The Sunday News
Arts Focus
I have a passion for working with young people and I believe all they need is to be taken to the edge of the cliff where they can then take off on their own. Once they get to the edge most will fly off.
However, it is getting to this edge of the cliff that most young people never get to do and as a result most never get the chance to fly off and reach their destiny. Sweet and so satisfying is the sight of some of these young people as they take off from the edge of the cliff.
One way of getting young people to the edge of the cliff is by giving them opportunities to be themselves — allowing them to discover themselves by giving them space, time and even resources to tell their own stories the way they would love to hear and see them. In theatre the easiest role a director can ask any actor to portray is the self. Nothing is as easy as playing oneself. There is no imagination needed.
Everything comes naturally. But perhaps the natural is not always the obvious choice judging by the stories I witnessed this past week.
I had the pleasure of watching more than 30 stories from young people — high school students from different schools and backgrounds.
After watching the stories I came out asking questions I have asked before and will continue asking: Where are stories about young people? Why are young creatives in this country not interested in telling stories about themselves as seen through their own eyes?
Some years ago, two or three years if I am not mistaken, in an attempt to address this absence of stories about young people by young people we encouraged teachers to “stop” writing stories for the young actors. We preached the gospel of “the child should be at the centre of the creative process”. We encouraged teachers to encourage their students to do their own writing and come up with their own stories. The thinking behind this approach was that when students and young people start bringing the stories themselves then the stories would surely be a reflection of their own lives. All we wanted was to see young people telling stories about themselves to other young people.
That way a strong base for theatre for young people and children would begin. Theatre for young people and children is best described as theatre where young people and children tell their own stories by acting them out to an audience of mostly their peers — other young people. One encouraging fact is the enthusiasm among young people in terms of drama in schools. If only they could tell their own stories.
It is sad to say that the young people and children we asked to be at the centre of the creative process — the very young people and children we were hoping would welcome the opportunity to tell their own stories using their own experiences, dreams, fears, and aspirations seem to have betrayed the cause and continued to tell adults stories. They continue to focus on stories about drunken fathers, evil stepmothers, marriage and its problems and many other adult issues.
Of the more than 30 high school stories I watched this past week more than 90 percent of the stories could not qualify as children and young people stories. They were stories you expect from adults. So the big question is if young people and children cannot tell their own stories who will? Where exactly are we missing it?
One of the problems is that most of these young people are also not exposed to good stories about young people and children. Most of their life they have been fed with the same diet of adult stories from all corners of life — drunkenness, ill treatment of women, prostitution and a lot of tears. These are the stories that then influence their creative process. For them it becomes easier to tell a story about a drunken father, a prostitute and recently we have begun to see gays on stage — gays portrayed the way we see them on TV as portrayed by Americans and westerners.
Look at our local television. Are there any stories about children and young people? I mean serious stories our children and young people can enjoy? Stories rooted in our culture, values and aspirations as Zimbabweans but told through the eyes of children? The same with radio, theatre, film, and even in the novel form? Are there visible and audible young voices that could inspire others out there? Obviously there is a serious need for young voices that can form the backbone of theatre for young people and children in this country.
