Have you Read the Mystical Poetic Play, The Muchwezi, The Flower and The Suitor?
Zziwa Zinabala
By: Zziwa Zinabala
Worth Noting:
- The Muchwezi is a spirit that possesses the Flower; her spirit husband, having demanded that the Flower’s manipulative father, Francis, offers her as his bride in exchange for wealth. He wants to own the love life of the Flower, not wanting her to get close to any man – he pushes away every man that gets close to her! The Muchwezi lusts after the Flower’s body, and is blood thirsty.
- He pointedly says he wants to kill the man who dares to lay hands on his bride, the Flower. The Muchwezi is thus possessive, jealous, lustful, evil and bloodthirsty. Although the Flower’s Admirer declares his love for the Flower, he is turned away almost immediately.
In Uganda, maybe even throughout Africa, there have been a few publications of drama in comparison to other literary genres. However, Zziwa Zinabala beats all odds to have us enjoy this first-of-its-kind poetic play. You just have to get your hands on it to believe what I’m talking about. Let me give you a snippet of The Muchwezi, The Flower and The Suitor. It explores the inter-relationship between modern views of society and traditional cultural beliefs. Zziwa Zinabala incorporates poetic language to bring lovers of both literary mediums together. The play centres on an attractive girl, the Flower, possessed by a spirit, the Muchwezi who haunts her nights. He considers himself her incubus because her father wagered her hand in marriage for wealth. The Flower is no stranger to people falling for her and as of this moment, her Admirer insists on seeing her as often as he can to get her to see him as a potential partner. Ironically, she instead falls for and gets closer to the Suitor. However, The Muchwezi gets in the way of their love, reminding the Flower, every night, that she is his and no one else’s. When the Suitor finds out about the Muchwezi, he in futility tries to free the Flower. Realizing that his life is in danger due to being close to the Flower, he decides to let her go. The Flower is heartbroken, and having had bad experiences with men, especially the man who raped her, she resorts to drinking and smoking. She pushes away the Suitor, who on second thoughts tries to reconnect with her, and accepts her fate of being bound to the Muchwezi.
The title, The Muchwezi, The Flower and The Suitor, is in reference to the intricate link between the three main characters in the play. The Muchwezi believes he is the rightful husband to the Flower yet the Flower wants nothing to do with him and only desires someone who can make her happy like the Suitor; and the Suitor has his eyes set on the Flower but is wary of the threat posed to his life by the Muchwezi. The events of this play are set in modern day Africa and all the main characters are university students who largely interact on social media. The scenes alternate between modern and cultural setting as events unfold.
The Flower is a normal university girl with several admirers. She has had bad relationship experiences making her disenchanted about being in love and it is because of this that she turns away the Admirer. The spirit, the Muchwezi, has made her life difficult; the moment her lovers find out that she is possessed, they leave her. Although everyone acknowledges her being beautiful, a few people seem to know that she is a depressed girl, as shown by interaction in the WhatsApp group. She can occasionally be a nasty person, for instance, she calls the Admirer all kinds of vile embarrassing names. She craves to be rescued from her situation but realizes that maybe she cannot have someone to rescue and love her. She is, generally, portrayed as loving, friendly, but gullible. The Suitor, on the other hand, is a handsome university boy who finds out about the Flower in a WhatsApp group chat. After initial interest from the Flower, he likes and gets close to her. Even after the Flower warning him that he may become disappointed in her, he relentlessly pursues her. He is determined and focused on what he has put to mind. When he finds out about the Muchwezi, he is initially shocked but shows that he wants to be supportive of the Flower, declaring that he will help her by going back home and speaking with his Jjaja, who can speak to the spirits. Therefore, he shows himself to be caring and fearless. He, however, later develops cold feet naturally fearing for his own life. Ironically, he wears a rosary that depicts him in an awkward position with his Jjaja.
The Muchwezi is a spirit that possesses the Flower; her spirit husband, having demanded that the Flower’s manipulative father, Francis, offers her as his bride in exchange for wealth. He wants to own the love life of the Flower, not wanting her to get close to any man – he pushes away every man that gets close to her! The Muchwezi lusts after the Flower’s body, and is blood thirsty. He pointedly says he wants to kill the man who dares to lay hands on his bride, the Flower. The Muchwezi is thus possessive, jealous, lustful, evil and bloodthirsty. Although the Flower’s Admirer declares his love for the Flower, he is turned away almost immediately. He deeply cares for her and is available whenever she needs him, especially when she is sad. He is brave and resilient in that even when he is pitied against the Suitor, who the Flower clearly prefers, he never gives up. However, when he later talks about the washwoman’s buttocks in front of the Flower, he seems to insinuate that he is over the Flower.
The Flower’s roommate, simply named the Roommate, calls a prayer cell group to particularly pray for the Flower. This denotes her concern about the wellbeing of the Flower. She is, however, materialistic and immoral or promiscuous as portrayed in the Flower’s words; …she has gone to sell her goodies to the highest bidder. We might thus conclude that she is hypocritical, a caring friend at times and a gold digger.
In the final analysis, I could say this poetic play is about the intricacies of love, greed, moral decadence and the struggle between Christianity and African traditional beliefs. The Flower is compelled to seek love several times amidst interference from the Muchwezi, and even when she does find a suitable love interest in the Suitor, it proves impossible to stop the interference by the Muchwezi – the Suitor loves the Flower and his feelings are reciprocated and because of this love, he tries to free her from her burden of the Muchwezi. Francis, the Flower’s father, is one of the embodiments of greed in this play; due to his love for money and wealth, he wagers his still-yet-to-be-born daughter’s life as a makeweight – the Muchwezi demands to have his daughter as a bride in exchange for granting his request for wealth. This decision subsequently causes pain and suffering to his daughter, the Flower. In some instances, some characters show interest in others only because they are interested in having sex with them. For instance, Michael pretends to like the Flower in order to get close to her, and then rapes her. After taking his leave, he lustfully remarks: My libido is now quenched and attended to. My desires and ravishing appetite satisfied. To more calmness of coitus hitherto, I am full. The Muchwezi, too, is after the Flower’s body and seeks to have her only for sex and not because he loves her as a person. There is a common theme highlighting the experiences between religion and local beliefs of the characters.
I strongly recommend this play for the lessons and relevance it has to our society, both the old and young generation. For instance, one’s greed consequently leads to the suffering of others as Francis condemns his daughter to a life of misery in exchange for wealth. The play uses the most common method of communication, that is, social media, that resonates with the current mode of communication by the youth and sections of adults. Culture and/or tradition is still part of the modern day ensemble and it is almost impossible to completely isolate the two. Culturally, some characters in the play recognise these spirits even though they are Christians as seen in the cell group members fear to confront the Muchwezi.
You definitely need to read this play. Get yourself a copy at only Ugx. 30,000. Enjoy your read!
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