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Zimbabwe: Nziyakwi Destined for Dizzy Heights
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Harare
It is 1998. An ambitious young actor - still in Form Two - writes what he considers to be a masterpiece script for screenplay.
But to his dismay, when he takes it to Sebastian Maramba - elder brother to Estate Blues producer and director Admire Maramba - the script is turned down and dismissed as mediocre.
"Characteristic of many winners in life, I did not quit but actually took the failure as a catalyst to success," recalls Dereck Nziyakwi, famous for his role as Baba Taru in the award-winning short film Fish in the Flat and the play Wedding Day, among other productions. "When I started, the road was very bumpy. When Maramba shelved my script, I thought that was the end of my dream. "But that was not to be because Maramba, having realised my acting passion and talent, started coaching us the basics of stage acting while at the same time taking us to acting workshops," he explains.
Dereck recalls vividly his first contact with professional theatre after his group -- Talent 98 -- was invited by a theatre organisation ZATCYP, to attend Reps theatre for the premiere of the play Sheer Madness, in 1998.
"The fact that Reps was a predominantly white and elite theatre venue took the breath out of us, but we felt very inspired. It was just the right kind of thing that we wanted to be associated with. "Watching the big guys do the stuff they knew best showed us that acting was an industry on its own from which people could survive on, and not something to just look down upon," he explained. That encounter left lasting impressions on Nziyakwi and also precipitated his entry into professional theatre.
His debut stage role came when he was cast as Sabhuku in Caleb Maramba's play Tariro. The play impressed the organisers of Hifa who invited the cast to perform. Nziyakwi still cherishes this golden moment. "In 1999 we took Tariro to Hifa as the Harare Youth Drama Committee led by Obrien Mudyiwenyama, Jasen Mphepo, Washington Masenda among others.
"The group had a very sound junior policy that nurtured young actors." That was not the end of him -- more opportunities started opening up when his outfit started attending workshops facilitated by gurus in the industry such as Ngugi wa Mirii and Stephen Chifunyise among others.
"We then graduated into 'industrial theatre', where we would tour industries enacting plays on workshop safety, proper working conditions and health issues focusing on HIV and Aids." Nziyakwi's guardian angel kept on smiling on him when he also featured in Chop Suey, a Chinese production. "But I will never forget one of my most challenging roles in a controversial play on Satanism in which we featured wearing only our underwear. "It proved how elastic one should go if one wants to be a good actor." In 2002, the dreadlocked Nziyakwi also starred in All Systems Out of Order as a toilet cleaner, and earned him a nomination for Best Actor award while on a tour of Zambia, in 2002.
"I owe a lot to Obrien Mudyiwenyama who believed in my acting skills and for giving me my role in Wedding Day. We were like a family," he said. What are his views on the acting industry in Zimbabwe? "The train is still moving on. "Unfortunately, acting is not taken seriously as an industry but as simply something cultural and talent without
training doesn't mean anything," said Nziyakwi. He also featured in the Forgotten Son as a traditional healer (N'anga) and Tanyaradzwa as an extra. Last year, he acted in Swindle, produced as part of their training for television and film production workshops held for several actors from the Zimbabwe Film and Television Actors Union.
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Nziyakwi - who is still single - said he is currently working on a film, Thicker than Blood, with Noel Mvura as the producer.
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