Juju Soccer Off To Hwange, Bulawayo

After a successful one week run in Harare at the Old Mutual Alliance Francaise Theatre, Juju Soccer play goes on tour starting with the resort town of Hwange followed by city of Kings, Bulawayo.

The play premiered on the 18^th of November with a full house and ran until the 22^nd of November 2014.

The play will kick off the tour on the 19^th Hwange and will be in Bulawayo on the 20^th of December for the Ibumba Festival.

Rooftop Promotions is using the play to kick start the coming 2015 season which promises to be hectic as the producers have finalised going through 200 scripts that were submitted by productions houses, organisations and individuals.

In “Juju Soccer”, our revered playwright, Stephen Chifunyise brings to the fore the touchy and contentious subject of the perceived usage of juju and superstition which has been an emotive subject in the beautiful game of football the world over.

This play is a must watch as it tackles this belief passed on from football generations to generations but people do not want to talk about it openly.

Reasons why teams at different stadia teams refuse to use dressing rooms and some not even using the designated entry points into the ground will be tackled.

Juju soccer story line is of the of newly promoted Kambuzuma United and its coach Extra Time Chigumbo (Teddy Mangava) who is raring to go and make a name for himself as a professional coach having spent years as an assistant coach in Europe

The owner of the team, Godknows Zidumburemombe (Mandla Moyo), has other ideas about how the team ought to be run and suggests that a n’anga comes in and use Zimbabwean rich heritage and indigenous .

And that the n’anga (Daves Guzha) is dead set in his beliefs and suggests many weird ideas including that the coach urinates in his mouth which does not help matters in the very least.

A must watch play explores the deeper issues concerning Zimbabwean current state of affairs from religion and sport, right down to the yarn of politics that continues to get the country’s knickers all in a twist.

“I felt for the coaches as religion was often in conflict with traditional beliefs and vice versa. I followed stories like those of (Kevin) Kaindu and just used an everyday issue and decided to look deeper into it by way of a script,” said play writer Chifunyise.

The cast of this highly anticipated play is made of a compendium of who is who in the mould of Daves Guzha who has a habit of making rare theatrical appearances once in every 3 years and has been plying his trade for the last 29 years as actor, director and producer.

And multi-award winner Mandla Moyo whose theatrical exploits have seen him perform in almost every continent and has worked with some of the best directors in the World.

These two relative oldish and tried horses are joined by one youngish actor who is a gem and award winner Teddy Mangawa whose star continues to soar. The casting is very deliberate as it brings a diverse team reflective of the status quo in the theatre sector.