After years away from theatre, seasoned actors Celestine Gachuhi and Mwikali Mary make their return in Of Cords and Discord. The two-hander drama thriller is showing from November 14 to 16 at Braeburn Theatre, Gitanga Road.
The title of the play dives into the duality of familial relations through the portrayal of two sisters. The cords represent the umbilical and familial bonds and the love and kinship between the sisters.
The discord is manifested as jealousy, betrayal, rivalry, favouritism, uncomfortable truths, and grief between them. The title is also an ode to musical chords, as one of the sisters is married to a celebrity musician, and she faces the public scandals that come with fame.
Gachuhi plays Joan, a visual artist, and Mwikali plays Jane, who was adopted after Joan’s brother died mysteriously. Jane is a woman dealing with betrayal and resentment for watching Joan being favoured at her expense.
The two meet, and what begins as a warm reunion between them quickly becomes an unsettling, slow-burn thriller that unfolds. While the two help each other, there are unresolved issues that Joan isn’t ready to face; she wants to move on, but Jane wants to deal with what’s hidden.
“My character was treated like a second-class citizen at home and felt left out while Joan got the best of everything,” Mwikali explains.
The depiction of tension between the two sisters contradicts with their on-stage chemistry, as Gachuhi gives Mwikali the credit of helping her to feed off her energy as they act. On the other hand, Mwikali feels that her character has expanded her expertise as an actor and deepened her understanding of human emotions.
“My character taps into a side of me that wants to fight back, to seek revenge, and to let it all out,” Mwikali says.
Reflecting on her return to the stage, Gachuhi admits, that she has done set books and theatre shows before, but she has good jitters because it has been ten years off the stage.
“I’m excited to have fun on stage again and see how it all unfolds,” Gachuhi says.
Playwright and director Martin Kigondu is the mastermind behind this production. The inspiration for Of Cords and Discord came after staging Matchstick Men, a psychodrama play about men, and people asked him why he hadn’t written something similar for women.
“I realised how few plays centred on women in combat there were in Kenya. Therefore, I decided to dedicate 2018 to writing female-centric plays,” he says.
Even when some of the choices are triggered by men, he wanted the world in Of Cords and Discord to only physically bring women into the space. Kigondu also notes that he doesn’t write just for the sake of it. As a playwright, he has taught himself to let the story find him.
When writing, Kigondu pushes the director in me far away and avoids worrying about budget, stage dynamics, and logistics. He wants to tell the best story possible.
Once the script is done, he wears the director’s hat and treats it as something new. When it came to directing Of Cords and Discord, Kigondu made choices like music and silence to enhance the play.
Working with actors Mwikali and Gachuhi has been another highlight. He says that it is a deeply rewarding process to direct the two talented actors.
Kigondu also hopes that the play will open up more space for female-led stories that would be thrillers, action, or even horror, and that male writers realise they can write for women too. He also recognises the challenges that theatre arts are facing, such as ticket sales, audience culture, and the struggle to keep the arts alive, but he also insists on creating works that endure across generations.
“Sometimes this work takes more than it gives; still, we need to grow our culture of legacy playwrights and works that are lasting. Right now, we have so few who can say that,” he says.