STAY Cast
Nokia has become the first multinational phone company in Kenya to sponsor a drama series; STAY
STAY, a Kenyan TV series touches on the cultural differences surrounding interracial dating. It revolves around the life of Nubia (played by Mkamzee Mwatela) who, against all odds, must make her relationship work with Shane (played by Jason Corder).
We also have Nico (played by Gerald Langiri), who is Shane’s loyal driver and confidant, at least up until Shane’s mother (played by Carol Dunlop) arrives unexpectedly in Kenya to visit Shane. And she has come with her own marriage plans and the wife she wants for her son. To her surprise, Shane is already dating and is dating a black woman.
The show which will be airing every Monday at 10.00pm on KTN, is definitely a different kind from what we are used to having on our TV stations.
STAY has captured the scenario we are all too familiar with. The one where relationships happen via social media; WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. For most of the first episode, Shane and Nubia only talked via WhatsApp which made the whole relationship seem a bit more realistic to me. It’s what happens in real life these days.
The script seems to lack a bit of originality. It’s predictable. We can all tell how things will play out now that Shane’s mother is in the picture with her idea of who he should date. You can almost tell how the next few episodes will play out.
The camera work isn’t that bad, which is expected since they are using one of four RED Mysterium X Scarlet digital cameras in Kenya. But I would love a bit more creativity on the shots. It’s too annoying having a close up shot focused in one angle for a whole scene. The Mysterium X Scarlet is the mother of all cameras, and most of the shots they’ve captured so far are below par in my opinion.
The show seems to have a cast of about 7 people, I hope that changes. They need more supporting cast to bring out the whole drama aspect. I hope they also have more locations for their scenes. It would be disappointing to have to watch episode after episode with everything revolving around 3 locations.
I am generally not a fan of local shows. But I like the idea behind STAY. I like the actors so I expect some stellar performances as time goes by. If I had to rate the first episode, I would give it a 7/10. That said, STAY is still something I would sit down to watch.