The price of independence

Stefan Adegbola and Beatriz Romilly in After Independence

Image by Arcola Theatre

May Sumbwanyambe set out to write about people in post-independence Zimbabwe who do not fall easily into categories of ‘good’ or ‘evil’. The result, After Independence, is a gripping clash between a white farming family and a black civil servant trying to right the wrongs of colonial conquest.

Of course, sympathies lie with Charles, sent by the government to persuade the family to sell their farm, proudly and provocatively called Independence. But he’s not offering a good price and though he distances himself from the violent ex-freedom fighters  who are threatening the family (“These are not my people. I am my people.”), he knows the pressure of their presence makes a sale inevitable.

The family itself is divided, between Guy and his wife Kathleen (“This country is changing for the worse. Whether you want to face up to it or not.”), and between Kathleen and daughter Chipo.

Sumbwanyambe’s crisp writing maintains a cracking pace and he pulls off the trick of making the political and moral issues emanate from the characters rather than from a textbook – the personal really is the political here. Only in the final scene does the drama descend into speechifying, with Charles and Chipo trumping a series of arguments by the other.

In order to focus on characters rather than caricatures, the play ignores the broader framework of Robert Mugabe’s white land acquisition programme: to what extent, for example, was the coercion that came to typify it the result of Britain’s failure to honour the Lancaster House Agreement, which paved the way for full independence for the country?

That’s fair enough – the theatre isn’t the place for academic analysis, and Sumbwanyambe does allude to some troubling ramifications of the programme, such as the reduced output on some acquired farms and the downgrading of some of the rights of the white minority: “Mark my words, Charles. That day will come for the blacks too.” The play doesn’t answer these points, because independence is not about efficiency or relative advantages and disadvantages.

It makes for a short (85 minutes), intense, entertaining evening, and is a fascinating companion piece to Les Blancs at the National Theatre, US playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s vision of the fight for independence in an unspecified African country.

Sumbwanyambe – who migrated to Britain with his parents as a boy – is one to watch. Plaudits, too, to the Arcola for continuing its run of quality plays about other countries and issues, and to the Papatango Theatre Company for its role in finding the best and brightest new writing talent in the UK: Sumbwanyambe was the group’s first Resident Playwright.

* After Independence is at the Arcola Theatre, Ashwin Street, E8, until 28 May. Info: 503 1646/ arcolatheatre.com

+ Sumbwanyambe takes politics from the family to the stage