The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
THE premiere of the theatre piece Voices In my Head at the National Art Gallery last week proved many things to many people, particularly to the followers of theatre in Bulawayo. First, it proved beyond doubt that there is a theatre audience in this city, an enthusiastic audience craving for new and refreshing stories. The attendance itself even shocked the producers of the show. (They publicly admitted this on the night). We are not just talking about friends getting free tickets and coming to cheer their friends but a paying audience.
Secondly, the play proved that people of Bulawayo are willing to pay for the arts as long the arts events are reasonably priced.
At $3 per head the price for the play was good enough. Thirdly, the play proved that there is room for new voices in theatre and Elliot Moyo is the new voice in the Bulawayo theatre circle. His writing is new, fresh and full of promise.
The young playwright was warmly received, not because he is young and new to theatre but mostly because he is a good writer. His writing is fluid, and exhibited the finer details only someone with a good eye for detail could have seen and put down on paper. The young cast was also fresh and refreshing to watch on stage.
The most interesting thing about the play, as far as I am concerned, is the technique the young playwright employed. His main character, Mandy has a split personality. She is split into three different characters and this was interesting to watch, especially how the three characters played out on stage. Donna N, having caught a glimpse of her in the unfinished film project Jane the Ghost and also seen her on stage singing and sometimes MC-ing caught the eye of the audience. She is obviously multi–talented and if properly groomed will go very far. The young cast also exhibited massive singing potential — though their singing bordered on “praise singing.”
While Moyo’s writing is fresh and full of promise his play direction is rudimental and needs serious improvement. There were bits and even whole moments when one felt like the actors were merely regurgitating dialogue and not acting. (Actors must always bring something to the stage, not just their bodies and it is the director’s duty to make sure they do so). Exult Ncube as Mtho, the young husband and later on as Mandy’s father could have done much better in playing the different roles he was given. However, he played them like they were one role/character. This obviously falls on the director.
The director should have seen this during rehearsal and worked with the actor in creating two different characters. However, these shortcomings cannot take away the good of the production. It was worth every cent the audience paid to watch the play.
The director/playwright, producer and the cast must be commended for their hard work. In fact the play deserves a proper run as one performance is not enough.
On a different note the Ingwebu Cultural Dance Competition took place at MaKhumalo Beer Hall in Makokoba. The competition is growing with each edition, growing particularly in terms of Ingwebu’s support of the event. When we got to the venue we were wonderfully surprised by how the venue/stage had been transformed. Everything had been turned red and white — the corporate colours of the sponsors. The competition comprised two categories; Imbube and traditional dances.
Six groups were in the Imbube category. Blacks Tigers were crowned the winners while Great Stars were runners up. In the traditional dance category Iluba Lemvelo came tops while How Mine Chihoda were runners up.
The Ingwebu Cultural Dance Competition is an annual dance competition that takes place in October. The finals are usually held at MaKhumalo Beer Hall in Makokoba.
