MANONMANIAM SUNDARANAR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE,

GOVINDAPERI
Department of English
III B.A English
VI Semester - Short Story and One Act Plays [SMEN63]

Principal​: ​Dr.K.S.MONY,MSUCollege,Govindaperi​.

Name of faculty​ : L. DEVAKI @ SUBASRI M.A, NET

Topic: Unit​-V => ​THE TRICK by Erisa Kironde

Summary

Poet, playwright, columnist, critic, editor and teacher, Erisa Kironde is one of the prolific
writers in Ugandan literary scene. He was greatly influenced by the plays of J.M.Synge,
the Irish
writer.
The Trick is an adaptation of Synge’s play The Shadow of the Glen. Kironde used the
same
story line, but skilfully transposed the setting into African life.

The play The Trick is set in a rectangular hut. The four characters in the play are
Kalekezi,his wife kamuli, Kazungu and the musician. Kamuli is a young girl married to
Kalekezi, a drunkard
and too old man. She agreed to the marriage only because that he is a rich man with lot of
land.
But Kamuli became fed up with her drunkard husband. He is always cold and beats her
occasionally.Moreover they don’t have children and Kalekezi leaves her alone in the hut.

All these made her await for the death of her husband which will bring her the share owe
to her so that she can start a new life with that money. Knowing these hidden intentions
of Kamuli, and enraged by the gossips about her contact with fine men in the village,
Kalekezi plays a trick to expose his wife.

When the play opens, Kalekezi pretends to be dead under a blanket and Kamuli counts
the money that he has left, thinking that kalekezi is actually dead. She is not at all worried
about her
husband’s death. Her attitude towards her husband is revealed during her conversation
with the musician. The musician, a lonely wanderer and stranger is given permission to
get into the house.

He is surprised to see Kamuli counting the money and not performing the last rites to the
dead body. Then she reveals the curse that her husband had made on that morning. If
anyone other than his sister Sirisita who is living many hills away from here touches his
dead body, Kamuli will lose.
At the time when Kamuli goes out of the hut to get the help of Kazungu, a herdsman to
inform Sirisita about the death, Kalekezi wakes up and surprises the musician. He tells
the musician that his wife is infidel to him and he will continue the trick to reveal her. He
warns the musician not to tell the truth about his death. Kamuli arrives into the hut with
kazungu and she continues to complain about her ill luck to live with Kalekezi. Kazungu
finds the time good to propose to her.
And he promises that he will be able to trade her goods in the market for a better amount
and they will have a happy life.

During this conversation, Kalekezhi wakes up and tries to stop Kazungu who tries to
escape the scene. He asks Kamuli to go out of the hut. Kamuli tries to please him but it
becomes a vain effort. Seeing that Kamuli is left without money, Kazungu is not ready to
take her.

Surprisingly the musician offers a life for her. He tells her that life with him would not
be comfortable, but there will be happiness and bliss.

Kalekezi’s becomes successful as he could expel her from the hut. But Kalekezi did not
try to understand the real cause behind her strange way. It was the musician who could
understands the reality about her. She is desperate as a wife. She committed a mistake by
marrying Kalekezi considering his wealth alone. She believed that money will bring her
happiness. But she was wrong.

However she was never infidel to her husband. When Kazungu proposed her she denied
it saying
that he also will become old once. When Kazungu tells that there is rumour about
Kamuli’s contact
with Mukasa, a mad man, she replies that she is a hard woman to please. She was just
social to
everyone. Kalekezi’s trick doesn’t expose Kamuli but in a way exposes Kalekezi himself
as a bad
and ill-natured husband.