Ntare to bring Biro to Uganda
Dec 20, 2002
New Vision’s Opiyo Oloya caught up with Ntare Mbaho Mwine, the US-based Ugandan actor, as he made final preparations for his stage debut in Uganda in January
New Vision’s Opiyo Oloya caught up with Ntare Mbaho Mwine, the US-based Ugandan actor, as he made final preparations for his stage debut in Uganda in January.
Question: Do you feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to do it right, to make sure the message comes across (since you are dealing with a very critical audience that is quite aware of the material)?
Answer: I do feel a sense of responsibility to do it right. That is a burden I carry with any of the work that I do. What makes this particular project unique is that I have always felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to return home to Uganda –– to reach out and share my work with my family, friends and contemporaries back home.
It was more than a decade ago that I met the late Professor Rose Mbowa. She was the head of the Music Dance and Drama (MDD) Dept. at Makerere University and was the first person to introduce me to the theatre scene in Uganda.
Her death was a great loss to me. She always insisted that it was the artists’ responsibility to “reach outâ€. Whenever I returned home, she would set up workshops for me to conduct with the students in the MDD Dept. She offered me a teaching position at the University.
I was just finishing school however, and was not interested in getting back into academics. I had my eyes set on working in New York and Los Angeles where I have lived for 10 years.
I returned home a number of times after Professor Mbowa passed away and continued to “reach out†to local theatre artists. I spent the majority of my time simply listening. The artistes I met with all had remarkable stories to tell.
Having spent most of my life abroad, I often wondered: what, if anything, would I have to say about life in Uganda.
That all became clear to me two years ago when a Ugandan friend of mine told me the most compelling story I had ever heard in my life. I have devoted most of my energies and resources over the past two years toward fine-tuning this remarkable story. It has been the most challenging and rewarding project I’ve ever worked on.
Biro is about a Ugandan who is struggling to live with many of the pressing issues that Africa as a whole is currently wrestling with –– The struggle for democracy, AIDS, and the dream of a better life in the so-called first world.
It is the choices that Biro makes in dealing with these issues that make this story so compelling. I think it’s fair to say that Ugandans lean more towards the conservative side of things. Biro on the other hand is anything but conservative. It should make for an interesting meeting. I am very curious to see how Ugandan audiences will feel about Biro.
Do you also feel that staging Biro in Uganda will in someway (I do not want to use the word ‘legitimise’) give it a blessing as it prepares to go on the road elsewhere on the continent and in Europe and North America?
At its core Biro, is a story about a Ugandan and the unique struggles he faces in his homeland. Even though the play deals with universal themes and could very well premiere in any city across the globe, It only has one home and that is Uganda. It wouldn’t seem right to premiere the play anywhere else.
This became very clear to me after a reading I performed at the Ugandan North American Association Convention in Las Vegas this past September. The play struck a deep chord with the Ugandans at the convention, which left an indelible impression on me.
A woman came up to me after the performance in Las Vegas. I could see that she was holding back tears as she was talking to me. Her late husband had faced some of the same obstacles that Biro had faced.
Unfortunately, her husband was not able to overcome them. He died a young man. She told me that she felt the play served as a tribute to her husband and all Ugandans who have struggled to survive against insurmountable odds. Before we parted ways, she made me promise to share this story with our people at home. I am looking forward to keeping my word in January when I premiere Biro at National Theatre in Kampala.
In your mind, how would you define “success†in looking at how Biro will be received in Uganda?
Success for me will be if my parents leave the theatre on the opening night feeling proud of their son. I will also feel that the play is successful if it can help support the efforts of Nsambya Home Care Services.
Proceeds from each ticket sale of Biro will go to Nsambya Home Care Services — an NGO under Nsambya Hospital that strictly caters to AIDS patients and their families. The programme is headed by Dr. Maria Nannyonga Musoke. She was so pleased to learn that we plan to assist her programme. I am hoping that Biro will help make a difference in her work.
What are some of the additions/editing/enhancements made since Las Vegas — what will Ugandans see that was not there in Las Vegas?
The entire production is a lot leaner than it was a few months ago. I have trimmed a few pages off from the script that was read in Las Vegas. I have also trimmed a few pounds from my body. My friends have been teasing me about the so-called “Biro dietâ€.
I have managed to go from 185 pounds to just under 150 pounds in a few months’ time. And I have not shaved in months. All of this and I am feeling healthier than ever. I will be collaborate with the artistic director of the National Theatre, Robert Serumaga in staging Biro.
What Ugandans will see in January will be the fully realised production of Biro to date.
Question: Do you feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to do it right, to make sure the message comes across (since you are dealing with a very critical audience that is quite aware of the material)?
Answer: I do feel a sense of responsibility to do it right. That is a burden I carry with any of the work that I do. What makes this particular project unique is that I have always felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to return home to Uganda –– to reach out and share my work with my family, friends and contemporaries back home.
It was more than a decade ago that I met the late Professor Rose Mbowa. She was the head of the Music Dance and Drama (MDD) Dept. at Makerere University and was the first person to introduce me to the theatre scene in Uganda.
Her death was a great loss to me. She always insisted that it was the artists’ responsibility to “reach outâ€. Whenever I returned home, she would set up workshops for me to conduct with the students in the MDD Dept. She offered me a teaching position at the University.
I was just finishing school however, and was not interested in getting back into academics. I had my eyes set on working in New York and Los Angeles where I have lived for 10 years.
I returned home a number of times after Professor Mbowa passed away and continued to “reach out†to local theatre artists. I spent the majority of my time simply listening. The artistes I met with all had remarkable stories to tell.
Having spent most of my life abroad, I often wondered: what, if anything, would I have to say about life in Uganda.
That all became clear to me two years ago when a Ugandan friend of mine told me the most compelling story I had ever heard in my life. I have devoted most of my energies and resources over the past two years toward fine-tuning this remarkable story. It has been the most challenging and rewarding project I’ve ever worked on.
Biro is about a Ugandan who is struggling to live with many of the pressing issues that Africa as a whole is currently wrestling with –– The struggle for democracy, AIDS, and the dream of a better life in the so-called first world.
It is the choices that Biro makes in dealing with these issues that make this story so compelling. I think it’s fair to say that Ugandans lean more towards the conservative side of things. Biro on the other hand is anything but conservative. It should make for an interesting meeting. I am very curious to see how Ugandan audiences will feel about Biro.
Do you also feel that staging Biro in Uganda will in someway (I do not want to use the word ‘legitimise’) give it a blessing as it prepares to go on the road elsewhere on the continent and in Europe and North America?
At its core Biro, is a story about a Ugandan and the unique struggles he faces in his homeland. Even though the play deals with universal themes and could very well premiere in any city across the globe, It only has one home and that is Uganda. It wouldn’t seem right to premiere the play anywhere else.
This became very clear to me after a reading I performed at the Ugandan North American Association Convention in Las Vegas this past September. The play struck a deep chord with the Ugandans at the convention, which left an indelible impression on me.
A woman came up to me after the performance in Las Vegas. I could see that she was holding back tears as she was talking to me. Her late husband had faced some of the same obstacles that Biro had faced.
Unfortunately, her husband was not able to overcome them. He died a young man. She told me that she felt the play served as a tribute to her husband and all Ugandans who have struggled to survive against insurmountable odds. Before we parted ways, she made me promise to share this story with our people at home. I am looking forward to keeping my word in January when I premiere Biro at National Theatre in Kampala.
In your mind, how would you define “success†in looking at how Biro will be received in Uganda?
Success for me will be if my parents leave the theatre on the opening night feeling proud of their son. I will also feel that the play is successful if it can help support the efforts of Nsambya Home Care Services.
Proceeds from each ticket sale of Biro will go to Nsambya Home Care Services — an NGO under Nsambya Hospital that strictly caters to AIDS patients and their families. The programme is headed by Dr. Maria Nannyonga Musoke. She was so pleased to learn that we plan to assist her programme. I am hoping that Biro will help make a difference in her work.
What are some of the additions/editing/enhancements made since Las Vegas — what will Ugandans see that was not there in Las Vegas?
The entire production is a lot leaner than it was a few months ago. I have trimmed a few pages off from the script that was read in Las Vegas. I have also trimmed a few pounds from my body. My friends have been teasing me about the so-called “Biro dietâ€.
I have managed to go from 185 pounds to just under 150 pounds in a few months’ time. And I have not shaved in months. All of this and I am feeling healthier than ever. I will be collaborate with the artistic director of the National Theatre, Robert Serumaga in staging Biro.
What Ugandans will see in January will be the fully realised production of Biro to date.