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Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
SIYAYA Arts celebrated their 25th anniversary in style on Wednesday night with their theatrical play — Zambezi Express that lived up to its billing as the performances kept the full house at the Bulawayo Theatre on the edge of their seats.

The play, which premiered five years ago, was restored and brought back to the venue as part of the group’s anniversary celebrations.

It will run until next week Saturday with some of the days already sold out.

Siyaya Arts director Saimon Mambazo Phiri said he was delighted with the level of support that Zambezi Express received during the weeks leading up to the opening night. He said he was confident they would surpass the 2010 box office sales which raked in $14,000.

The play is about Mzilikazi, played by Makhula Moyo, a boy from a small shanty township whose ambition is to be a famous football player in the big city.

The narrative throughout Zambezi Express reflects social issues such as Mzilikazi’s dream, which resonates with many young footballers growing up in the dusty streets of townships.

Makhula brought out this narrative brilliantly with his stage performance and looked and acted like a budding talented footballer.

Just like an action packed football match, the play is 90 minutes long with a 15-minute break.

Zambezi Express illustrates the push and pull factors that influence the youth to leave their hometowns. The Zambezi Express took the audience on a journey of music and dance that fused contemporary pantsula dance and traditional dances such as ingquzu and isitshikitsha.

Heavy drumming is the mainstay of the entire production as the drummers are unrelenting from the beginning to the end of the play.

Issues such as poverty and a search for greener pastures are brought out by the play as Mzilikazi lives in a shanty town and the only opportunity to have a brighter future is to leave the town using the Zambezi Express train. When the Zambezi Express train arrives, it becomes the connection between modern life and township life — the gateway to prosperity out of abject poverty.

Mzilikazi’s father, played by Ishamael Muvhingi, is at first sceptical about his dream until he reads a newspaper that there are trials for football players in the big city.

He encourages his son to go to the big city using the Zambezi Express but Mzilikazi’s grandmother has other ideas and says he will not make it as his brothers had gone to the big city and had nothing to show for it.

When the train arrives in the shanty town, life begins with male dancers clad in work-suits doing the gumboot dance, much to the delight of the crowd.

When Mzilikazi arrives in the big city, he is immediately exposed to the harsh conditions and characters that it has. He is robbed of his most treasured assets, his soccer ball and lucky charm — a Nyaminyami necklace given to him by his grandmother. He is also beaten by thugs led by Skara because he is new.

Again, the production depicts what happens to most people when they leave their townships and head for the big city where they endure untold suffering and hardships. At one point Mzilikazi wants to give up but perseveres until he recovers his assets. He also makes the grade at the Big City Chiefs Football Club where he scores a vital penalty to win the team the African Club Cup.

The story ends when Mzilikazi marries his girlfriend, played by Nomashawekazi Damasane, whom he had left behind to pursue his career in the big city.

The audience at the Bulawayo Theatre occasionally sang while others clapped for the dancers who were clad in colourful attire.