Kyambogo students bring ‘The Bride’ to life
PRESENTING Austin Bukenya’s The Bride last Saturday were the Kyambogo University second-year students of Literature. The university authorities are to blame for what went wrong.
By Emmanuel Sejjengo
PRESENTING Austin Bukenya’s The Bride last Saturday were the Kyambogo University second-year students of Literature. The university authorities are to blame for what went wrong.
As I watched, I imagined what sparks this young team could have produced if it had been provided with artistic lighting and any stage better than the one you would find in a struggling UPE school. At the very least, the management could have done away with the cobwebs and made the stage presentable.
But the students were wise enough to make the production better in such circumstances. Their flashes came through with some of the costumes, the audibility of phrase (Not seen a dog that protects meat between its teeth), character interpretation and the clear tones of our cultural nuances.
Such are the hallmarks of a good drama that made this team deserve a pat on the bark.
And for the student director, Elison Bishanga, the choice of play was right. The Bride is a story of a bride-to-be torn between two forces. Tradition has it that to wed the heir to the clan throne is a high achievement and even without a rightful heir, better to marry anything in that lineage.
Yet, the more progressive forces present a rightful, youthful man who is lavishing the bride with presence and presents.
This is presented on a backdrop of traditions such as the placing of a spear at the bride’s compound for the groom to make his intentions known. About the spear, parents ask each other, what do you think it wants to spear?
The play is still a timeless classic and remains one of the few Ugandan plays worth putting in that category. But interpretations to phrases like, “It is in bed that a woman wins her battlesâ€, have mutated over time.
It showed in the audience reactions; in part horrified, in part funny and partly matter-of-fact. The students produce these shows annually.
PRESENTING Austin Bukenya’s The Bride last Saturday were the Kyambogo University second-year students of Literature. The university authorities are to blame for what went wrong.
As I watched, I imagined what sparks this young team could have produced if it had been provided with artistic lighting and any stage better than the one you would find in a struggling UPE school. At the very least, the management could have done away with the cobwebs and made the stage presentable.
But the students were wise enough to make the production better in such circumstances. Their flashes came through with some of the costumes, the audibility of phrase (Not seen a dog that protects meat between its teeth), character interpretation and the clear tones of our cultural nuances.
Such are the hallmarks of a good drama that made this team deserve a pat on the bark.
And for the student director, Elison Bishanga, the choice of play was right. The Bride is a story of a bride-to-be torn between two forces. Tradition has it that to wed the heir to the clan throne is a high achievement and even without a rightful heir, better to marry anything in that lineage.
Yet, the more progressive forces present a rightful, youthful man who is lavishing the bride with presence and presents.
This is presented on a backdrop of traditions such as the placing of a spear at the bride’s compound for the groom to make his intentions known. About the spear, parents ask each other, what do you think it wants to spear?
The play is still a timeless classic and remains one of the few Ugandan plays worth putting in that category. But interpretations to phrases like, “It is in bed that a woman wins her battlesâ€, have mutated over time.
It showed in the audience reactions; in part horrified, in part funny and partly matter-of-fact. The students produce these shows annually.