Though packed with humour, Red Handed, a comedy play by Heartstrings Entertainment, explores the themes of troubled marriages, infidelity, financial pressure, emotional neglect, pretensions, and consequences of dishonesty.
The play is staged on April 30, May 2 and May 3 at the Alliance Française Nairobi.
The production is depicted through a dual timeline staging where the same set shows events from different times. It achieves this with the use of two separate dinner parties hosted by two different couples on different nights, both happening simultaneously on the same stage.
Mary (Fatuma Nicholas) and William (Kelvin Jeff) sit with Fiona, in one dinner sit at the same table as Mary and William sit with Teresa in the other dinner, though they are not actually together in the story. Their conversations overlap and contradict each other, with lies told in one timeline hilariously expose truths in another.
“It is a highly choreographed comedy of deception, where two different worlds occupy the same space and the humour comes from the audience seeing what the characters cannot,” director Sammy Mwangi says.
The play revolves around three couples: The Franks, the Bobs, and the Williamses. Frank (Mitch) is secretly involved with Teresa (Jayne Njambi) and, in an attempt to cover up the affair, drags the innocent Bob (Richie Ndege) into a growing pack of lies.
The Bobs are tense, suspicious and constantly arguing, while the Williamses are uptight and socially proper.
Ndege describes Bob as a good husband, a great father and a hard worker who also loves his coffee and beer. But beneath that image he is a troubled man searching for peace, love, money and appreciation.
Bob blames the chaos at home for pushing him to seek comfort elsewhere, even though he is responsible for his own choices.
“He represents many middle-class men who want stability and freedom at the same time. He wants to eat his cake and have it too,” Ndege says.
He adds that Bob is suspicious because he himself is at fault and deals with pressure through drinking and creating issues with his wife. Despite his flaws, he sells coffee and intimate wear in the office to earn extra money for his family.
Still, he never truly changes.
“Nothing can save him. He is in too deep with his habits,” he says.
Njambi, says her character Teresa, has her story centred on themes of victimhood, power imbalance and unfulfilled desire, with her ambition to become a writer revealing need for identity and growth separate of domestic life. Through her, the play represents how women’s desires and aspirations are limited by social expectations.
Teresa sacrificed her career to care for her child while her husband pursued freedom and became unfaithful. As a result, she feels ignored and emotionally suppressed in her marriage.
Her relationship with Frank begins as something undefined, open and slightly imbalanced but slowly reveals deep emotional complexity.
She is not in love with him but loves the understanding and validation he offers. He fills emotional gaps left in her marriage and reflects her longing for recognition and self-worth.
Angel Kioko, who plays Fiona, sees her character very differently. She describes her as a woman who already has freedom, a job and a good life but still chooses betrayal.
She cheats casually and feels no remorse, and she also feels powerful, for she knows Frank is a good man who is unlikely to leave her easily.
“Fiona shows how people destroy trust and loyalty while chasing illusions that only create stress, chaos and uncertainty,” Kioko explains.