Reviewed by:

• I Will Marry When I Want / Ngaahika Ndeenda by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o and Ngūgī wa Mirii
• Fredrick Mbogo

Perhaps because I Will Marry When I Want is a stage play that carries Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s name, the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi was a flurry of activity in May and October 2022 when it was mounted there. It is a producer’s delight, for anything carrying Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s name is bound to sell. This play, which was first staged in its original Gĩkũyũ-language form as Ngaahika Ndeenda, was co-written with Ngũgĩ wa Mirii in 1976. And no matter how popular it is now, its first performances in the 1970s, carried out under the guise of public rehearsals in the village of Kamĩrĩĩthũ, were a nervous affair, attracting violence from the police and statements of political condemnation for its playwrights and performers. In the end, Ngũgĩ wa Mirii, and later Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, had to flee into exile on account of this work and what it birthed. A glimpse into the meanings of the play is given by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o in Detained (1981) as well as in Decolonising the Mind (1986). It seemed, at the time, that the work was a necessary tool in the conscientization of the people of Kamĩrĩĩthũ, who were beginning to question, like every other Kenyan, the meaning of “independence” thirteen years after it had been formally achieved. Its themes which so irked the government of the day, under President Jomo Kenyatta, included land—a constant problem, which, given the history of the freedom fighters in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (also known as the Mau Mau), came alive in warrior songs and dances. The characters in the play asked whether they fought for independence only to replace the white colonialist with a Black one—who seems to be a sellout.

The staging of I Will Marry When I Want and Ngaahika Ndeenda (the performance was staged in Gĩkũyũ and in English on alternate nights) in May and October 2022 was a spectacle that attracted hordes of viewers. It was entertaining; it had song, dance, movement; there was even the sound of a gunshot; there was color in the costumes and idioms and sayings; and the audience clapped and laughed and was engaged throughout the play. The acting was superb, particularly given the energy required to play characters like Gĩcaamba, as Martin Kigondu showed. Gĩcaamba is a rabble rouser unionist, stirring the minds and hearts of workers towards a revolt against a shoe company that torments its workers by overworking and underpaying them. Martin Kigondu, in playing Gĩcaamba, whose monologues run throughout the play, was able to deliver his words in as evocative a manner as a unionist must. He succeeded in painting the picture of a disturbed mind that captures the imagination of his fellow workers and other villagers who in the end will attack Ahab Kĩoi wa Kinoru, the representative of the new elite that has replaced the white colonialist, and force him to “walk on all fours…and… eat grass…like Nebuchadnezzar” in a triumph for ordinary Kenyans seeking “true” independence and not merely that of “the flag.”

I think the easiest part for Stuart Nash, the director of the play, was the creation of a performance that could delight. The harder part lay in answering the question: how is it possible to watch I Will Marry When I Want from a position of privilege without feeling as though one is eavesdropping on people plotting how to get out of their pain and suffering? Tickets went for 1600 Kenyan shillings, to a public that was largely composed of middle-class Kenyans and wealthy expatriates, not ordinary everyday Kenyans suffering the indignities of poverty as suggested in the play. In other words, any surviving actors from the original production of...

审阅者：

• 我想结婚就结婚 / Ngaahika Ndeenda作者：Ngūgī wa Thiong'o 和 Ngūgī wa Mirii
• 弗雷德里克·姆博戈

也许是因为《我想结婚就结婚》是一部以 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 名字命名的舞台剧，2022 年 5 月和 10 月在内罗毕的肯尼亚国家剧院上演时，引起了一阵骚动。这是生产者的喜悦，因为任何带有 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 名字的东西都一定会畅销。这部剧于 1976 年与 Ngũgĩ wa Mirii 共同创作，首次以其原版 Gĩkũyũ 语言形式《Ngaahika Ndeenda》上演。无论它现在有多受欢迎，它在 1970 年代的首次演出，都是以“Ngaahika Ndeenda”为幌子进行的。 Kamĩrĩĩthũ 村的公开排练是一件紧张的事情，招致了警察的暴力以及对剧作家和表演者的政治谴责。最终，Ngũgĩ wa Mirii 和后来的 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 因这部作品及其诞生而不得不流亡。Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 在《Detained》（1981 年）和《Decolonising the Mind》（1986 年）中对这部剧的含义做了一瞥。当时，这部作品似乎是卡姆鲁斯人民认识的必要工具，他们和其他肯尼亚人一样，在正式实现“独立”十三年后开始质疑“独立”的含义。它的主题让乔莫·肯雅塔总统领导下的当时政府感到非常恼火，其中包括土地问题——这是一个持续存在的问题，考虑到肯尼亚土地和自由军（也称为“毛毛”）中自由战士的历史，这个问题变得生动起来。在战士的歌曲和舞蹈中。剧中的人物问，他们争取独立是否只是为了用黑人殖民主义者取代白人殖民主义者——而黑人似乎是一个出卖者。

2022 年 5 月和 10 月上演的《I Will Marry When I Want》和《Ngaahika Ndeenda》（演出以 Gĩkũyũ 语和英语轮流上演）吸引了大批观众。这很有趣；它有歌声、舞蹈、动作；甚至还有枪声。服饰、成语、俗语都有色彩；观众们鼓掌、大笑，整场演出都很投入。表演非常出色，特别是考虑到扮演像马丁·基贡杜（Martin Kigondu）这样的角色所需的能量。古坎巴是一位煽动性的工会成员，他煽动工人的思想和心灵反抗一家制鞋公司，该公司通过过度工作和过低工资来折磨工人。马丁·基贡杜 (Martin Kigondu) 饰演的古坎巴 (Gĩcaamba) 的独白贯穿全剧，他能够以工会主义者所必须的方式表达自己的话语。他成功地描绘了一幅心烦意乱的画面，抓住了他的工友和其他村民的想象力，他们最终会攻击取代白人殖民主义者的新精英代表亚哈·奎瓦·基诺鲁，并迫使他“四肢行走……并且……吃草……像尼布甲尼撒一样”，这是普通肯尼亚人寻求“真正”独立而不仅仅是“国旗”独立的胜利。

我认为对于这部剧的导演斯图尔特·纳什来说，最简单的部分就是创造出令人愉悦的表演。更难的部分在于回答这个问题：如何才能从一种特权地位观看《我想结婚就结婚》而不感觉好像在偷听人们密谋如何摆脱痛苦和磨难？票价为 1600 肯尼亚先令，观众主要由肯尼亚中产阶级和富有的侨民组成，而不是剧中所暗示的遭受贫困侮辱的普通肯尼亚人。换句话说，原版作品中幸存的演员……