By Mark Allan Karanja
Hate him or love him, there is no denying the fact that Oscar is a power player in SUMU LA PENZI. Never one to mince his words or back down from a confrontation, he grabs your attention and keeps it there. Whether you want him to disappear or stay longer, when he is around, we all hush and listen.
But there is much more to Oscar, the character than the overwhelming confidence and an unmistakable sense of self. There is a method to what we might see as madness. His courage to go against the high and mighty that he comes across. He is a definite go getter. Peter Kawa, the brilliant actor who brings the character Oscar to life, gives us an inside look into his character’s mind. “He is definitely a self-centered individual. He only cares about himself and how he can advance his own cause and does not mind stepping on a few toes while at it”, Kawa lets on.
One thing is clear, Oscar is a man who knows how to find himself in the winning team at all times, switching allegiances, never having any permanent friends or enemies. He is the quintessential opportunist, who is out to get as much as he can get form whoever he can. “I like Oscar because he has got the freedom to annoy, but no one dares retaliate against him. They accept him as he is”, Kawa adds. The basic fact that Ama, Oscar’s arch rival could have gotten rid of him, had she felt the need to, but does not, further enforces this fact. He has a super human quality about him – the untouchable.
It would be a big mistake to dismiss him as just a common criminal, as his meticulousness speaks to his unconventionality. “For a long time, I had been cast for stereotypical villains but Oscar is both a delight and a challenge to play because he encompasses so much more”, Kawa adds. Oscar has a human side to him. Despite being a pimp and a gun for hire, he still has a love interest, exposing a sensitive of him. The symbiotic relationship between Ama and Oscar is also an inescapable fact. They feed from each other. So different, yet remarkably alike, I am sure we can all agree that neither would be quite as good without the other.
Peter Kawa, who is very removed from his character explains of the challenges faced in portraying this character. It is quite easy to assume that he is, in real life, as he is on screen, but this is not true. For starters, he is a happily married man, unlike the eternal bachelor Oscar. “I have to take my ring off before I go on set, especially during romantic scenes between Oscar and Debrah”, Kawa says, adding that he had initially battled against the idea of Oscar having a love interest, as it took away from his essence, but soon came to appreciate the new depth of the character as both a villain and a lover. “Debrah brings out Oscar’s redeeming qualities”, Kawa concludes.
Kawa is not new to the world of acting, having had roles in LIES THAT BIND, but mainly practicing his craft on stage at the theatre. Catch Oscar on Sumu la Penzi on Africa Magic Swahili.