THE ART OF LIVE STORY TELLING
THE SIDE CHICK WIFE IS A REFLECTION OF REAL LIFE
The audience thoroughly loved her humor and the flawless delivery of her two part narration…
Most of our lives are spent in front of a screen and we can’t help but applaud the technology and the connectivity through our devices. Chances are, a lot of people get tired and a good icebreaker is getting out there and interacting with a live audience at a live show and I believe we like to hear real life experiences from Key players in the industry.
THE SIDE CHICK WIFE was a live storytelling show, performed by Dr. Zippy Okoth (PhD), a performing artist, producer, director, actor and a lecturer of theatre and arts. She is currently a senior lecturer at KCA University.
Put together by FILM LAB and performed at the KENYA NATIONAL THEATRE auditorium, the show was a two part performance that gave us two perspectives of her life. One side told us how she navigated her relationships from her young days as a campus student in MASENO UNIVERSITY to how she got married and divorced to moving into a marriage like situation ship ‘come we stay’ that ensured her character was well developed for dealing with relationships from then on. On the second part we see Zippy evolve into a more self-aware mature woman who knows what’s best for her.
Live stories often reveal the truths of who we really are. They make the storyteller vulnerable by airing out the unspoken and making fun of otherwise cringe moments. Audiences crave authenticity and that is what they compensate for. THE SIDE CHICK WIFE was one that many could relate to in so many levels. Alert listeners noticed that it touched on so many sensitive topics; marriage traditions and expectations, friendship, cheating, death, loss, grief, therapy, childbearing, parenting and so much more. The one thing that Zippy was able to do was to share with the audience from her real life experiences and how she dealt with every situation that came her way.
A question that a lot of people were asking was that, ‘is the story factual or is it tweaked to keep the audience glued?’ but does it really matter if the story was factual or what one really takes away at the end of the whole experience because Zippy was absolutely incredible, the audience thoroughly loved her humor and the flawless delivery of her two part narration. She is a true story teller that accommodates different styles to her performance and the fact that it was mostly comical, the emotional dive is what makes THE SIDE CHICK WIFE a reflection of real life.
It was a one woman show that was engaging, decorated with very subtle lighting and minimal stage design that absolutely worked for the style of performance.
