The Sunday News
I AM a lover of the arts, however, my first love is theatre. I was introduced to it at secondary school some 20 years ago and ever since I have not found anything that excites me more than a well-thought and well-presented story on stage.
In the 90s the likes of Stitsha, Nansi le Ndoda, My Struggle, Dabulap and other plays helped shape my theatre taste. Later I also started to write and produce for the same medium.
The best place in Bulawayo to perform or watch theatre is the Bulawayo Theatre. It’s the best venue for theatre. Great acoustics, great lighting, great stage. Forget where it’s situated, and forget that it used to be inaccessible to black artistes and their works before and even immediately after independence. Forget history. The reality is that currently it is the best space, in fact, the only space built for professional and commercial theatre. The only problem with Bulawayo Theatre is making sure audiences come to watch the plays. A serious audience building plan needs to be put in place — what’s the point of putting great plays on stage and no one watching them?
This year started on a very low note. Since January only one theatre play has been performed at Bulawayo Theatre and that is Umthombo Arts’ Double Funeral. This says a lot. It is things are bad out there for the artiste. The economy doesn’t favour serious investment. The politics keeps thwarting alternative narratives. People are not producing theatre or maybe those with performable productions cannot afford to book the venue. I will go with the first reasoning.
There is little that’s happening in terms of theatre productions. Even Nhlalo Dube’s Theatre for Everyone which brought us more than a dozen plays last year hasn’t started showing anything this year. So we say to fellow thespians let’s keep theatre alive. Let’s not allow Bulawayo Theatre to become more a venue for pre-school graduations than theatre performances. Let’s not allow the theatre to be frequented more by schoolchildren than by so-called professional theatre practitioners. This is the challenge I throw at local artistes today. To be visible and keep theatre and Bulawayo Theatre alive.
So the only show that has been there is Double Funeral. I think it was a play that was appropriate to start the 2017 theatre calendar. I say this not swayed by the title, but because of the quality of the work and the effort put.
The play is about secrets, how people try hard to keep them locked somewhere and how these unexpectedly come out, and always at the wrong time. The piece follows Matilda, a beautiful young woman who is about to get married to the love of her life and how a childhood sweetheart appears from nowhere to ruin all her planning. Everyone in the story has a secret. Every scene takes us to a new level, to new information, to another twist. When I came out of the theatre on the night of the premiere I posted the following on social media. “One outstanding thing about Double Funeral is that it is so well-written that one could be forgiven to think it was penned somewhere out of the country. Such is the writing talent that I think announces Thulani Mbambo as another gifted playwright to emerge out of Bulawayo. The play is set up well, the character convincingly explored, the tension and conflict piled up from scene to scene till the climax.”
As usual the 2015 Nama award-winner, Gift Chakuvinga, brought a polished performance as Jockoniah. Gift is one of those rare actors that gives everything they have to a character. He makes every effort to own every character he is given to play. In Double Funeral he lights up the stage as the evil boyfriend who knows everyone’s secrets. The play welcomes back the talents of Julian Tshuma and Nokuthaba Nyathi. Somehow the two actors brought to the stage a freshness that theatre currently needs. Rarely have I gone to the theatre to be surprised like I was by the cast of Double Funeral.
There were few weakness to the presentation. The most obvious was blacking out after every scene. The technique was too simple, and was used too much. There was also little thought and effort around scenography. Save for the sofas the stage was almost bare. And the checkered Bulawayo Theatre sofas have been over used. Most theatre productions that come to the theatre use the same sofas as props. As audiences we need new visuals, new surprises, and only a serious approach to scenography will bring us new experiences and new visuals.
Sadly the play was watched by few people. I honestly think it needs another run at the same venue, this time with more marketing. And if the producers of the show decide to bring it back then make an effort to watch it and experience the brilliant writing and acting.
