The lives of Zimbabwean exiles on stage

OVAL HOUSE THEATRE

Part of the Southern African Season

Full Frontal Theatre presents

QABUKA: Adventures in Exile

Devised by the company. Conceived and Directed by Ben Evans

Oval House Theatre Downstairs

28th June-15th July (Tues-Sat)

7:45pm (except Saturdays 1st & 8th 6pm World-cup-friendly start)

Signed Performances Wednesday 5th & Saturday 8th July

Devised and improvised from the personal stories of over one hundred Zimbabweans-in-exile, Full Frontal Theatre presents a magical and exuberant look at the lives of Zimbabweans living in the UK.

Five actors, a musician and a dancer have carried out interviews with Zimbabweans-in-exile, spanning a dramatic eighteen month period in the life of Britain's Zimbabwean community.

Deeply rooted in the political and personal struggles of those in exile, QABUKA: Adventures in Exile goes beyond verbatim theatre, using highly theatrical methods to embrace the humour, complexity, and beauty of their stories.

"An outstanding piece of theatre" The Zimbabwean

The last four years have seen thousands of people abandon a country in crisis - many fleeing persecution and torture - only to encounter Britain's asylum system. QABUKA is a timely and spontaneous show responding to current and changing events affecting those living in exile. A postcard from the edge which deftly finds the humour in tragedy and the mischief in tribulation.

Full Frontal Theatre celebrates theatre and the connection between actor and audience in live performance. Their work is unforgiving in its critique of the modern world and the plays they choose are often political, controversial and extrordinary. QABUKA director Ben Evans is Director of Full Frontal Theatre and Programmer at Oval House Theatre. He produces innovative work about the lives of diverse communities in London. He was involved in the campaign to stop the British cricket team touring Zimbabwe and with the weekly vigil outside the country's High Commission in London.

Tickets £12 / £6 concessions, (including Refugee Community Organisations)

BOX OFFICE 020 7582 7680 ON-LINE SALES: www.ovalhouse.com
Address: 52-54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW

Transport: Oval Tube (1 min, Northern Line), Vauxhall (15 min, Victoria Line & BR)

Access: Induction Loop. Flat wheelchair access.

Car park for disabled visitors only, on-street parking nearby

Café: Open theatre nights for wines, beers and meals

Notes

Theatre Director, Ben Evans, and Zimbabwean Trade Union activist in exile, Patson Muzuwa, are currently working on a unique theatrical experiment - an exploration of the lives of over one hundred Zimbabweans-in-exile, charting some of the most challenging times for those seeking asylum in the UK.

Over a period of eighteen months, Muzuwa and Evans, accompanied by a company of actors, have carried out one hundred in-depth interviews with Zimbabweans in exile in the UK. The interviews have spanned an eighteen month period which has seen a rapidly deteriorating situation both in Zimbabwe and for Zimbabweans living in the UK.

In Zimbabwe, elections have been rigged, political power has been further centralised, and ZANU PF, the ruling party, have engineered the destruction of opposition strongholds through intimidation and violence. Operation Muramabatsvina, ('Clean up the Trash'), involved forcibly removing hundreds of thousands of urban-dwellers (often more likely to vote for the opposition MDC), and forcing them to return to rural communities, often without hope of jobs or accommodation.

The interviews span an equally turbulent time for Zimbabweans in exile in the UK. Since 2002 well over 12,000 Zimbabweans have claimed asylum in the UK and thousands more have migrated here. In November 2004 the Home Office lifted the ban on the deportation of failed Asylum Seekers back to Zimbabwe, and in the first three months of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans were forcibly removed from the UK.

In June 2005, with the UK government issuing strong condemnations of Robert Mugabe, ninety-seven Zimbabwean asylum seekers, in detention centres across England, went on hunger strike to protest against the increasing number of deportations to Harare. Included in the interviews were four of the hunger strikers, including two of those hospitalised during the protest.