Intwasa gives spotlight to new female comedians

Langalakhe Mabena

Power to the women!

Multi-award-winning female poet Tinashe Tafirenyika and television host Rudo Nyoni will for the first time in their careers grace the comedy stage as ‘jesters’ at this year’s Intwasa Arts Festival at the Borderline Insanity comedy show.

The gig which will be held on 26 September at the National Gallery will also feature male comedians including King Kandoro, Drew Real, Ezra, T1nda and Ma-forty.

In such a macho and male dominated trade, Tafirenyika and Nyoni took it upon themselves to untie the knots and stereotypes that have seen few female comedians making it in the Zimbabwean comedy stages.

What inspired them to go one on one with such a line-up of male comedians?
Determination and the zeal to continue trying has motivated Tafirenyika to be part of the gig.

Tafirenyika who boasts of numerous poetry accolades including 2016 Shakespeare 400 poetry Slam, 2017 National Arts Merit Award (NAMA) and 2017 Bulawayo Arts Award (BAA) both for Outstanding Spoken Word Poetry, revealed that the platform would be a weighing bridge to test whether she is a true comedian or not.

“I have been in the spoken word stage for a while but as a poet. However, this time around I want to try comedy because I believe I have what it takes to make people laugh.

“Apart from that, I want to inspire other women who have the talent to be comedians to come up and show the world what they have got and break the barrier that comedy is for men, people should expect more laughs on my set,” said Tafirenyika.

As for Nyoni who brags of a 2014 Zimbabwe Music Award (Zima) for Best House song alongside DJ Skaiva, inspiration came while she was doing a TV interview with Ma-Forty.

“When I was doing a TV interview with Ma-Forty I just told him I wanted to broaden my career and focus on other showbiz segments like comedy. After the interview he convinced me to try Intwasa as my first break in comedy.

“I am excited a lot to be part of the Borderline Insanity show because this is my first time to grace the comedy stage at the same time I am also scared and nervous but I am sure people will enjoy my set as I will fuse it with music,” said Nyoni.

The Borderline Insanity show is the product of a collaboration between Intwasa Arts Festival, Laugh Out Loud Entertainment and Sanctified Comedy Club.

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