The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sunday Leisure Correspondent
WHILE forum theatre has been one of the tools through which communities interact and unpack pressing issues and problems albeit in an entertaining way, there are few locally produced books to aid theatre practitioners in the field.
Realising such a gap and the need to bridge it, Intwasa Arts Festival published a book titled Forum Theatre in Action, expected to be a reference book for those practising forum theatre as well as for theatre students.
The book is a result of a six-month pilot project that saw Intwasa conducting practical forum theatre ventures in several communities in the city.
Intwasa director and project co-ordinator, Raisedon Baya said they ventured into Makokoba, Pumula, Mzilikazi, Robert Sinyoka and Methodist Village running the pilot project that saw them coming up with different plays.
He said the book was likely to have an impact in terms of local theatre literature with university students having a local book they can use in their applied arts studies.
The book outlines the ideal forum theatre process, which can be effectively used to present pressing problems in communities, unpack them and try to have the community members suggest solutions to these problems.
It outlines the need to engage communities from the beginning to the end of the process in a holistic manner to ensure there is a big buy in.
“There are many non-governmental organisations that are using drama as an advocacy tool and are hoping to make a lasting impression with their presentations. However, in most cases they bring in professional actors who present the story to the community instead of seeking actors from within the community itself.
“We feel empowering the community to solve one problem would enable them to fix other issues that may arise without seeking intervention from the NGOs again. For example if an organisation manages to work with the community to solve a cholera problem, the people in the area can then unpack another issue on their own,” he said.
The book highlights the stages and activities one needs to partake when coming up with theatre as it can be effectively used as a vehicle for social transformation.
It advocates for community involvement right from coming up with the script to recruiting local actors and understanding that a play can be stopped in the middle to discuss points that have been highlighted.
In the foreword of the book Baya highlights the simple style in which the book is written when he writes, “This manual does not pretend to be the ultimate learner’s guide to Forum Theatre but is merely a simplified toolkit aimed at community theatre groups that want to use the arts as a tool for development.”
Baya said the book was part of Intwasa’s efforts to fill in the void created by lack of new books on theatre in the city.
“We are also aiming at stimulating the literary sector as it has been depressed for a long while now. We started with the publication of a folktales anthology, followed by this book and up next would be the release of a compilation of short stories that have won the Intwasa literary award over the past years,” he said.
The book was produced with the assistance of Plan Zimbabwe.
