90. BREAKFAST WITH
MUGABE
Zimbabwe
is a small, landlocked, southern African nation, just north of South Africa.
The capital is Harare. Formerly known as Rhodesia, it was a colony of the
British Empire until being declared independent in 1965 and controlled
thereafter by a white minority government. In 1980, after a decade and a half
of civil war, a black nationalist president was elected, with Robert Mugabe (b.
1924) as prime minister; in 1987, Mugabe was elected president. His authoritarian rule has
been marred by accusations of human rights violations, fraudulent elections,
economic mismanagement, and, among other anti-white activities, the confiscation of settlers’
farmland as part of a questionable land redistribution program. The rule of this 89-year-old despot continues today, after 26 years in office.
Michael Rogers as Robert Mugabe. Photo: Joseph Henry Ritter
Fraser Grace’s award-winning British
play, BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE, originally produced by the Royal Shakespeare
Company, is now running in repertory with FINAL ANALYSIS at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre (at the Signature Theatre Center). It introduces us to President Mugabe via a fictionalized story about the
psychiatric treatments he received in 2001 from a Dr. Andrew Peric (Ezra Barnes).
Mugabe allegedly was suffering from anxiety attacks presumably brought on by
the presence of a ngozi, described in
the program’s glossary as “a bitter, malevolent spirit. A departed spirit may
become an ngozi, either through dying violently, through remaining childless,
or through not receiving proper burial rites.”
From left: Michael Rogers, Che Ayende, Rosalyn Coleman, Ezra Barnes. Photo: Joseph Henry Ritter.
Dr. Peric, a native Zimbabwean of white settler
heritage, but married to a black woman, is both a highly respected
psychiatrist, who runs a hospital for poor Zimbabweans, and a man deeply
knowledgeable about the culture’s folk beliefs. He is brought to the president’s
State House in Harare, where he meets Grace Mugabe (Rosalyn Coleman), the
president’s second wife, a woman of commanding presence and manipulative ways, who has
been deprived of much of her freedom because of Mugabe’s paranoia about her
desire to flee the country with her children. Grace, 40 years younger than Mugabe, wants the doctor to cure her
husband of his condition so she can once more have her wonted freedom. Also there
is Gabriel (Che Ayende), a cool and crafty agent of the Central Intelligence
Organization, who serves as the president’s bodyguard and keeps a watchful eye
on the doctor.
Mugabe himself, played with a remarkable mixture of
raging power and troubled disquiet by Michael Rogers, engages during his
sessions with Dr. Peric in a game of cat and mouse, playing both victim and
aggressor, as he recounts the political and personal history that appears to
have riddled him with guilt and fear of revenge at the hands of his many enemies. Everything in the play concerns a power struggle
of some sort, with each character going up against another for control over the
situation. When Dr. Peric, for example, meets Mugabe, he boldly insists that
the closely guarded president, despite his position and his reputation, carry on the sessions
in total privacy, with no one else present, and with both doctor and patient on
equal terms, even with the doctor calling the president Robert. Mugabe, for his
part, surprises the stunned doctor by demanding that he wear a tie color
coordinated to his suit, and the doctor must remove his own tie and select one
of several offered by the ruler. As Dr. Peric’s treatment continues, the
balance of power in the relationship keeps shifting, and, in what soon seems
more like a trial than a therapy session, the question even arises as to who is
the oppressed and who the oppressor.
Despite his having been possessed by the ngozi, probably that of Josiah
Tongogara, a guerrilla comrade in arms who died in an accident shortly after the War of
Liberation ended, and for which Mugabe may have been responsible, the play does
not dabble much in the supernatural; the real world it depicts is frightening
enough.
The doctor’s self-assurance and the patient’s inability
to relinquish control despite his insecurity create a volatile mixture that is
further heightened by the political issues fueling Mugabe’s condition,
including a strong challenge presented by his opponent in the upcoming
elections. Dr. Peric’s own position as a landowning settler in a nation
redistributing its land gradually becomes a problem as well, and culminates in
a moment of considerable drama when he and Gabriel come to blows. One might
argue with the plausibility of the doctor’s behavior in this moment, but the
scene (marvelously staged by fight scene specialist J. David Brimmer) does
knock the breath out of you. When the play shifts to a scene in which Mugabe,
standing before a national flag in military clothing and hat, and spewing hatred
against the white colonialists into a microphone as the sounds of thousands
cheering fill the theatre, we see the true Mugabe in action ("Our party must strike fear into the heart of the white man"), and the effect is
chilling. The final image of Dr. Peric, at home on what remains of his farm, puts a vividly
tragic coda to the experience.
Critics have likened Mugabe, as seen in this drama, to the hero
of a Shakespearean tragedy, someone like a Macbeth or Richard III. For all his
unpleasant attributes he is pictured as a man with many sides, not all of them disagreeable.
He can be clever, witty, and charming, but he can turn on you like a cobra.
Guilt appears to wrack him, yet his ruthlessness continues. He has found a
marvelously effective embodiment in his portrayal by Michael Rogers, although
the character’s thick African accent requires close listening if you want to catch
every word. Ezra Barnes as Dr. Peric, using a believable colonialist British-accent, is a
perfect foil for Mr. Rogers. I was disappointed with Mr. Barnes’s portrayal of
Gustav Mahler in FINAL ANALYSIS, but he fully redeems himself with this performance.
Rosalyn Coleman’s Grace Mugabe is terrifically impressive, with her imposing
stature and potent voice, and she's a knockout in the stunning native outfits
designed for her by the talented Teresa Snider-Stein. Che Ayende’s Gabriel, who
speaks less than the others, has a compelling presence that makes you feel the
threat behind his typically supercilious demeanor.
David Shookhoff provides expert
staging that holds your attention throughout most of the play, although the
longer of the therapy sessions, in which a great deal of information must be
processed, does have its tedious spots. Lee Savage’s sets, especially the
elegant reception room at the State House, are quite satisfactory, as is Joyce
Liao’s lighting, while Colin Whitely’s sound design, from the musical selections
tying the scenes together to the amped up effects of Mugabe’s speech to a
roaring crowd, contribute heavily to the show's success.
The notion of having breakfast with
Mugabe might not be your cup of tea, but you might find the experience a bit
more filling than you imagined.
