More African stories need to be told in theatre
Dumisani Ncube | Friday June 12, 2015 18:00
Ndlovu, a theatre director who has worked closely with Maru-a-pula school and Maitisong festivals on several projects, said there are a lot of rich African stories that can be depicted in theatre but that very few were highlighted.
“These stories have a strong cultural background that can work as an education tool. We tend to export our stories overseas where they tend to cast them to a wider audience,” he said. Ndlovu gave an example of the time he went with a cast to a theatre in England, where they found the audience watching the African derived Lion King.
He reflected that it is not supposed to be difficult for scriptwriters to come up with indigenous scripts, saying one just needs to observe their environment for inspiration.
“Look at the likes of Sarafina, it was depicting the difficult times in South Africa,” he said.
Ndlovu is the creative creator of Kurana, an African version of the famous fairy tale, Cinderella, which is set in the Kingdom of Penoni in ancient Egypt. The play is scheduled show this coming weekend at Maitisong theatre.
The director noted that telling African stories through theatre could help children grow up with a sense of cultural pride, knowing their values instead of being fed foreign stories that they cannot really identify with.
Several African stories such as Shaka Zulu have been shown at Maitisong theatre. On a local scale we have had plays such as Ketswakae that depicted our own social issues, being showcased on stage.
Ndlovu appreciated local producers’ argument that lack of finances was impeding on their productions, but advised them to seek for funds at parastatals such as the ministry of tourism, which supports culture and diversity projects.
“Without funds and sponsorships it will be a tough to grow theatre therefore the government and the private sector should play a role in ensuring that there are pouring funds in the industry,” he said.
The theatre director stated that there are a number of theatre actors who are unemployed due to insufficient financial boost to arts projects.
He also said that theatre could boost the economy and create employment as there were many jobs incorporated into theatre such as production assistants, designing, acting script writing and sound engineering.
Ndlovu added that the President Day competitions and Maitisong festival, among others, provided the right steps towards the growth of the Arts in Botswana.