Uganda, a Nation of Drama, Part 4

Oct 25, 2019

A new birth: What we are experiencing is a re-birth of Ugandan drama. We have not taken off from where we stopped.

By Emmanuel Ssejjengo

"Theatre is dead," many, including celebrated playwright Alex Mukulu, have said.

If that does not define nostalgia, what should? For anyone who knows about the golden era of Ugandan drama (the 1970 and 80s), through to the war years, surely things are amiss.

For those who are ignorant of that past, there is much going on.  What we are experiencing is a re-birth of Ugandan drama. We have not taken off from where we stopped.

The new kid has taken on a different shape, a different colour and a new race has just landed onto our theatre scene.  It was not revolutionary, abrupt but rather, like a seed, arose from the ground over time.

One of the notable stages of this revival was in 2014, when Deborah Assiimwe started The Kampala International Theatre festival, an annual exhibition of short plays, readings and lectures about everything theatre.

Participants came from countries across Africa, the Arab World and Europe. When it had really gained momentum, she opted to take it out of Kampala, to Lunkula Island in Mukono.

The remoteness of the island limited audiences, sadly. It is back to Kampala this year, taking place at Ndere Centre and Uganda Museum and running from November 26 to November 30. The results have been quick in coming.

A year after the reading of Joshua Mmali's The Betrothal play at the festival, it was staged as a full blown drama at the National Theatre. A year after, it attracted an entrance fee of sh100,000, which is a landmark in contemporary theatergoing experiences.

The fee was inclusive of the book and a cocktail. Other playwrights of the English expression like Judith Adong have made inroads, especially with Silent Voices, a play that won her recognition across Europe.

The likes of John Segawa are back to serious business. His recent Zzisanze play, staged at National Theatre was a brave and bold move with political and poetic overtones.

Segawa's cast was varied in age and outlook, with a fair amount of the ones referred to as urban youth like Laura Kahunde and the downtown bred. It also had old timers like Ruth Kalibala. The audience was as varied as the cast. 

Poetry is the future

The poets are the future of theatre, perhaps. It is a movement that was started by the Lantern Meet of Poets, who hold shows at National Theatre.

That group has grown its wings since and now we have poets like Peter Kagayi (founding member of Lantern Poets) putting on full dramas.

A group was recently in Germany staging the cunningly titled Romeo and Juliet in Kampala. These groups attract more youthful audience, and present an array of interest themes ranging from political freedom, identity and love.

The audience has moved from downtown to uptown, from old to young, from streetwise to elitist.  It presents a problem however. Theatre etiquette has been thrown out of the window.

The warning signs were seen during the 90s cultural revival when audiences would refuse to honour the national anthem (by standing up) and yet do so for the Buganda anthem.

Alex Mukulu's 30 Years of Bananas, recently staged by Phillip Luswata, gives insight to our disjointed sense of nationalism. 

What we have with the new audience is disruption throughout the productions. Many would not know the meaning of a third bell, many more do not know the rules of foyer bars, and many interrupt actors on stage.

Technology has not helped matters and phones keep ringing and many spend the two or three hours of the theatre experience, while in the auditorium on WhatsApp. That light from the phone can be irritating for a neighbour.

It is high time playhouses pinned up rules on theatre walls, and we can only hope the millennials can still look up and read. The rude option is the one I once witnessed at Bat Valley Theatre.

During an act, a woman in the audience spoke loudly on phone. Actor Wycliff Luyombya, in the middle of an act, stood still, took a deep breath and said, "Let's all wait for this very important woman to complete her call."

Jeers from the crowd followed and when the woman arrogantly continued with the call, Luyombya loudly called for the bouncers to throw her out, which they did amidst cheers.

After the interval, when she made an attempt to re-enter the theatre, she was again bounced, to more ululations. Such is the drama that comes with bad manners in theatre. 

In the youth, lies our hope. And some young men and women are getting down to the serious impressive business of theatre. 

 

Find part one here: http://bit.ly/31w42nv

 

Find part two here:  http://bit.ly/2N0qJuS

 

Find part three here: http://bit.ly/2Wanh57

 

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