“Emetalishalehu beferes berire, yegna sefer bajaj lanchi aymetinm,” this is the first stanza in a song verse sang by a character called Kubaya to his beloved Welela, in the opening of the musical theatre entitled Sefere Godguada .
The play recently launched at Hager Fikir Theatre was jointly organized by Genna Theatre and Multimedia Company. The main character used the aforementioned dramatic song verse to convince his beloved one to pity him easily.
He tries to persuade her making clear that he has no coins to take a tri-wheel taxi to come and visit her; therefore undaunted he shows determination to take a horse to get her.
The playwright of the theatre is Maregn Hailemariam. It is directed by Yohannes Afework. In the theatre, the leading characters Gibda and Yedilawork harbor love to each other but they always pick a fight on trivial issues.
This inclination has a domino effect on the mood of the love birds. Gibida was once thrown to jail. He believes it was ‘unfair justice’ he was dealt for supposedly hurting her. On the other hand, the two assisting actors Dawit Mekuria and Hanna Berhanu play as two lovers disturbed by the quarrelsome nature of their respective teams.
The theatre tries to mirror the prevailing social interaction of the country which is currently experiencing instability due to some disturbance from some quarters.
Hanna Berhanu is a graduate from Addis Ababa University’s Theatrical Art Department. In the theatre, she plays as Welela, a character that suffers a lot from the conflict between her team and her boyfriend’s group. Her lover Kubaya belongs to the other group.
The two suffer a lot from the groups’ conflict as their bickering mates deny them the chance to meet and enjoy their zero time. As such she wants to broker peace so that she could meet her boyfriend freely.
But she fails to do that. Another actor and playwright of the theatre, Maregn Hailemariam plays with the name of Gibda, a character that resorts to fist fighting than ironing out differences to make others accept his thoughts.
He attempts to solve every challenge that way. But finally when the play wraps up in an open-ended format, he gets back into the right track and becomes disciplined.
A judge sentences him to two years in jail for a sexual harassment which he never commits. Because of this wrong decision he is made to suffer a lot. The character carries across the message anyone who believes in exercising force to meet ends will not be successful in life matters.
The play is the first opportunity to Maregn for professional acting after he graduated from Wolkite University years ago. As to him, the theatre is the first musical theatre performed on stage after five years. He has been acting in various theatres while he was in campus. But it is for the first time, he partook in professional acting.
“It is encouraging to observe the audiences’ appreciation. And we will do all we can make the theatre more lively and fruitful by collecting and applying useful feedback we can get.” By the same token, comedian Wondesen Awraris and Artist Mahtme Haile act as Muaz and Gash Firde respectively .The former as a guard and the latter a tailor man that have wisdom in pacifying the disputes between the two teams.
Both characters tend to broker peace between the two disturbing teams so as to ensure peace. Innocence is read from Muaz’s character as he often desires a peaceful means to do his job. When certain violence happens, Muaz prefers to convince via wisdom than meet ends by power contrary to the leading character Gibida.
“I play as a peace ambassador in the play symbolizing a wise man that always solves conflicts by mentioning unifying values among the opposing groups in instances when people try to use power than negotiation in order to ensure their rights.
The audience’s response is inspiring to us. The theatre teaches ways how to handle the current instability and ensure the country’s peace, “he noted. In the launching ceremony, Daniel Mekonnen from Wolkite University Theatrical Art Department stated: “It is gratifying for teachers of the university to see their effort is bearing fruits through their students who proved capable of bringing an inspiring theatre to stage.
For a teacher of theatrical art like myself the feeling of observing the best performance of the crew of Sefere Godguada theatre is tantamount to the one when a father kisses his newborn baby.”
As to him, most of the theatre crews hailed from Wolkite University which encourages the University to churn out more competent professionals to the theatrical industry.
Senior and amateur artists including Mahteme Haile, Wendosen Awraris, Maregn Hailemariam, Yohannes Afework, Dawit Mekuriya, Manaytosh Abebe and Tigist Solomon play with the best of their ability in their challenging performance in the theatre which is staged every Wednesday at Hager Fikir theatre house.
Herald March 24/2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
