Zimpapers Logo

set to feature before the end of this year.
At Reps Theatre there will be “Robinson Crusoe” as festive season pantomime.
At Theatre in the Park, after the performance of “In the Continuum” by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter (22-26th November), there will be performances of “No Voice No Choices” to conclude successfully the ambitious theatre programme that accommodated a new play every month.
In terms of what has happened, it is fair to conclude that the most dominant feature of the 2011 theatre year has been the large number of viable theatre collaborations. Viable theatre collaboration has been on various fronts. One such front has been the collaboration between Edzai Isu Theatre Arts Project of Highfield under the leadership of Tafadzwa Muzondo and Zvido Zvevanhu Arts Ensemble of Mufakose under the leadership of Gibson Sarari.
Zvido Zvevanhu produced the play “No Voice No Choices” which was Zimbabwe’s entry into the Sadc Best of the Best Community Theatre Festival held in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 11-12 2011.
The play which was first performed at Prince Edward School on September 21 to mark the International Day of Peace is an example of viable complementary of excellent skills in drama and dance producing catchy, vibrant, topical and very communicative theatre.
One hopes that many community groups in theatre and in dance will be motivated by the success of this collaboration where music, dance and drama skills are woven into a formidable theatre.
Such collaboration produces not only high quality theatre but also very marketable theatre products, which are dominated by rich indigenous performing art forms that help to identify Zimbabwean theatre.
The production of the play “Ten Years from Now” that was presented at Theatre in the Park in Harare in June by Rooftop Promotions was a result of a multi-faceted collaboration.
Firstly, the play was co authored by one playwright based in Bulawayo (Raisedon Baya) and myself through the Internet.
Secondly, there was collaborative directing of the play by Daves Guzha and Patience Tawengwa. Thirdly, there was a rare collaboration among Zimbabwe’s leading theatre houses and their prominent thespians.
These included Global Arts Trust (Walter Mparutsa), Rooftop Promotions (Daves Guzha), Patsime Edutainment Trust (Jasen Mphepo) and Fine Line Media Trust (Obrien Mudyiwenyama) coming together to produce an unforgettable, futuristic and highly prophetic theatre that dialogued bravely on critical socio-economic and political aspirations of Zimbabwe.
Another front in the collaborative theatre of 2011 was that of British theatre director Giles Ramsay directing Blessing Hungwe’s “Burn Mukwerekwere Burn” that premiered at Hifa 2011 and has been taken on a very successful performance tour of universities and colleges.
“Burn Mukwerekwere Burn” is also a good result of the collaboration between MKN Theatre Productions and Development Arts Group featuring Hungwe, Michael Kudakwashe, Patrick Tembo, Rumbidzai Karize and Brezhnev Guvheya. Associated with this collaboration are the two Hifa Direct projects of 2011 of “The Come Back” and “Colour of Dreams”.
Two Zimbabwean directors, Eunice Tava and Elizabeth Muchemwa collaborated in directing Christopher Mlalazi “Colour of Dreams” with amazing success similar to that achieved by the collaboration of Leeroy Gono and Tatenda Mangosho in their direction of “The Comeback”.
These directors were beneficiaries of the British Council-funded Hifa Direct, which is training and mentoring initiative for Zimbabwean theatre directors.
In the last four years the project has brought to the Harare International Festival of the Arts, British theatre practitioners to work with young Zimbabwean theatre directors by providing mentorship and assistance in producing local plays. This collaboration between the British Council and Hifa has also demonstrated the value of international assistance in the development of the Zimbabwean theatre industry.
Another collaboration was the directing of John Pfumojena by Elton Mnjanana and Melissa Everleigh in the physical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” which also premiered at Hifa 2011. The involvement of Snoden Fillmon and Maylene Chenjerayi from Tumbuka Dance Company in this production was another demonstration of viable collaboration. Cont Mhlanga director and founder of Amakhosi Theatre worked with Rooftop Promotions in the production of “The People” which is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “The Enemy of the People”. This was a collaboration of the two of the most prominent theatre houses in the country.
The play was also performed by the collaborative cast of Mudyiwenyama, Sarah Mpofu, Mphepo, Guzha, Tafadzwa Hananda, Vincent Ngwenya and Getrude Munhamo. Another form of collaboration in theatre was that which brought Raisedon Baya from Bulawayo to Harare, not with his Bulawayo cast but with his play “The Two Wives of John Mambo” to cast and direct Harare based actors.
The result of this collaboration was a remarkable masterpiece of theatre which Harare audiences would have missed had this collaboration not materialised. There are many plays that are written by Harare-based playwrights and produced in Harare which could be taken by the same directors to Bulawayo to cast Bulawayo actors.
This inexpensive collaboration would ensure that successful plays produced in Harare or in Bulawayo are taken by the same directors to other cities rather than trying to accommodate touring casts.
On November 8 Harare’s newest theatre venue, the Nicoz Diamond Theatre welcomed the performance of August Strindberg’s “The Father” presented by Complete Arts Project and Global Arts Trust in collaboration with Intergrationteatern and Stockholm Improvisationteatern of Sweden with the support of the Swedish Arts Council. This collaboration of two Zimbabwean theatre groups and two Swedish theatre organisations created the Zimbabwe Swedish Theatre Workshop, which in May workshopped three Swedish plays from which “The Father” was chosen for production with Zimbabwean participants at the workshop.
“The Father” will be taken on the national tour that will be organised with the collaboration of four Zimbabwe Theatre Association clusters. The new play “In the Continuum” that will conclude 2011 programme of Theatre in the Park will be collaboratively directed by Zimbabwe’s foremost export to Broadway and Hollywood, Danai Gurira and the prolific Patience Tawengwa.
Theatre in the Park will conclude its 2011 theatre programme with “Fesbhuku” by Savanna Trust which will run from November 29 to December 17.
“Fesbhuku” is based on the new social networking phenomenon. In the absence of specific regulation, how does this platform of expression impact on remote communities that are suddenly fast tracked into “ownership” of this powerful tool.

l Feedback: [email protected]