Qabuka
Oval House Theatre, London

Ursula Strauss
posted 5 July 2006

Qabuka is a play about Zimbabweans living in the UK, and is an intriguing combination of fact (the company interviewed over a hundred ex-Zimbabweans), fiction and pure satire. The play follows the stories of several immigrants, the gay hairdresser, the white farmer, the shebeen queen, emigrants of mixed race and the political refugees. Some embrace the diversity of England and the charity shops. For others it engenders a painful nostalgia.

These tales are interspersed with an almost wordless tale of torture, attempted escape and failed asylum. The production is full of energy and inventiveness. Where it is less successful is in the emotional tone, which becomes increasingly jumbled as the show goes on. Indeed, dance rhythms become those of torture and dance becomes pain. These confusing emotions may well be indicative of a state of exile; however they do not allow some of the truly disturbing stories to pack the emotional and political punch they might do. An interval which comes too near the end of the show also does not help. But ultimately the most prevalent note is that of the sheer dreariness and inhumanity of the asylum system in response to such human horrors.

The characters are entirely convincing, from the realism of the soft-voiced woman who has a successful asylum application and her well-meaning but rather crass solicitor, to the high satire of the hand-rubbing representative of the reserve bank who is seeking investment (a great bit of improvisation). He is the only depiction of the ZANU-PF ruling class in a play that portrays political consequences rather than causes. The play shows the losers in the system and the emotional scarring of even those who escape. At times very funny, exiles and immigrants in the audience will also relate to many of the apposite impressions and comments about living in England.

Reading the UK-based newspaper the Zimbabwean - which was handed out at the theatre - on my way home, I found pages and pages detailing the latest torture, beatings and police harassment. Jarringly, in the small ads there was a large advertisement from the International Organisation for Migration (based in Westminster Palace Gardens), offering immigrants £3,000 to go home. I couldn't help wondering if it was enough to pay off the people who come to kill you.

Till 15 July 2006.