IF there is anything more bracing in theatre circles, it is the emerging, and facade, of new playwrights with their creative new play scripts.
This is as stirring as it is thrilling to see how issues are explored, characters casted and directed.
Countless times, there have been jiffs when I have often thought there were no more new themes on stage to talk home about, yet each time I have walked into a theatre house my reverie has been mad for something new.
Surely, I have not been far wrong – most plays have roundly been on topics most of us are commonly familiar with, heard about and/or those we have seen before and experienced in real life, on television, in movies or in the neighbourhood and the wider community! This is why, essentially when the youthful Lusaka-based upcoming playwright Eric Kasomo Jr called to possibly email me his newest script Shades of my Village requesting for my scrutiny, I did not hesitate to oblige. I love new plays, and the great efforts the writers endeavour upon.
Eric acknowledged that I should put across my views knowing others would expediently learn one or two things from it by reading this column.
Eric reminded me of Ronald Whetton, a theatre critic and adjudicator who adjudicated the 1974 Theatre Association of Zambia (TAZ) festival during the performance of Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat.
Co-written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and performed by a coalesced team of pupils from Kantanshi, Mufulira and Butondo Secondary schools as junior members at Mufulira Little Theatre, Ronald wrote: “Balance the play’s levels,” Ronald wrote in the play brochure:
“A play should have brilliance, it should have dazzle, and yet it must never be vulgar, the director has to work for balance.”
I am aware very few will bring to mind Ronald Whetton, nevertheless, this year, 40 years ago. I still find the adjudicator’s observations on plays I never watched useful, constructive and functional. We can all learn from such interpretations even when the play as Eric’s is, is far different from what we are all doing in our theatre clubs.
Ronald went on: “I look for style in plays, and I found style. In this production, I found theatrical discipline. One other great ability is creating humour which every play should valuably posses. Ensure the set is splendidly conceived, and see that clarity of utterance is neatly done…”
Reading through Eric’s play Shades of my village is an offing I found quite rousing; an apt chronicle of rural life against modernity; secularly placed particularly for colleagues who have been distant to life in the villages.
Believably, life is not all like Eric put it; tough and backbreaking, but again, this is an ingenious and creative opinion of the author’s understanding especially of teachers and other government workers like nurses and police officers.
Lessons from Ronald’s review are plentiful, has Eric balanced his story? Is the language consequently suited to the theme and not vulgar? Is the subject matter balanced? Who is to blame for the fiasco of one of the teachers?
Eric’s story runs; Three newly graduated young teachers Juma, Zuze and Tembisile are deployed to work in a rural school in the village.
Juma becomes fully consumed by the set up, and easily gets infused in the life and style of the village; he becomes eccentric, seemingly lost in the life style, while Zuze and Tembisile remain faithful to their profession.
Juma fails to brave the attractions and temptations of the young school girls and engages himself into a romantic and amorous relationship with one Zenaida, a daughter of Kamuzimu, one of the terrors of wizardry in the village.
For Juma, his adoring relationship is at the expense of his long time fiancée Bernadette. And wretchedly, Zenaida falls pregnant, and Juma is accountable. Questions are asked and answers are demanded.
Will Juma marry this low-life villager at the expense of his well to do fiancé in Lusaka? Will Kamuzimu accept his daughter to be dumped after being impregnated? What will the school authorities say and do? Not only is this an under-age girl drawn in, outlandishly, this is a teacher-pupil sexual relationship!
On the other hand, will Zuze and Tembisile watch powerlessly as their friend Juma wails away in dishonour? This is the basic tenet of Eric’s play Shades of My Village.
Eric Kasomo has attempted at separating village life from that in cities. He deliberately portrays Kamuzimu as a despotic man with unfaltering appetite for blood, but then I see him as a man requesting for a fair judgement over his daughter’s pregnancy!
When Mr Chitotela the head teacher appears to emphasise his other teacher’s reprimand a class Eric portrays Mr Mabalule as a vulgar teacher. He screams abusively at his pupils when he finds them ‘making’ noise as they rehearsed a play.
He calls them ‘confused buffoons…’ and goes on “Eh eh eh quiet, quiet all of you! Ah galu imwe! Why are you behaving like visilu mwamwa? Mwakolwa? Can’t you see that you are disturbing your friends who are busy studying?”
The head teacher adds, “Fools, stupid fools! Have you run mad or what….”only to discover later the pupils were actually aiming to uplift the name of the school through serious rehearsals of a play they intended to perform during a festival!
Is it in a village set up where one can find a hashed up father who would rather sit back once a careless teacher impregnates his daughter?
The setting of the play is precise, and richly so as it is away from the conventional house and living rooms. I loved the idea of setting apart the classrooms and the office – I would expect an ingenious director to work round it and splendidly produce something meaningful.
As a play, Shades of my Village is a play that can go a long way mainly if the Ministry of Education can adopt it as an in-house production to be performed before all the teachers in the country as a reserve and resource for experience.
In my opinion, there is far much to learn from the play than there are blunders, and for me, I pass it for a good play, and Eric Kasomo jr takes the kudus for a worthy creative story.
@@@
Good to hear NATAAZ has received a bequest of awards meant for this year’s senior theatre festival.
Mobile City Suppliers of Lusaka, a firm engaged in the supply of sports equipments and other sports related materials has partnered with NATAAZ in support of the festival dubbed the Golden Jubilee Theatre celebrations set for Lusaka Playhouse from October 29 to November 1.
NATAAZ national chairperson9 Boyd Chibale confirmed the donation during the week saying his team was glad and thankful, and was looking forward to more contributions.
“We are pleased with Mobile City Suppliers, and wish to acknowledge this with pleasure; we need additional contributions, we need people to join with us. We need food and accommodation for our participants in addition to more prizes,” Boyd said in a statement.
@@@
As you read this column, I would have travelled for one of the two itineraries; Nkana-Kitwe Arts Society’s play performance Leonard Koloko’s What Tomorrow May Bring set for performances on September 5 and 6 or will be at the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Presbytery drama festival 4 – 7 September in Lusaka.
I have watched What Tomorrow May Bring before, and always I find it endearing as the theme is contemporary, and easily followed.
The UCZ is celebrating the Golden Jubilee following the establishment 50 years ago of the church in Zambia. I will give more details on this festival later, as I am destined to be part of the panel of adjudicators.
Twenty congregations’ drama groups are scheduled to battle it out, and some exciting play titles I noticed on the program include The Hidden Truth, Nothing to Dance About the Jubilee, Tears of an Innocent
Orphan, Wages of Sin and The Cry of Misozi. Others are The Strength of Reasoning Thinking, 50 Years of Golden Jubilation and Behind the Hidden Curtains, and poetic recitals among others are The Worry of My Days, Golden Jubilee and Our Pride.
@@@
Chingola Arts Society had the Zambian Nite last weekend graced Mayor of Chingola Titus Tembo who called for the conservation of Zambia’s culture through dress, food, music and behaviour.
“Culture identifies any group of people and any country so it is important to conserve it,” Councillor Tembo said.
Bwalya Chikwanda, the CAS Chairman had earlier welcome all to the Zambian Nite and urged them to partake in all activities presented that evening.
The Zambian Nite which is an annual event on the calendar of activities organized by CAS every year was attended by close to three hundred enthusiastic Chingola residents who also included some resident foreigners.
According to Ackson Tembo, the event was spiced by all types of local drinks from katata, mujuju, munkoyo to katubi, and all the dishes one could think of from chikanda, bondwe, Dingi (game meat), assorted fish, mbuzi (goat meat), mbeba, mushroom and other various dishes for tasting.
There was Zambian music which included traditional dances and forklore music throughout the night.
-John.kapesa818@yaoo.co.uk – 0955-0967-0977-710975