It’s a source of constant bewilderment to me that Zimbabwe’s wretched plight doesn’t receive more howls of dramatic pain.
So full credit to writer/director David Dinnell for this bulletin — of state brutality, hyperinflation and the seizure of white-owned farms — from Mugabe’s benighted dictatorship.
The passion’s there but the narrative logic, not to mention the accents, wanders all over the place, as Dinnell transposes the template of Ibsen’s Ghosts to contemporary African soil.
Thus we have the familiar set-up of a mother, an ailing grown-up son returned from overseas, a new orphanage and dark family secrets. Unfortunately these local issues end up in an almighty tangle with the (far more gripping) national politics, resulting in a loss of focus all round.
Catwalk until 3 Oct (0845 017 5584, www.catwalkconfidential.org). Country until 19 Sep (020 8237 1111, www.riversidestudios.co.uk).
How To Cook A Country
Riverside Studios
Crisp Road, Hammersmith, W6 9RL
