Death has robbed theatre of a great playwright and perfomer

Mar 23, 2008

WHAT he was filming is exactly what happened to him- he died at the 9th hour-the title of the film he was about to release. Eshaha Yamwenda (The 9th Hour) is a film about a person who is born poor and struggles amidst life’s tribulations. And just as he gains prosperity, he dies.

By Arthur Baguma

TRIBUTE
WHAT he was filming is exactly what happened to him- he died at the 9th hour-the title of the film he was about to release. Eshaha Yamwenda (The 9th Hour) is a film about a person who is born poor and struggles amidst life’s tribulations. And just as he gains prosperity, he dies.

Winkle Karitundu aka Rutamirika, a celebrated dramatist was murdered at his doorstep in Nsambya, a Kampala suburb last week.

From a little-known village actor, he had become an entrepreneur, play wright and producer who was finally crossing the bridge from suffering to prosperity when death struck.

Rutamirika is a writer that history should judge as the father and true master of comic satire, author of so many local plays, and a dramatist to rank alongside Uganda’s other celebrated local artistes.

He combined wit and cheekiness, underscored by a surprisingly serious character. He had a steely view of the theatre world. He is known for plays like Rutamirika which catapulted him to stardom in the 1990’s.

Omwanawabandi, Akashaka Karukundo, Nyunguyamawe and Ishenkazi womwana are some of his other productions.
Everyone who saw Rutamirika, remembers the good old days with nostalgia.

Rutamirika means something you cannot swallow. In the play, Rutamirika was an orphan with no relatives. He survived by befriending the daughter of a very rich Mukiga man, Migonno. To marry Migonno’s daughter he had to solve a riddle which had failed many.

Humour was a part of Rutamirika’s life both on and off stage. This is one of the attributes that attracted his wife to him. In an interview with The New Vision, his widow, Christine, admitted to have been floored by Rutamirika’s jokes. “Everyone loved his jokes. In the 1990’s his popularity was at its peak.

Many households had a video tape of Rutmairika’s play,” remembers John Mwijusya who was a high school student then.

Desha Kaikai, an actor with Abafrika where Rutamirika was a member says he was very hard to annoy.
“Rutamirika was a superb actor, and a fierce comedian. His plays appealed to the young and old,” Kaikai said.

Grace Matsiko a die-hard fan of Rutamirika said: “He was funny and always good-looking, his love for twisting English words in a funny way always made my day. He will be missed by the theatre fraternity.”

Rutamirika’s theatre was an attack on a society that allowed inequalities in society. For 20 years, he helped to shape a kind of drama that would reach the widest audiences, because it found its inspiration in real and recognisable lives.

This was theatre that set out to move and motivate its audiences as well as entertain them. And it was deeply reassuring that traditional culture could be joyful and funny as well as passionate and full of conviction — thanks to Rutamirika.

He chanelled his energies towards building a socialist theatre movement.Its influence on others is hard to measure, but it was- far-reaching. For him, theatre was a weapon in the struggle to imagine and build a different world.

In the late 90’s when he broke off from active stage after getting a job with the defunct Uganda Airlines Corporation, theatre in Western Uganda took a u-turn.

After the closure of the airline he resumed acting with the Abafrika. His play with Abafrika and Kitara Dramactors premiered at the National theatre last year.

Rutamirika’s death is still a mystery. He was murdered as he was about to enter his house after a long day’s and night work early Saturday morning last week. He left Texas Club, his bar, at about 1.00am in company of his wife.

As they waited for the door to be opened, a masked assailant hit him with a metal bar on the head before stabbing him several times. He was rushed to Nsambya where he died of severe bleeding.

According to police the deceased had earlier received threatening phone messages. And police has vowed to bring his assailants to justice.

He was born in 1959 in Bushenyi district. He was a graduate of Uganda College of Commerce in Kabale and also a teacher by profession. He started drama in 1986 when he formed the Kigezi Kinimba Drama Actors.

He is survived by a widow and four children. He worked with the Voice of Kigezi.

At the time of his death he was the proprietor of Texas Club in Nsambya and owned a clearing and forwarding firm in Kampala. He was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Kashenshero, Bushenyi district last week.

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