Have you watched ‘In The Eyes Of A Stranger’ yet? You gotta

When it comes to theatre, Kenya is on point. Let’s not even front. I cannot even begin naming Kenyan plays that have been impressively successful over the past few years. I’ll just not make it to the end.

Now, comes in ‘In The Eyes Of A Stranger’. A play by Wolfgang Maria Bauer and directed by Gilbert Lukali.

This is a one of a kind play that goes into the mind of a psychopath. Never before have I seen something something like this from Kenya. That is why I can’t afford to miss it and so should you.

It started playing at the Phoenix Players on the 30th of January and will continue till the 9th of February.

Here’s it’s synopsis.

The enigmatic center of the play is Pinon, a hermit who 18 years ago locked himself away in his seaside house after possibly cutting his wife into small pieces and permanently scarring the face of Gratia, a local prostitute. Now he sits at the edge of the sea cliff, observing the would-be suicides who come to this lonely spot.
They include Sebastian, a nervous young man with a heart condition who has just been jilted, and Daniel, who is suffering from questions over his sexuality and abandonment by his parents when he was a child. The third visitor is Vera, a runaway bride who comes to see Pinon out of curiosity after hearing his story from a hotel porter.
Bauer explores variations on his title theme. Sebastian asks Pinon to move into the light so he can see his eyes. Vera wonders to an unseen companion how she must appear in their eyes. The porter begs Vera to let him watch her change her clothes. Along the way Bauer weaves the characters’ lives together, in “La Ronde” fashion, shaping ever-changing onstage and offstage duets. In this complex intertwining, Pinon lives in a house he won from the porter in a card game; the porter relates Pinon’s history to Vera; Sebastian wants Vera; Daniel wants Sebastian; Pinon wants to be Daniel’s substitute father figure.