Purple Hibiscus: Braeburn transforms Chimamanda Ngozi novel into captivating play

Apart from purple hibiscus being the name of a beautiful flower easily made into a cup of herbal tea, Purple Hibiscus is also the title of the acclaimed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s first novel.

The Purple Hibiscus that we watched last Monday and Tuesday, first at Braeburn Garden Estate, then at Braeburn Gitanga Road, was an ambitious adaptation of this important post-colonial novel by Braeburn Arusha’s Head Teacher and the play’s Dramaturg, Alison Rogers.

Presiding over the school that brought us the hit musical Fela a year ago, Ms Rogers told the BD Life how the school rotates every year between a musical and a play.

“The novel is a set text, so we thought the best way to present the story was by staging it,” she said. “We were in touch with Chimamanda who approved our adaptation,” added the scriptwriter who also teaches English at the Arusha School.

We chose to watch the play twice because we had a problem with sound, and wanted to listen more carefully the second time around. That is how we know the play is a work in progress. Ms Rogers makes no secret of this.

“We like to listen to feedback since it is often helpful and constructive,” she said.

It would seem she heard my silent critique of the first show, which regarded the violence of the fanatic fundamentalist Christian father, Eugene (Bradley Barrett) as excessive. It was extreme and practically overpowered the other events of the play. He had beaten and literally kicked around his wife (Luana Nsengiyumva) and two children, Kambili (Zoe Kiame) and Jaja (Marc Attard) as if they were beanbags. He’d even made his wife miscarry twice.

But the second show was quite different. Eugene was still a fanatical perfectionist who kept a tight grip on his family as if they were dogs on a leash. But he was slightly more restrained. He still kicked them around and got Kambili sent to the hospital. But no miscarriages on stage.

The other feedback that Ms Rogers received and acknowledged after the Monday show had to do with the Nigerian-Biafran War that was raging as a backdrop to the family’s horrific domestic abuse.

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“We need to find a balance between the warfare outside and Eugene’s war with his family inside his home,” she told the BD Life.

That balance was practically achieved during the Tuesday performance at Braeburn Gitanga where the show’s director Miranda Rashid deployed many from the chorus to play soldiers and citizens being clobbered in sync with Eugene beating his wife and children.

In so doing, Rashid and Rogers and musical director Noela Gichuru practically transformed the drama into a musical with fight scenes carefully choreographed by Wini Nkinda and sound effects also having to make swift switches, both musically and clobber-wise.

It was quite a marvel to see the difference, between the two performances.

The one thing that didn’t change was the response of the students who came to watch both days. They applauded and cheered when it was announced that Eugene was dead. However, in the second show, his death was more muted, making the Monday performance more notable.

And in the book, I believe the Mum confesses to her children that she had poisoned him, but when the police show up, Jaja, aiming to protect his mother, claims he did it and goes to jail for four years. On stage, Mum’s deed disappears and the cops take Jaja at his word.

The ending of the play is sadly anticlimactic. Jaja is in jail and Mum and Kambili are there, apparently awaiting his time to be free. Where they’re waiting is intriguing. They’re seated at the feet of his jail cell, a set of mobile bars that are so functional they serve as everything from the seats and wall interiors to jail cells. Spartan yet functional, they enable set changes to be swift, enabling the play’s action to flow without interruption.

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The pivotal moment in the play worked in both shows. It was when Eugene’s sister, Auntie Ifeoma (Faye Treacher) persuaded her brother to allow Kambili and Jaja to come be with her children during the school holidays. That time is a revelation for them as they see another family that is joyful, happy, and fun-loving, unlike their own. It gives them the courage to go forth and start to explore the meaning of hope and freedom.

Ms Rogers did a brilliant adaptation of an impossibly complicated book. Congratulations to her and to all who came from Braeburn Arusha.

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