Tangle presents
WORKSHOP NEGATIVE
By Cont Mhlanga
UK Premiere
The play Mugabe didn't want you to see.
"He's black, you're black, you speak the same language and you fight each other like animals"
Zimbabwe, 1984. Corruption is rife, black people are fighting black people, socialism is being replaced by rampant, vicious capitalism. Nobody is being brave.
Three men represent society in microcosm. Two workers one black and one white, and sworn enemies, are employed in the tool making workshop of an apparently socialist MP.
But is it the MP, mouthing socialism while practicing the most oppressive capitalism, who is actually Zimbabwe’s real enemy?
An uplifting and comic response to the backlash of Zimbabwean independence, and as relevant today as it was 30 years ago, WORKSHOP NEGATIVE pulls no punches in airing the issues that everyone was talking about at the time, but were too afraid to raise.
Written by Cont Mhlanga
Directed by Anna Coombs
Designed by Colin Falconer
Approximate running time: 90 minutes
Thursday 7th July: Post Show Discussion - Theatre and the Freedom of Speech in the Zimbabwe, the UK and beyond.
WORKSHOP NEGATIVE is a UK Premiere and a brand new production from Tangle, South West England’s African Caribbean theatre company.