sister.
Amahle, on the other hand, oblivious to what kept her sister away, holds on to hope and sacrifices her health for the return of her older sister.
The two sisters reconcile at the end of the play, as they both explain to each other, what inspires their attitude towards one another.
Qonda learns that her sister, who is suffering from intestine cancer, sacrificed her health when she refused to sell their parents’ house and get treatment in India because she was hopeful her sister would return.
Out of pain because of her Amahle’s situation, Qondi tells her sister how her father sexually abused her, encouraging her to sell the house and get treatment because the house only has horrific memories of how their father sexually abused her.
The play also stars Mzingaye Ngeyani, who plays Amos the boyfriend and Anita Moyo, who plays Amahle’s conscience.
Speaking to the audience after the play, the cast explained that it (play) explores a lot of dynamics that affect families, and because of their diversity, not all are brought out, but instead leaves some of the issues to the imagination of the audience.
“This play showcases the different family dynamics. As diverse as they are, it does not explore all of them. It thus leaves more to the imagination of the audience,” Lady Tshawe said.
The Intwasa festival started on September 23,2023 and ran until September 30, 2023.
