There’s tension this morning. Quionga is a village where the majority of the population is Muslim. We worked hard to make sure that there was nothing in the performance that could in some way offend or not respect Christians, Muslims, animists, non-religious people, but only an on-site test can tell us if we evaluated well or not.

We trusted the judgement of the actors themselves on many things, will their judgement have been judicious?

800 people in the audience! Maybe even 900!!! And laughs, lots of laughs! And Adelino Cuba, lots of Adelino Cuba!!! When he goes on stage dressed as the false doctor, there are always gales of laughter and from there the performance grows. The character of Mussa pulls the other actors, Mussa gesticulates, makes faces even when he isn’t in the main scene, even when he isn’t acting.

Today I watched him most, and it was a performance within a performance.

I’m very proud of this group, very proud! They have perfected two moments of the performance that they invented. Both in the finale, when the two couples are in hospital for the ultrasound, Mussa and Abdala, in reality Adelino Cuba and Agostinho, exchange some lines looking at the photos of the ultrasound. Adelino says that the baby’s head is the same size as his. And the audience laughs!

Another improvisation is the appearance of all the health cards together at the end. After a first and second day of “tests”, they have perfected times and movements.

Well done, well done, well done!

* * *

As a true rugby enthusiast, I created a third act! After the performance, we all have a beer together to celebrate.

Tomorrow is a rest day (for the actors) and this diary will rest, too.