Creative Ideas Arts Consultancy

SECRET OF THE SIREN (2021)

(A SOLO THEATRE PRODUCTION)

Producer/Director/Writer: Nelson Mapako

Performed by: Mildred Nkomo

Technical assistant: Michael Kanyika

Stage Assistant: Bornface Siduli

Visual Art Painting by: Munyaradzi Napoleon Nhananga & Takudzwa Allan Nhananga

Sound/effects by: Willie Gates

Language: English

Running Time: 55 minutes

This project is supported by an ANT Adaptation Fund grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
About the Play
A rushed marriage goes wrong. People have secrets. They have secrets about their origin, past, ethnicity, sexuality among tonnes and tonnes of secrets. Secret of the Siren is a play about a secret. Some would term it a horrible secret. The dire consequence of the secret has been kept a secret until the day you get to see the truth.
Secret of the Siren is an innovative collaborative theatrical production bringing together two of Zimbabwe’s seasoned theatre practitioners, Nelson Mapako and Mildred Nkomo. The production is an adaptation of Nelson Mapako’s short story with a similar title. The story has been adapted into a stage play and is performed by a solo artist Mildred Nkomo and directed by Nelson Mapako.
The production experiments on the fusion of narrative monologues and physical theatre, multi characterization, shadow puppetry, use of visuals as well as other forms of multimedia.
The production seeks to foster collaborations among artists in Zimbabwe while also creating new markets and building new audiences amid the advent of the Novel Corona Virus pandemic (COVID19).
The play premiered in Hwange on 17th & 18th September 2021. before going on a National tour that saw the play being performed at the Bulawayo Theatre at the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulwayo, Gweru Memorial Library, Kwekwe Theatre, Harare's Theatre in the Park, Courthould Theatre in Mutare and The Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo.

The Rehearsals
Rehearsals were done in Hwange at the Lwendulu Village Squash room in August and September before moving to the little Theatre in preparation for the launch and premier.