Critique on Wash and Set by Fridah Nkatha

Wash and set is a programme that is aired by Nation Television every Thursday at 7.30 pm to 8.00pm. It explains the life of a common Kenyan struggling with little earnings to meet their needs. The main character in this programme is a single mother who owns a small salon in the estates. The salon is the source of livelihood for her and her teenage daughter. Though she does all that is within her powers to make sure that everything goes on well as planned she keeps on falling. The mistakes of her past life are still portrayed in her present life and this is the block to her success.



This drama unfolds around Hilda as she tries to keep up with standard of a working single mother suffering economically, socially, and emotionally. Her expectation is that the people around her will get a glimpse of what is happening but it never happens. They make the burden even harder for her as they fight for attention from her. Her motherly attitude makes it even harder for her to develop since she keeps on allowing life failures to be part of her. Hilda expects that her daughter will respect her but Rose finds happiness in the people her mother warns her against.

Rose is a school going kid struggling with her teenage life. She is very defensive making it very hard for her mother to correct her when she is going astray. Her life is a pool of fun and no one should deny her that. She does not care about her future life and this makes her engage in all evils. Unfortunately she learns the hard way mostly by experience.

Rose is in a state of confusion and does not know who to trust, she looks at her mother as a looser since she cannot allow her to do most of the things that she want to engage in. Her father is practically a liar but he knows well how to get her attention with crazy offers. He might want to act as her father but does not have a strict stand since he adds nothing to her life. Though many would want to blame her, she is actually struggling with her identity. She does not really know who she is since she gets ideas about life from different sources. She has a father who they do not live under one roof, her mother who should be her sole adviser, her mother’s best friend who does not even have the experience of raising a child and her peers who will always side with her crazy ideas.

Matlda is a young girl working at Hilda’s salon. Though she is not as young as Rose Jackie’s daughter, she is also struggling with her adolescence. She is in a relationship with a man who wants to impregnate her but she is not ready since she is not sure she would want to settle down with one man. She asks for advice from Jackie about the family planning procedures. She is given the right advice but she makes many mistakes since it’s not done by a professional. Matlda is an example of many financially challenged Kenyan girls who come from the village to the city with the hope of having a better life but end up worse than they were. She does not have the appropriate person to take her through her teenage life offering her advice on the dangers of this time in life and she ends up in grieve. The city life is also a challenge and she would require a genuine guide.

Jackie is Hilda’s closest friend. Though she has a job she engages in prostitution so as to cater for her expensive lifestyle. She captures other people’s husbands and holds them captive to get money from them. She enjoys doing it and will even tell other people of the most recent one since to her it is not anyway promiscuous or out of order. Though she does it against her best friend will when her traps fail she goes back to her for help. Jackie takes advantage of her friend’s motherly attitude and brings her miles backwards. Jackie is a good example of the many social evils that are taking place in our society, that we know of but does nothing to correct them.

The Christian worldview is completely killed by the legalizing of gayism, immorality and other things that are not morally acceptable. The writer is bringing into focus the life of gay man and portrays him as a perfect person and an achiever in his career. The writer exposes women as sex objects and not as people who can do it on their own. Jackie has to keep on looking for men to join her in her simple life that I s full of fun pleasures and leisure. Though Hilda is a single mother this does not exclude her from men. She also gets into the traps of the men around her and has sexual relationship with a few of them. Rose though she is a school going kid she is also caught up in sexual relationships with some of the young men in their neighborhood. Abstinence for young girls like rose is not well catered for, instead Jackie advices her to get contraceptives. She does not even advice her of the dangers of the dangers of engaging in sexual relationship before marriage

In this programme men are portrayed as failures, liars and opportunists. Jaymo takes advantage of his sickness win the attention of his wife and daughter. He lies to his daughter that he can organize a scholarship. This makes his daughter and other people lose trust of him. Timo takes advantage of the fact that he is the administrator to harass other people. He does not respect people and their jobs and he keeps on disturbing them while they are busy. He pops into peoples work places, and places accusation in a disorderly manner. He goes ahead and organizes Rose’s kidnapping so that he will pretend to be the good guy and come to her rescue so as to win her love back. He does all this because rose had won an award as a model and was beginning to be a celebrity. He had mistreated rose and her mother before but because she was now an icon he wanted to be associated with her so as to boast around in the estate.

Women are empowered and they participate in nation building as a source of their livelihood. Most of the women in this programme though they do not have very good jobs, they have a way of catering for their needs without looking up to their male counterparts. The lady who owns shopping complex where most of the businesses are conducted is seen as a leader and a role model to the younger generation. She reconciles the dwellers in time of crisis and she does not want to sell the mall to outsiders but the people themselves especially women.

The writer puts this play in an original modern African context. It is clear that life is not a bed of roses and only the hard working people can get the best. Everyone in this programme works hard and does anything within their power to make sure that things work out right for them. Though they are competitors they work hard for their benefit and those of the people around. They take it up to them when one of them is in trouble and they join together to help.