Natasha Mumba’s play Copperbelt which had its premiere at Soulpepper on Tuesday evening is a very interesting work.  On one level it’s a tight, well crafted drama in the “dysfunctional family” genre so beloved by playwrights.  Intergenerational and gender role conflicts abound.  But beneath that there’s something much more interesting.

Pretty much every character and related institution in Copperbelt is hiding something from the rest of the world but what they don’t realise is how much they are deceiving themselves.  The context is post-colonial Zambia and the competition for a mining licence.  At one level the competitors are Canadian mining giant Maverick Gold and locally owned Rising Sun; the creation of, Cambridge educated and former Finance Minister, family patriarch Chimfwembe Kasuba.  Underlying this, of course, is the threat that the Chinese will muscle in.  Ironically Maverick is pitching in part based on it’s Canadian identity and the role Canadian “aid” plays in Zambia while Kasuba, it turns out, made his personal fortune from the same source.  Everybody is convinced that their motives are pure.  Maverick is securing minerals for “the West”.  Canada isn’t using aid as “soft power” to ease the way for its mining giants.  Kasuba is nation building by keeping the mine in Zambian hands.  One wonders how much it matters to a villager whose water supply is polluted whether it was done by a Zambian, Canadian or Chinese mine.

All this is mirrored at the personal level.  Kasuba is largely estranged from his three children.  Two are bit players in the entertainment and Internet influencing world and are utterly convinced that they are making a huge contribution to society that doesn’t rest on their inherited privilege.  The third, Eden, has got herself a job under an assumed name with Maverick and is making a play to lead on the Zambian mine bid aided by the fact that she’s having a torrid affair with her boss, Peter.  She’s convinced that with her western education and smarts she can make it to the top in a Canadian mining company despite being an immigrant woman of colour.  Yeah right!  But Peter encourages her ambitions because he’s convinced that she really cares for him despite a multi year affair that she hasn’t even mentioned to her family.

The catalyst for some kind of denouement is Kasuba père having a heart attack which results in all the children being summoned to the family home (formerly a white mine manager’s mansion) where Kasuba outlines his succession plan which, somewhat surprisingly is rejected by all the kids.  (I’ve seen enough succession issues in family businesses to know that’s not how it works but more of that anon).  In the middle of this almighty row Peter appears unexpectedly.  End of Act 1.

It’s taken a while but the cards are now more or less dealt and the action speeds up.  Peter is in town to do the deal and is totally shocked to find that Eden is a Kasuba.  The more dubious aspects of Chimfwembe’s past are leaked to the press.  It seems like he has been elimnated from competition.  Back in Toronto Peter and Eden avoid each other.  Finally they meet and Peter announces that the Zambian deal will mean a major promotion for both of them despite her being (he stops himself just in time).  But African politics doesn’t work that way.  Kasuba has squared the government (with the help of the Chinese) and Eden has a new job.  Yes, the one you guessed would be hers half way through act 1.

So, it’s complex and there’s a lot going on which director Nina Lee Aquino orchestrates skilfully. There’s a lot of dialogue; much of it fast and heavily accented, some of it not in in English (in Bemba?).  I didn’t catch every word but I got plenty enough to follow the plot.  There’s lots of movement accompanied by a vivid and complex lighting plot (Michelle Ramsay).  There are frequent set changes; Toronto apartment, Zambian house exterior, family dining room etc, but Rachel Forbes’ clever modular set rearranged on the fly by the cast means that the action is never held up.

There are some excellent performances, especially a nuanced portrayal of Eden by playwright Natasha Mumba.  Kapembwa Wanjelani, as the patriarch Kasuba, also gives a splendidly complex, nuanced and entirely believable portrait of an older man whose pride in his status and achievements almost brings his downfall.  Rick Roberts is entirely believable as Peter.  If you met him at a charity gala or the Granite Club he wouldn’t seem at all out of place yet lurking beneath is a totally cynical ruthlessness.  Warona Setshwaelo as Kasuba’s wife doesn’t have a huge lot to do but she does encapsulate what it is to be the long suffering wife of a powerful philanderer.  The cast is rounded out by Makambe K. Simamba as the somewhat gormless sister which she makes the most of, Kondwani Elliott Zulu who is energetic and funny as the brother Dalitso and Eric Miracle as the well meaning but ineffective Musolo.

There’s lots to like in Copperbelt.  The surface is actually quite funny as long as one is not totally averse to the “dysfunctional family” genre but the real strength of the play lies at a deeper level so one does kind of have to mine for it (sorry, not sorry).  The first act is slow burn and one finds oneself wondering where it’s going but as the second act unwinds one realises that everything that comes before it is necessary.  Ultimately it’s quite a “thinky” but compelling piece.

Copperbelt runs at Soulpepper until March 1st.

Photo credits: Dahlia Katz.