The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco, Gate Theatre

The Gate’s Freedom Burning season presents two plays by Zimbabwean playwrights, and both Andrew Whaley’s writing and personal history are deeply embedded in this country. He was there through 1980, when the country claimed its independence and name as we know it today.
It is no surprise therefore that Fiasco, one of his most celebrated plays, has issues of political, cultural and individual identity at its heart. Three characters sit in a prison cell in 1986, only to be joined by a fourth, Fiasco. He claims to be a freedom fighter who has spent many years hiding in a mountain cave, unaware that Zimbabwe is now free from British rule. This wonderfully intense, claustrophobic setting will act as a theatrical pressure cooker, and is perfectly suited to a theatre the Gate’s size.
Whaley’s previous radio play for the BBC, Great Escape, was praised as ‘deep, dark, out-loud funny, a whirl of wordplay, political comedy’, so we expect some lightness amongst the gloom. Elayce Ismail, winner of a residency at the National Theatre Studio, directs the piece in her Gate debut, and should be one to watch in the coming years.