The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe Leisure Correspondent—
THE theatre scene was abuzz in 2016 with a number of amazing local and international shows staged throughout the country.
| Although there were some very mundane productions that were also showcased, they were few and far between. |
Topping the list of highlights of the theatre scene in 2016 was the creation of new spaces to enable more people to engage in theatre, thus job creation and platforms for social discourse created.
Such spaces include the new Theatre in The Park as well as Theatre pa Bridge in Highfield, which is still being spruced up.
There were also a number of sponsored productions showing that civil society and the corporate sector are ready to partner with theatre folks as long as they see value in the partnership.
A play like “Much Ado About Nothing” was heavily funded by the corporate sector while the annual pantomime show for 2016 “Snow White”, also received some decent funding from the corporate sector.
Plays such as “State of the Nation” and “Liberation” were also backed by some modest funding from donors.
With all these exciting developments happening, if one were to vote for the best production in 2016, “Much Ado About Nothing”, would get the accolade and for the best local adaption, it would go to Shimmer Chinodya’s “Harvest of Thorns Classic”.
However, in the midst of all these great developments, there are three areas that need attention if the theatre scene is to grow.
Preparation
Unlike Reps Theatre, which has a system that showcases productions at a particular time and can go on for weeks without staging a production, Theatre in The Park has a different approach as it accommodates literally everyone from the established players in the game to the college students, staging shows on a weekly basis.
Although the latter’s approach has given room for budding talent to be identified and honed, it has also resulted in a number of substandard productions being showcased to a paying audience, which in a way affects the number of those attending shows as they fear to be short-changed.
For instance, a show like the recently held “Snow White” at Reps Theatre saw auditions being called and the cast of over 30 people started rehearsing early October for a show that was only being staged in December.
On the other hand, an original play such as “Caged”, with a cast of less than ten people, is rehearsed for just under two weeks and taken to the people. Whilst there are differences in budgets between the two plays, it is only ideal to have enough time to rehearse so that the cast is not worried about getting their lines wrong and executes the characters well.
For most of these “rushed” productions, there are glimpses of brilliance as they are being staged. If only the producer and director had taken a bit more time in polishing their acts, the plays would have probably become favourites for many.
At the end of the day, the audience has to get the full value for their money.
Writing
A number of new productions such as “Lamentations @12”, “Graduates” and “The Goblin”, among many others, were all written and staged this year, bringing some variation from the monotonous recycling of adaptions from gurus like Shakespeare.
However, there is a need for playwrights to explore other themes because most of these new plays lack thematic variety with a huge emphasis on issues to do with the girl child and Zimbabwe’s political situation.
Yes, these are topical issues trending within society but as they say, “. . . . too much of anything is not good”.
While issues to do with the girl child and Zimbabwe’s political sphere provoke debate on how to tackle social issues, there is also need to have plays that have nothing to do with these things to avoid monotony, hence give the paying audience something to look out for.
Dancehall is indeed the biggest genre in Zimbabwe today but not every musician has a dancehall track, so the same should be done in theatre, cater for the different tastes in the market.
Some might argue that the producers will be targeting civil certain donors, especially NGOs, to commission their productions but surely there are various subjects to explore — nowadays there are issues of climate change, the need to go green, nobody is exploring these areas and yet they can still get good funding from the corporate sector and even Government.
Marketing
The weakest link for most theatre shows in 2016 was the marketing bit. Unlike other forms of art that push their shows on posters, radio, television and other platforms; theatre shows were mainly advertised via social media platforms, particularly Facebook.
This approach limits the number of people who get to know of what is going on in the sector and results in plays being staged in empty auditoriums or for fellow players within the sector, meaning that the idea of making money from gate takings like what happenings at musical concerts is just but a fallacy.
In 2017, there is need for players in the sector to change their approach and adopt methods such as giving out handbills ahead of shows, filming their productions and having them broadcast on television so that people can have an appreciation of what theatre is all about.
They can also sell tickets to organisations as opposed to waiting for individuals to buy single tickets. Most musicians sell tickets to corporates and this helps to boost sales.
