Confusion in Fatima’s House

















































































It was to be called “The Fake Doctor” but, according to the health authorities in Pemba, this title could have created some misunderstandings. Therefore it has become: “Confusion in Fatima’s House.” And it is the show of the “Theatre So Good” project. The soul of this project!
It ‘s the love story of 4 people: Fatima, married to Abdala but in love with Mussa, and Amina, Fatima’s friend and secretly in love with Abdala.
Fatima and Amina think up a “simulation” so that Fatima can secretly meet Mussa and figure out if “this feeling is love or illusion.”
Fatima pretends to have a headache, Mussa dresses up as a doctor, a fake doctor, and pretends to examine Fatima. Suddenly Abdala, her husband, comes home, Mussa, to save the situation, does an injection to Fatima but he missed and hits her husband Abdala, who starts making strange sounds despite the injection being plain water.
The situation gets worse and Fatima begins to have a stomach ache, this time for real. Another doctor arrives, the real doctor, who does another injection to relief Fatima’s pain. But he also misses and hits Abdala again, who makes stranger and strager sounds.
Then the real doctor gets a drip, while he prepares it he twists the tube around himself and he puts it in Fatima’s arm, then he feels her pulse. In that moment Mussa puts his hand on Fatima’s forehead. The real doctor feels her heart beating faster. Then he goes towards Abdala, who feels quite bad after two injections, and he feels his pulse. In that moment Amina puts her hand on Abdala’s head and the real doctor feels his heart beating faster again.
After listening to the heartbeat of Mussa and Amina who lightly touch Fatima and Abdala, respectively, the real doctor understands.
He understands that Amina and Abdala are in love and so are Mussa and Fatima. The scene ends with the happy and re-matched couples hugging each other.
The emotion makes the real doctor feel ill. Abdala, in a moment of lucidity, points out that everybody feels ill in that house.
Mussa tells him not to look at him, he’s a fake doctor. The real doctor is then taken to hospital to be treated (in the previous version, before the changes, the real doctor was treated with a herb used in traditional medicine but they made us change it…)
The set changes and we are inside the hospital.
The real doctor receives the visit of the two women, both expecting a child. After the greetings and thanks for having solved their ” love illness “, the two women undergo an ultrasound examination, during which the doctor explains the importance of this examination in checking the health of the baby and of the mother.
The scene ends with Fatima and Amina showing two ultrasounds images and they all sing a song about children and fruits of love.
The show seems to be over but it’s not.
A lectern is brought onto the stage and one of the actresses begins to read a series of health recommendations for pregnant women. Nutrition, the importance of pre- and post-natal examinations, the importance of hygiene, from washing your hands to washing the baby with clean water; and again: the importance of vaccinations, food preservation, breastfeeding.
All the warning signs that a mother has to pay attention to: fever, diarrhea, sweating, which in Africa could cost a newborn baby their life.
Everything is told as if it were part of the story about Amina that continues after the show, so Amina discovers that she is pregnant and goes to hospital, Amina gets her child vaccinated and so on … On stage there are Arlete or Ana Bela who read and Amina is next to them. The others come onto stage with health posters that we have drawn.
Eventually the actress thanks Amina, she thanks the audience and … curtain down, though there is no curtain!
