Come Freedom Come

Attacking cultural context for its contribution for big-man syndrome .-a compelling contemporary story of an opposition MP under siege at his house on the day of tabling an important bill in parliament. As confidence deteriorates in the MP's motives, the MP himself comes under enormous pressure from an all-powerful 'icon' figure. The performance style draws upon traditional Nyau and Gule Wamkulu rituals and song, and used painted faces and stylised performance to create anightmare vision.

"Most Malawian members of parliament HAVE NO FREEDOM from political party leaders who are in most cases not members of their constituencies. In addition to that, we, the people of poor countries in the third world, have no freedom to put in place our own indigenous development plans because we must follow what the International Monetary Fund says or else there would be no aid. "

Smith Likongwe

As part of our research for the production's style and cultural context, we were privileged enough to be taken into the secret world of a Gule Wamkulu practitioner, who shared the meaning behind the rituals, and the different masks, with us.