BY AGATHA CHUMA
ECONOMIC Justice for Women Project (EJWP) has said its recently premiered theatre series titled Zviriko/Zikhona was inspired by the ills faced by women in society.
This series was produced under the project titled, Building Women’s Agency and Participation on the Allocation, Use and Distribution of Public Resources towards Gender Responsive Finance and Economic Governance.
In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style, EJWP director Margaret Mutsamvi said women’s stories were seldom told as they were and when told they were often not believed.
“Women’s daily struggles and their attempts to fight repression are somehow not presented to society, therefore, we need to be aware of the drivers of their motivation to keep pushing back and why they have to,” she said.
“In this series, through the life story of a young woman, Mai Mbali, we seek to reveal these hidden struggles to remind each other that women’s struggles are everyone’s struggles.”
Mutsamvi said through the series, they sought to show the nation the power of theatre in breaking down complex issues.
“Modern-day wrestles are now centred on the economy, how national resources are collected, distributed and administered and how that relates to ordinary suffering citizens, particularly women.
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“This is a tale of how socio-economic issues affect our lives and is a call for all to join in this battle and shun normalising the abnormal,” she said.
“To make this series a success we partnered with Savana Trust, an arts organisation, and it engaged with some famous actors of our time who include Dalma Chiwerema (lead actress) and Teddy Mangawa. Other actors include Ronald Sigeca, Cadrick Msongelwa and Kuziwa Mapfinya.”
Mutsamvi said the series cast included the community and EJWP members.
“Traditionally, we prefer community theatres which involve members of the community, but now they are not feasible due to COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
“This is our first trial of an online production and the series shall be running every Tuesday at 1230hrs on our Facebook page.”
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