UMahlekisa promises more laughter

Melissa Chekwa

When Bulawayo has been graced with all sorts of entertainment, uMahlekisa Comedy Club have spiced up comedy with a different twist by adding ventriloquism in some of their stage performances.

Ventriloquism is the art of speaking, with little or no lip movement, in such a manner that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source, which is normally a puppeteer doll.

UMahlekisa Comedy Club founder Ntando Van Moyo was thrilled about this new flavour to the taste of comic life as he believed that as something new to most Zimbabweans, it could strike the right chord. 

“It will be a unique experience for most people to experience such an act live on stage,” said Moyo.

UMahlekisa comedy will be holding Injiva Comedy Night at the National Gallery in Bulawayo on 29 August where local South Africa-based artistes Chik Aljoy the Ventriloquist and Long John will be performing. Zwexy Mackena will be their host.

Moyo revealed that the club planned to hold more ventriloquist performances soon and hoped that Chik Aljoy’s performance would inspire local ventriloquists to rise up.

“As time progresses we will be bringing in more ventriloquist artistes from South Africa and Uganda to add more flavour and diversity, hopefully inspiring the upcoming ones,” said Moyo. 

Chik Aljoy is the only ventriloquist in Zimbabwe and the first black one in Africa. He has done a ventriloquist live performance once with the club before moving to South Africa and this will be his second one in the country.

Meanwhile, Moyo explained that the upcoming show at the gallery was not restricted to South Africans only because of its name “injiva” but was open to everyone. 

“It’s only called Injiva Comedy Night because the performers are based in South Africa,” explained Moyo.

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