It’s been a while so let me fill you in on what I have been up to. I have spent much of the tail end of March in Malawi, with the RSSPC. Not a charity, although if you want to donate some funds to them I am sure they will be gratefully received. Neither is it anything to do with the RSC, as the injunction clearly states. The Royal Shakespeare Shadow Puppet Collective performs the Bards’ plays via a complex set up of a wall and a table lamp. Oh, the deep feeling of doing something new! The raw emotion of being the first to explore this medium with the greatest playwright the world has ever seen. The embarrassment of Two Gentlemen of Verona where I made a rather convincing but unscripted mallard.
I have to say at this point we were in no way responsible for the civil unrest which seemed to dog our performances; we put this down to a sweeping desire for political change, and nothing to do our actual shows, which were dogged by technical, performance and rioting issues.
The endless chanting of “pothawira iye” and “McPhereson! Duka chotsa mavalo a chimuna” I took to be especially heartening. To think my name is now part of the language in Malawi. I am reliably informed it means “We must give him what he deserves” and many of our security personnel and latterly the army certainly seemed to concur.
My journey to the airport was eventful, as faithful audience members rocked the vehicle, perhaps hoping for one last performance of our epics, although we lacked a suitable torch, and Enrico (head of security) said it was unwise to go out in case they got over excited, and with each wanting to savour a part of me pull me limb from limb.
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