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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewBreakfast with Mugabe
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Peric: Well, as you know, I am an African myself. Born and bred in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe: How fortunate for your race. Even ethnicity becomes a matter for your choosing. |
Joseph Mydell as Robert Mugabe
(Photo: Alessandro Pinna) |
Set in the presidential palace in Harare, Peric waits to see his unusual patient. He meets first Gabriel (Christopher Obi), Mugabe's bodyguard and secret policeman and then Grace Mugabe (Noma Dumezweni), fashion plate and young wife. Grace explains that she and her children are very frightened by her husband's unpredictability and mood swings. During the play Mugabe explains some of his history and political decisions, the events that have made him the kind of man he is today. We learn of his imprisonment and the death of his son from encephalitis while he was in prison. He also tells us about his rivals, one of whom is assumed to be the ngozi, Josiah Tongogara, who was expected to become Zimbabwe's first president but who died in a car accident just before the liberation. Mugabe can conveniently blame the white man for the state of the nation and the ngozi for any show of temper on his part. Peric concentrates on talking about Mugabe's first wife Sally and her role as an idealist. We also see Andrew Peric's individual decline when his family farm is taken over by the "war veterans" and his black wife and workers are killed. The connection with the Mugabes affords him no protection.
There are some obvious metaphors operating in Fraser Grace's play as we look at those gaining and those losing power in those African countries where colonial rule has been replaced by an enforced but shaky democracy and which gives way all too soon to a new kind of undemocratic oligarchy, or even dictatorship. Much of the play sees Peric waiting for the president to keep his appointments but this gives us the opportunity to hear Grace and, to a lesser extent Gabriel's interpretation of the president's behaviour. There are also good comic moments like when Mugabe insists that Peric changes his necktie, which is just a power ploy by Mugabe to gain a psychological advantage. Peric counters with laying down the rules for the patient-doctor exchange. "I will address you by your first name, Robert. You will refer to me as Doctor - or if you prefer Mister Peric." Fraser Grace quite cleverly makes Mugabe explains his rules and avoids vilifying him which gives the play enough balance to stimulate debate.
David Rintoul is perfect as the white man left behind in a world that is changing. His closing scene is full of pain and sadness as, having been beaten up in Harare, he sits alone in his farmhouse. Joseph Mydell captures Mugabe's mannerisms and outbursts but his portrayal is partially sympathetic. Noma Dumezweni is an elegant and intelligent Grace. The palace set has the trappings of expensive furniture, while to the rear a security grille shows the flowering bougainvillaea in the gardens, a reference to the natural beauty of Zimbabwe. Sher's direction is deft and Breakfast with Mugabe shows other playwrights how historical narrative, in this case fictional narrative, can be successfully dramatised.
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BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE
Written by Fraser Grace Directed by Antony Sher Starring: Joseph Mydell, David Rintoul With: Noma Dumezweni, Christopher Obi Design: Colin Richmond Lighting: Wayne Dowdeswell Sound: Martin Slavin Music composed by Chartwell Dutiro Running time: One hour thirty minutes with no interval Box Office: 0870 429 6883 Booking to 22nd May 2006 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge on 12th April 2006 performance at the Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London, W1 (Rail/Tube: Tottenham Court Road) |
