Prime
Fr Grimes’ legacy lives on in Namasagali alumni comedy
A scene from the play that had the audience in stitches. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The cast seemed well prepared in this take on an everyday Ugandan situation with each of them delivering unique insights.
Except for the month of September of every year, George Musoke, a warden and chauffeur of Mr Dlamini, is best known and referred to as the solemn manager of The Happy Life Hotel.
His acumen is challenged when Mr Dlamini unexpectedly returns to Uganda in pursuit of an old time love, Maria. If Maria trusts nature for once, she could become Lord Blenkinsop’s wife in just a few hours yet if she turns to the heart she could fall back right into the arms of Dlamini. Thus goes the introduction to the play, ‘The Happy Life Hotel.’
‘Hotel’ leaves your ribs cracked in its non-stop eccentricity. It leaves you satisfied yet yearning to have more. Written by Fr. Damien Grimes and directed by Kwezi Kaganda and Muhumuza Bageire, the musical cements the Namasagali old students’ authority on stage craft.
The part of the rich South African entrepreneur, who returns unexpectedly, is played by Roy Ronald Tumwizere, whose Mr Charles Dlamini is very convincing.
Tumwizere is a bittersweet actor who casts his role well. Forget the big tummy, he out-dances his svelte and athletic counterparts especially on that Alain Kounkou “Sekibele” dance finale.
The natural flow of witty Mr George Musoke (Jesse Kakooza) left the crowd in bewilderment. When he turned from an entrepreneur, to a chauffeur to a hotel manager, the audience appreciated his dramatic artillery that emanates from within and slaps the audience with laughing spats.
His hidden feelings for the sprightly tactless Robinah (Maimo Nicole) make one feel mercy for this innocent ignorant maid.
The saucy temptress Ms Lisa Marchmont (Seanice Kacungira) is warningly sexy and romantic as a dancer.
The way she interrupts Mr Dlamini before he completes his statements with “It’s perfect,” made the audience grind their hearty feet, perhaps to indicate that her acting and dancing are perfect.
The love fiddles of the funny Bob Kalulu as the always confused lyrical Henry Benon Kyasanku and the over-the-top local Nansikombi (Pamela Melanie Ayot) make you relinquish the countryside love tales of two cleaners finding their beat of love.
Humourous conquerer
“Cleaner without Portfolio” is the description Kyasanku was to give himself as he tried to wager up his heart to Nansikombi. “If you could just trust me for just a second, who knows we could be having children by now,” the humour Kyasanku delivers. “When it comes to love, I am not a joking subject.”
When energetic Conrad Guyra appeared as a police constable with an arrest warrant for the rich Mzungu Lord Blenkinsop (John Wayne Muganza), it was a comical feat. His police officers were adorably cute and sexy in attire that would make one give in to arrest more than willingly.
The crocodile tears from the beautiful Florence Oteba as the kind soft spoken Ms Maria showed that her feelings for Dlamini were not true and deeply entrenched. The score, which included Dudu by Goodlife and Diana Ross’ It’s my house knotted with the moment.
In ‘Happy Life Hotel,’ comedy unsparingly gets mashed up with dance and parody. The cast is piercingly sharp, roaringly funny. The dancers put up a display of consummate storytelling craftsmanship that is energy in motion. Director Kaganda threads Fr. Grimes’ fast moving script into a neatly tied tapestry.
The giggles and hand claps from the audience are a spasmodic appreciation of sweetness.
‘Hotel’ is one of those romantic ideals that move you into an incalculable foray of outbursts of the finesses of romance, seduction and great merriment.
Proceeds from the play were directed to The Fr. Grimes Foundation.
