Fela! An incredible production!

Our Secondary Production is always an incredible experience for all involved, and this year was no different! "Fela!" was performed to packed audiences in Nairobi, Arusha and Dar with incredible reviews and countless standing ovations.

Telling the story of Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti is no mean feat! Fela, also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. Kuti was highly engaged in political activism in Africa from the 1970s until his death. He criticised the corruption of Nigerian government officials for the mistreatment of Nigerian citizens. He spoke of colonialism as the root of the socio-economic and political problems that plagued the African people. (reference: Wikipedia)

Fela Kuti was a flawed individual; a genius musician who laid the foundations to a whole genre of music as we see it today, a political activist who spoke out against the corrupt practices of the government at the time; and also a promiscuous womaniser who had 27 wives and took drugs. He loved humanity, he was principled and he loved to have fun.

The cast decided that it was impossible to show the one side of Fela and not the other. The drug taking, the promiscuity, this was all part of his flamboyant personality and it is not our place to sugar coat history and show only the sanitised version of him. So after much discussion they chose to show his larger than life character, ‘warts and all’.

Reviews:

Business Africa Daily: Revolutionary Musician Comes Alive at Braeburn.

The Citizen: Dar celebrates the life of the Afrobeat trailblazer Fela Kuti

Reflections from Isaac Kombe who played Fela Kuti

"There's something magical about our Braeburn plays that makes the audience and cast constantly want to have more and more. For me, the play was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again if I had the chance! The excitement of touring and ending up in the newspapers took the experience to a whole new level.

Of course, the play isn't all glamour and excitement. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and teamwork to make it happen. We had to transport our props, costumes, and set pieces to each school, set up and tear down the stage, and rehearse our lines and blocking in unfamiliar spaces.

As the lead actor, I felt a sense of responsibility to bring my A-game to each performance, and to support my fellow cast and crew members. It was a real team effort, and I was proud to be a part of it."

Reflections from the Director

"Our tour of Fela! the Musical was a great success. As always, the cast worked incredibly hard, ensuring that once again we managed to live up to our reputation and create a production of a highly professional standard. Every year I am amazed at the children who take part in the production; their professionalism, their dedication, their creativity and their hard, hard work. It is such a wonderful, inspiring process to be part of: 80+ people from 11 years old all the way up to the adults, working together on this one goal – to produce a thought-provoking, moving piece of theatre. And this year did not disappoint. If you watched I’m sure you will agree it that was vibrant and energetic, creative and moving. One audience member told me it was even better than many professionally produced musicals he has seen. High praise indeed!

There are so many different threads that get pulled together in a production of this nature. You have the performance itself – everyone playing to their strengths, whether it be acting, dancing or singing; and those too, who push themselves outside of their comfort zone, trying out roles or dances or songs that they wouldn’t normally try out. You have the people behind the scenes, working the lights, designing and creating the set, the props, the marketing. So many students from different departments get involved, not just music and performing arts but also media, engineering, business and art students.  We all learned so much about Afrobeat, Nigeria, Fela Kuti himself as well as how to put on a production of this scale."

"The ones that shine on stage are easy to see and were absolutely amazing. And there were those that shone offstage too. Taking more than 80 children on tour is no mean feat and the prefects and other students really stepped in to help the teachers with the logistics, the crowd control and mentoring the younger ones.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: being part of a production of this nature teaches our children so many soft skills that will benefit them later in life. The confidence, the teamwork, the working to a deadline, the ability to stand up in front of a crowd and shine! It is hard work but it is 100% worth it.

We are so proud of every single one of them." - Miranda Rashid