Inspired by his own lived experiences, Tafadzwa Muchenje lays bare the impact of the UK’s hostile environment in a bold new show with SBC Theatre.
The UK has always been home for Tafadzwa Muchenje. After leaving Zimbabwe at just six months old, he and his family built their lives in this country, immersing themselves in every opportunity that came their way. One day, Tafadzwa returned home from university to find that his right to remain in the UK had been refused while his family were allowed to stay, and his journey towards a bright future suddenly came to a screeching halt. After three years of hard work, he’s ready to share his story through an immersive one-man theatre experience full of honesty and emotion, reminding us of the power of art to stand up to hostility and oppression.
Based in Sheffield, Stand & Be Counted is the UK’s first theatre company of sanctuary, empowering those with lived experiences to explore their stories in unique and creative ways. Their work is unapologetically political, believing that art has the power to change the world, rebuild empathy and forge solidarity. Having worked with the company for eight years as a collaborator and artistic adviser, Tafadzwa felt confident that the SBC team would handle his story with care and compassion.
“We’re living in incredibly hard and bleak times right now, and the rhetoric and the language and the misinformation is terrifying,” said Tafadzwa. “Theatre storytelling has a power to connect and unite people, and this is what I want. I want us to connect and to understand that there’s more between us than what divides us.”
Rosie MacPherson, director of Ripples and co-founder of SBC, said: “It’s a really important and powerful piece. It’s also incredibly hopeful and fun. It’s a good call to action for audiences who always ask us, what can we do? How do we be part of pushing back against the rhetoric and the treatment of migrants in the UK? It feels like we really are building a movement from the show.”
Tafadzwa’s performance is truly electric. He takes audiences from hopeful beginnings in the Isle of Wight, journeying to the big city, slowly building to the point when everything came crashing down. The live sound and experimental set make the small room feel at times intensely claustrophobic and impossibly spacious, cutting between moments of playful, razor-sharp wit and heavy emotional expression.
“All of this really happened to me. I had just turned 18. It was a hostile environment at the time – the Windrush scandal was just about to happen. Naively, I didn’t think any of that would reach me. I didn’t think I’d be caught in that system,” Tafadzwa explained. “I was studying to be a performer, an actor, a writer. I wanted to tell stories, and there was this incredibly dark thing happening in our world, and I didn’t see anyone talking about it.”
At a crucial moment in the performance, the screens surrounding the stage light up one by one. Tafadzwa takes the audience beyond the bounds of the theatre by showing footage from his personal journal, documenting his experiences and injecting the show with raw, unfiltered honesty. It’s a display of pure emotion, challenging Tafadzwa to explore new psychological layers in his performance.
“A lot of our process was me improvising, because I find that more freeing sometimes,” Tafadzwa said. “It was definitely a challenge in the beginning, having to go into parts of my brain that I’ve locked away and not really ever processed. I would struggle or avoid doing things because of how difficult it was for me to go into those places. Having the support of the SBC team made me comfortable to put pen to paper and reminded me that I’m not there anymore.”
Rosie added: “The most important thing is that the artist has got to be ready – you don’t owe the audience everything. You give what you want to give, and you keep the rest for yourself.”
The name Ripples had been floating around as a working title throughout the production process, and the team just couldn’t seem to shake it. It calls on the unexpected effects that one small action can have, and the possibility of spreading hope with the power of community.
Tafadzwa said: “It hit the nail on the head. One drop has such a ripple effect. The ripple effect of hostility on society, the ripple effects of mindless changes that the government makes, but also the ripple effect that you can have on your community if you were to change something and try to emit hope. We can be that ripple of change.”
Tafadzwa’s three years spent in limbo have left a lasting impression on his life. Though he was able to overturn the deportation letter after a long, hard battle, he must reapply for his limited leave to remain in the UK every two and a half years. He conveys his feelings of all-consuming paranoia, faced with constant reminders of a time when home became an unwelcoming environment, as it is for so many people seeking sanctuary.
“You’re forced to live a life where you feel like you don’t exist,” Tafadzwa explained. “You’re standing still, and life passes you by, and you’re just watching everything happen. To come out from that and try and regain your life, you constantly feel like you’re playing catch-up. They broke me, but I won’t let them break me again, because I’m pushing forward.”
He added: “I am telling my story, but this is not just my story. This is the story of countless people who are going through this, and I just want them to feel heard and recognised.”
After a sell-out run of shows at Bloc Projects in Sheffield, the team will now be taking the one-man performance to Oldham’s Coliseum Theatre. Find out more about the work of SBC Theatre and their upcoming productions at sbctheatre.co.uk.
