Dramatists fight HIV stigma through music, dance and drama

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Under a big mango tree in the home of Cornelius Mwima in Butaleja, a small Eastern Uganda district, children shook decorated calabashes, men made guttural sounds, and with the cadence from the percussion instruments, everyone was soon dancing.

Sweat run down the faces of the performers and drenched their costumes. It was a taste of what lay ahead that day in a collaborative performance between members of Hatagote Development Association (HDA) and six visiting students from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
The six-year-old HDA is a non-commercial group that uses drama to find solutions for problems such as poverty, unemployment, domestic violence, HIV/Aids stigma and discrimination.

“Our vision is to sensitise people because society has got more salient matters political, social and economic that need to be addressed by a counsellor and that counsellor should be music, dance and drama,” says group director and coordinator Mwima.

Performers combine music, dance and drama to educate villagers.PHOTO BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

He remembers how HIV/Aids patients used to be shunned in Butaleja, and the trauma it caused them.
“We developed a play on HIV/Aids to fight stigma and discrimination and we performed it in schools, churches and homes in the whole of Butaleja, and that helped change the attitudes of many people,” Mwima says.

The 35 member group was praised by Minister Without Portfolio, Dorothy Hyuha, and soon, they were being invited to perform in Pallisa and Masindi, and even took their educational drama to Bungoma in Kenya.
It was on such missions that this repertory group caught the eye of the East Africa Theatre Institute (EATI) that offered to add a professional touch to their performances by training its members. EATI also linked HDA to the Northwestern University students to put up a public health performance together.

The result, a play titled Obunghono (lunyore for cleanliness), was staged on Saturday at Busolwe Township Primary School in Butaleja.
It’s about a child who’s down with a bad case of vomiting and diarrhoea, forcing the parents to consult a witchdoctor.
They are told their child has been bewitched by a neighbour. The witchdoctor’s demands are unaffordable, and the parents turn their frustration on the neighbour.

A village meeting is convened to resolve the conflict, where it’s discovered the cause of the illness is actually poor hygiene.
This truth opens the eyes of the parents who share one room with goats, hens, dirty plates and cups.

It’s one of those performances that educates about the importance of proper sanitation and better hygiene in a very entertaining way.
“Theatre for development provokes the members of the community to dramatise the challenges they face and suggest solutions,” the executive office of EATI Uganda Chapter and the Director of House of Talent (HOT), Andrew Ssebaggala says. “There is closeness between the actors and the spectators because both formulate the performances and own them.”
The fact that the presentations are often in the open without a raised stage leaves no gulf between the performers and the audience.

As was the case during the performance of Obunghono, the people of Butaleja visibly getting a kick out of bazungu acting alongside their own (Case Martin was a witch doctor’s helping hand while Julie Kornfeld acted as one of the children in the play) and finding humour in the way the Americans seemed to fumble through their traditional dances, jumped onto the stage to show them a few ropes, adding that extemporaneous beauty.
“The performance was very good because it showed how theatre for development works in Uganda and how we can we can use it to further our education and performance,” Martin says.

“I had never really participated in a performance that had anything to do with public health so it was really interesting,” Irene Swanenberg says. “I liked that this form of theatre uses the community itself; like people talking to their own people, and I think it should be encouraged in all parts of the country.”
As such, community theatre groups like HDA have found the best cultural expression through which a number of lives in the rural communities have been transformed.
Unfortunately, they have to depend on good Samaritans for financial support which is in most cases not forthcoming.

--Saturday Monitor, May 16, 2009

Our very own Robin Hood

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

On Thursday and all through the weekend, the Kampala Amateur Dramatics Society returned to the National Theatre with yet another end of year pantomime after last year’s The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Written and directed by Tom Adlam and produced by Flora Aduk, Robin Hood of Mabira Forest draws from the 12th Century English story of Robin Hood, who shuns his wealthy family and leads a band of outlaws into a forest from where he becomes a hero by robbing the rich to give to the poor.

It opens with King Richard (Tom Adlam) departing for war and entrusting his Kingdom of Uganda to his young brother, Prince John (Alistair Taylor).

Under the wicked influence of the Sheriff of Kampalaham (Dick Stockley; known to his friends as Big King Dickie), John and his clique impose unkind taxes on the poor who, to make things worse, are already finding hunger and poverty unbearable.

Meanwhile, the rich go about singing “money oh my honey” and the deprived have nothing but to grumble at the unfairness of it all; paying taxes yet the roads still have “cracks,” and of the rich having so much but not sparing a few shillings for the poor.

The redeemer comes in the name of Robin Hood, who, flanked by his band of “Merry Women” (in medieval England they were called “Merry Men”), including a nun – Sister Tuck (Sharren Glencross) who waylay the rich barons, rob them and take to the poor people of Kampalaham.

“Robin is a special hero for children, whose innate sense of fairplay and morality immediately recognise the intrinsic justice of his direct approach to the redistribution of wealth,” reads a note from the director.

As the plot develops, a plan is pitched by Robin’s foes to nab him at an archery contest and throw him in “the deepest, darkest, dankest dungeon,” but will they catch the hero of Robin Hood’s calibre?

That Mabira Forest is the home of Robin Hood could be viewed by critics as satirical to the present establishment that earlier this year sought to cut down the forest to plant sugarcanes but met stiff resistance from the masses.

The musical comedy is further given the Ugandan flavour with some of the characters adopting the names of local celebrities. There is for example Bobi Wine (Lucas Haitsma), a little boy of about eight years who goes the extra mile to wear a T-shirt with “Ghetto President” emblazoned on the front, an oversized cap and the accompanying bling-bling.

Just like his little friend Bebe Cool (Alex Sherwen), they get distracted during the show but are adorable all the same especially when ‘Bobi’ pulls some awkwardly slow but hilarious break-dance strokes on the stage.

Staying true to British tradition, the hero (the “principal boy”) – Robin Hood is played by a young woman (Hope Laila) and another major role – that of a large, older woman (the “dame”) known as Widow “Booty” Winterbottom is excellently portrayed by David Griffiths.

And like all traditional pantomimes, there’s lots of audience participation through music and rhetorical questions for comic effect. But slapstick is stretched (much to the laughter of the audience) when a gentleman is wooed from the audience to the stage only to have his face smacked with pie.

The romance between the “so dashing, so brave” Robin Hood and the feisty Maid Marion (Barbara Kasekende) is funny but nothing beats the expert portrayal of the huge crush the “horrible, hideously ugly (especially with that wig) Widow Winterbottom” has over the principal baddie, the Sheriff of Kampalaham.

Although the director called it a fun thing for children, Robin Hood of Mabira Forest also appeals to adults because it tackles salient issues in contemporary Uganda; the wide gap between the rich and the poor, the misuse of public funds and poverty. In fact, one is bound to ask, when is Robin Hood coming to rescue Ugandans from the political shackles that hold us down?

The production will be staged again today and tomorrow, 7:30p.m. and 3p.m. respectively and tickets are available at the National Theatre Box Office for Shs12,000.

--Saturday Monitor, December 13, 2008

Sharing artistic experiences

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

At the National Theatre on Wednesday evening, Uganda Theatre Network (UTN), gave theatregoers a taste of what will be showcased during the fifth Eastern Africa Theatre Institute (EATI) regional festival in Ethiopia from 22-27 November 2008.

Phillip Luswatas latest play, Crazy Storms was staged together with a musical production from Bitone Children’s Centre and Troupe titled The Princess Wish for Marriage.

Crazy Storms, which is directed by Mr. Richard Kagolobya, a lecturer of drama at Makerere University, is a product of the play-devising workshop by Performing Arts Cooperation between Sweden and Eastern Africa (Pacsea). It dramatises the experiences of refuges and the challenges they go through in a new setting.

The title carries symbolic connotations, for in this play characters struggle to deal with psychological, physical, emotional, financial, spiritual, and political storms as they find themselves in a refugee camp and so have to face this displacement in its totality and the many storms raging within themselves.

The other artistic presentation uses various traditional dances, instrumental music and drama to narrate a story of how the kings only daughter married a commoner. In normal circumstances, it would be impossible for a princess to marry the local guy; a commoner, according to Mr. Lawrence Branco Sekalegga, the Executive Director of Bitone Children’s Centre and Troupe.

Among the audience was the Minister of State for Gender and Cultural Affairs, Hon. Rukia Isanga Nakadama who said she was fascinated by the professionalism in the two presentations and thanked UTN for its commitment to promote and facilitate the development of theatre in the region.

Overall, 40 artistes including professional storyteller Ms. Judith Lucy Adong, will represent the country at the biannual festival and get to share their artistic experiences in theatre management, script writing, sound and costume design and performances in acting, storytelling, music and dance, with others from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.

Themed Celebrating Cultural Diversity for African Solidarity and Peace, this year’s event will celebrate the contribution of art and culture to social development and the role of the artists in addressing social issues.

There has been growing concern that our cultural differences have worked to divide us than to enrich our lives, said UTN Executive Director Mr. Andrew Ssebaggala Lwanga. This festival is therefore a conscious and deliberate effort to reiterate that cultural differences should be perceived as a positive environment for understanding, tolerance and growth.

He says the festival will build a platform for enrichment of cross-cultural artistic exchange and learning to help performing arts grow in strength and scope both for individual participants and their communities.

The closing ceremony will see Uganda’s long theatre practitioner Fagil Mandy and the chosen few from other participating countries awarded for their outstanding contribution to the development of the regions performing arts.

The Ugandan team is expected to return with a deeper understanding of cross-cultural issues and to share what they will have learned with their immediate audience to enrich the country’s creative industry.

The venues for the week-long festival include the Ethiopian National Theatre, The Addis Ababa City Hall Theatre, Hager Fiker Theatre and Addis Ababa University.

--Saturday Monitor, November 22, 2008

The circus comes to Kampala

It will be a beautiful moment as refined form circus performances come to town as opposed to the almost amateur style stage clowning and acrobatics we are used to writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

The art of circus in Uganda has seemingly remained elusive although the country boasts a vibrant performing culture in as far as music, dance and drama go. Will the upcoming Kampala Dream Circus then set the precedent and stir our performers to rediscover themselves in the area of circus entertainment?

That for sure shall be known on Saturday November 8, at Nakasero Primary School playground (near Fang Fang Hotel) where the first Uganda made circus show will take place from 6-10pm for Shs2,000 (Adults) and Shs500 (Children).

Organised by Alliance Française, Kampala and the Ugandan German Cultural Society in conjunction with the In Movement: Art for Social Change, and sponsored by the French and Germany Embassies, among others, the event is aimed at promoting local talent and intercultural exchange, raising awareness and appreciation of the art of circus in Uganda.

It’s a show that will combine the art of juggling, clowning, miming, acrobatics and gymnastics, break-dance, magic tricks, balloon making, walking on stilts, and movement --the latter focusing on what the organisers have called “the concept of animals.”

Although the show will feature international circus artists like Mareike Moerschen from Germany and Sylvain Bernabe from France, critics will be curious to see if the performances are relevant in concept and nature to appeal to the average Ugandan.

Should that not be the case, then those interested in nurturing the art of circus will have lost an important platform in the making, considering that the organisers view this show as a dress rehearsal of sorts which if well-received will be turned into an annual event.

There’s however reason to hope for the best since preceding the Saturday show has been a weeklong workshop that began November 3-7 in which local and international artists had to interact and talk about technique methods and training through performance.

The opening act at the Kampala Dream Circus will be a combined team of children from Nsambya Ex-Street Children Organisation, Rainbow International School, Reach Out School and Banunule Primary School.

Circus clowns are known for overt exaggeration: big noses, oversize shoes, strange haircuts and mismatched clothing as they bumble their way across the stage, engaging in foolery meant to make people laugh.

Hopefully it won’t be the kind of clowning that borders on the vulgar. But as the show is directed by guest artists who are experienced professionals, one expects a hilarious approach, perfectly timed tricks and generally mirth-making closer to what made Charlie Chaplin a darling of the world.

--Daily Monitor, Saturday November 8, 2008

Crazy storms

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Theatre enthusiasts that were at the National Theatre on Wednesday evening celebrated the 46th Independence anniversary early. On the menu was a free, script-in-hand performance of Crazy Storms, a play by experienced Ugandan actor, director and playwright Philip Luswata.

This script-in-hand phenomenon is new, at least to the local theatre lovers, but the moment the five-member cast led by seasoned actor, Kwezi Kaganda Ruhinda (of Theatre Factory), appeared on stage, and began reading their scripts out loud, the audience were riveted.

It is amazing that in the absence of makeup, costuming and other dramatic effects, the actors could rely on their vocal abilities to convincingly express their strong feelings, fears and vulnerability.

The one-act play is set in a refugee camp, or to bring it closer home, an internally displaced people’s camp, peopled with characters who, driven by the survival instinct, often find themselves in tricky and amusing situations which they try to come out unscathed.

Babadi (Kwezi Kaganda) is a sex-starved, broke and frustrated teacher and a classic voyeur that brags about authority he possesses not and uses self-made pompous titles such as Resident Refuge Camp Officer in Charge and Refugee Internal Affairs and Rules Compliance Supervisor to intimidate others and solicit for sex from ladies, which he never gets by the way. You have to laugh at Babadi’s lasciviousness as he never ceases complaining about the lack of some (sex). With his flaws, Babadi is the fulcrum of the play and vividly brings out the humanity in many a man.

Then there is Munduki (Abu Kawenja) with his fat and protruding belly which betrays his fondness of food. He’s not interested in innuendo; you would think he’s a capon! Spare him the blabber; give him food. When anyone tries to say something, he punches the table: “Shut up!” because all he wants is to eat.

It helped that the script draws from real life experience where, because of poor leadership, people become victims of circumstances as they are torn away from the normal life and end up in refugee camps because of insurrection.

Even in the camps where you expect they would live in harmony as people sharing a common plight, you meet schemers like Maneno (Geresome Mayanja), an unrepentant crook, trickster and schemer who uses carefully planned ruses to enrich himself at the expense of others.

And if you are a young woman that happens to be Sharon (Susan Bamutenda), with all the sexual appeal, you become the object of interest; every lusty male wants a piece of you; you would be harassed into madness but you are a strong character, so you ignore them and try to keep sanity in the camp. She tells a distraught Munduki who has lost his restaurant to a fire: “The most important thing is that you still have life. You can rebuild all that.”

This is the biggest statement in the play; it’s the heart of the play with a concealed message: that suffering or loss is not the end. It implies that however crazy the storms, a man must hold on, stick his chest out and never surrender.

The author mirrors the grim reality of life; the folly and wickedness of humanity, but carefully builds a gripping, optimistic climax as people begin to leave the camp and return home.

The script is a product of the play-devising workshop by Performing Arts Cooperation between Sweden and Eastern Africa and was read live to an audience to “test its intonation and comic relief elements” according to its director, Mr. Richard Kagolobya, a lecturer of drama at Makerere University.

It will be performed at the fifth Eastern Africa Theatre Institute festival in Ethiopia next month before it is brought back home to a real stage performance in different schools and theatre halls around the country.

--Daily Monitor, Saturday, October 11, 2008

Rich drama served hot at World Culture Day

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Good stories, clever dialogues, interesting characters, great costumes and charged showmanship turned the Wednesday May 12, 2008 World Culture Day celebrations at the National Theatre into an unforgettable stress-releasing experience.

The Uganda Theatre Network organised event drew indigenous and exotic cultural acts from diverse artistes that left a lasting impression on the audience among whom was the Minister of State for Primary Education, Peter Lokeris.

The tightly interwoven unity of the performing arts and the enormous display of talent revealed how the country’s arts and culture industry has evolved, how professionalism has taken root.

The performances were preceded by an intense exchange as what extent theatre/drama contributes to socio-economical development.

Without giving patrons a chance to yawn, Kitara Cultural Group brought on a graceful Kinyarwada traditional dance called Amaraba. The elegant movement, the stunning smiles and the way they stretched their arms with the poise of crested cranes as if about to fly rhymed with the passionate plea of the dance --where can we find the beautiful ones?

It was almost depressing to see them leave the stage but then Richard Kagolobya appeared with a unique monologue titled “The carnival of the animals”.

He drew hilarity with his perfect imitation of animal sounds; mooing and meowing, and his monkey acrobatics, his long sweeps about the stage and his undulating pitch soaring up and down like an animal yell from the wild were spellbinding. He was challenging human beings who have lived with animals since time immemorial but do not take time to understand their language.

The standing ovation that accompanied him off the stage is same that welcomed Daibolito – the clown. The Kampala-based Frenchman juggled balls and clubs and cracked everyone up with what he called the kitchen love story. Before he made imaginary salads for an imaginary friend, he washed his hands in an imaginary sink and wiped them dry first – using his armpit ‘bush’ – and later his underwear. His bulbous red nose and the downright cranky movements provoked exclamations of “Wow! Marvelous! Fantastic!” from young voices at the back.

Time was ripe for serious drama. Project Theatre Studio presented an excerpt from the legendary story of Gipir and Labongo. Jasper Kayaa, acting as Gipir put up such a flourishing performance – his face expression, his articulation and timely gestures distinguished him as a great actor Uganda should be proud of.

All the performances would have been 90 percent incredible had not local film maker and actor Ashraf Ssimwogerere served us an incoherent tale of how his first flame saved him from contracting the deadly HIV/Aids by denying him sex. The plot would have been absorbing but Ssimwogerere struggled with grammar and nothing in his vocal or facial expressions suggested he was telling a grim tale.

This however was quickly forgotten, for no sooner had Theatre Factory appeared, than it exposed the foibles and follies of a Catholic man who was trying to win the approval of his insanely rich Muslim father-in-law to be.

Over all, it appeared the celebrants had gathered together to endorse the Uganda National Culture policy which calls all to embrace and live the spirit of a “culturally vibrant, cohesive and progressive nation!”

The celebration will be remembered for forging harmony through rich dramatic performances.

--Daily Monitor, May 31, 2008

The Marriage of Anansewa at Sharing

By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

The Marriage of Anansewa is about a poor widower, the trickster figure who uses his cunningness to become a money baron. He takes pictures of his excessively beautiful daughter and woos four chiefs to marry her. They send flawless gifts to take care of their 'object of interest' till fateful coincidence knocks; all four chiefs want to claim their bride by bringing the customary head drink. Problem is that they don't know they all want the same girl whom they are about to claim on the same day. But can Ananse surmount this problem, can he untie the 'inextricable knot' he has tied on himself? Will he manage to select the best suitor for his only beloved daughter Anansewa? What if 'Chief-who-is-Chief' the only suitor he trusts turns out to be a fox as well? Also, by giving his daughter away, will he enrich himself never to be poor again? What if other chiefs fall into his trick?

Well, get answers to these questions when you get to watch MAPRO perform at Sharing Youth Hall Nsambya on 11th June 2004 at 3:30p.m. The group comprises mainly Music, Dance and Drama [MDD] students of Makerere University.

Teachers of literature, drama critics, students and the general public with questions on bride price deserve to watch this fine comedy in which cunningness is rewarded much as greed is punished.

Transport fee to Nsambya Sharing Youth Hall is Shs500 by public means. Car owners are assured of security in the parking yard. The canteen is stocked with all sorts of refreshments.

--Daily Monitor, Thursday, June 10, 2004, page 21

The Return of the Story

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

Many years ago, wide-eyed children sat by the fireside listening to fascinating tales about cunning little hare, how a beggar competed for and won the hand of the beloved king's daughter, how the lion became the king of animals, to mention a few.

Rich with drama, coloured by music and bustling with suspense, the stories always left the children mesmerised and yearning for more. It was a way through which they learned about the joys and pains of life.

Today, the television screen occupies the higher place in homes and students seem more interested in the latest John Grisham legal thriller than the recorded Ugandan folk stories in the library.

The argument is that society has moved on, that it is not possible to sit round the fire anymore to tell stories, and that the art that defined, empowered and harmonized generations for long cannot compete in the world of other dynamic performing arts like music and dance, and should therefore be left to die a painful death.

On how important traditional stories still are, Ms. Allen Tushemereirwe, a lecturer of performing arts at Makerere says, "the mythology and legends of our ancestral traditions were best explained through story-telling. That is why folktales such as the story of Kintu and Nambi still have a place in non-fiction sections in school libraries. We must have a firm foundation for our stories as a way of preserving the identity of a people and the richness of their culture."

Perhaps this foundation is the stage that professional story-teller, Daniel Ssettaba of Roots Africa, a theatre consultancy, talks of. He says: "Story-telling has since changed context and adapted to the stage as a new theatrical art to meet the expectations of the modern audience."

Addressing issues of humanity sounds complicated but Austin 'Mwarimu' Bukenya, a lecturer of oral literature at Makerere University, comes on to make things lighter: "Story-telling is about sharing experiences, reflecting on our modes of existence, our joys, our struggles, our fears and our expectations and aspirations. Uganda is a society in a state of formation, out of the many ethno-cultural entities enclosed with the geopolitical boundaries…the more we tell our stories, the more we share with one another and the more we contribute to the concretization of a truly cohesive community," he said through e-mail.

Mr. Bukenya who is acclaimed for his novel, The People's Bachelor (1972) goes on: "Good story-telling is itself part of the so-called entertainment industry. People want to enjoy the pleasure of intellectual and emotional discovery provided by a well-told story, whether this is in live speech –oracy, writing, theatre or electronic relay.

"One of the causes of poverty in our literature, theatre or electronic performances is a lack of good stories, or the ability to tell them competently."

Story-telling, he adds, is a linguistic skill that is acquired, learnt and mastered; although some people are born with some aptitude for telling stories, that gift must be nurtured too for them to become good storytellers.

This is the challenge that the Uganda Theatre Network (UTN) has taken on by conducting several story-telling workshops at the Uganda Cultural Centre to promote and motivate performing artists already involved in this expressive art.

Mr. Andrew Ssebagala, the national coordinator UTN, believes that Ugandan theatre needs something to spice it up, and that something is story-telling. He differs from the concept that story-telling is a thing of the past and inapplicable in modern Uganda.

"I've traveled widely and I know for sure that story-telling as a new theatre form is very popular in America, London, Holland, Sweden, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Like any consumable, we only need to get people to know that it's available, tell them where it is, what they are going to benefit from it and it will begin to pull crowds," he says.

Ssebagala adds there are so many stories that need be told, and that they can be told dramatically if other theatrical techniques such as poetry, music and dance are employed.

By the look of things, we might soon witness the renaissance of African story-telling but this time round, not by the fireside but on the stage. But whether it will meet the demands of time, space and spectacle mechanics of contemporary theatre, stays with us to ponder.

--The Ivory Post, March 6, 2008

First play reading in Kampala

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

There is an American story of a play reading artist who read a scary Halloween script so well that it lured a monster out of the woodwork.


Well, play reading as a form of theatrical entertainment has since August last year been a part of Ugandan theatre. And Tuesday, February 26, will be the first ever public play reading presentation at the national theatre.

Written by Mr. Joshua Muvumba, a History professor at Makerere University, Batanda-Bezaala [Kings Beget Kings], will be read by a carefully chosen cast that includes Kwezi Kaganda and Kenneth Kimuli of the Theatre Factory and Ugandan writer Ulysses Chuka Kibuuka, among others.

The three-act script is true to the events of history. Suuna and Kaitaba, who were respective rulers over Buganda and Kiziba in the early 1880s, are locked in battle over the use of the household name that previously belonged to Suuna but has been 'hijacked' by Kaitaba. The highly vainglorious Suuna is so offended at "this insulting indiscretion" and demands "200 hens, 200goats, 200 sheep, 200 cows, 200 girls" in apology and the demolition Kaitaba's "farce of a house" and proclamation by Kaitaba himself that the name Batanda-Bezaala must never be uttered anywhere in his realm except in reference to my own [Suuna's] house." It's this conflict, this contest between "a giant and a dwarf, a mighty kingdom and a kinglet" that drives the play.

The combination of humor and pathos, the clever, funny, regal and thought-provoking language together with the strongly contrasted situations and the use of chorus [chanters] as part of characterization reminds one of the Greek classics.

But will the presenters manage to arouse emotion and stimulate strong interest than would have been on stage?

The director, Kenneth Kimuli, believes they are ready for the challenge following rigorous rehearsals.

"Unlike a stage performance where actors use physical action, movement and voices, we depend wholly on vocal and facial expression to help the viewer visualize and feel with the playwright," he said.

During one of the rehearsals, it was appealing to watch the actors in a round, reading with voices so animated, clear and alert and gestures to match the traits of the protagonists and the spirit and tempo of the entire play.

This show will start 6p.m, and entrance is free.

--The Ivory Post, March 6, 2008

New hope for a boy orphaned twice in life

It was such a victory day for needy children! On July 11 Ambassadors of Hope Africa Children's Choir, a charity organisation that supports orphans between 6-12 years put up a life changing performance at Sharing Youth Hall-Nsambya.
The reunion show was a musical drama titled The Prince of Africa that featured two main performers and a cast of about 40 backup singers and dancers, staged for the 20th anniversary celebrations of Ambassadors of Hope sponsored by Music for Life.

Action rolled as the deep voice of an omniscient narrator related the story of Mark (Princess Sandra), a child whose parents die of HIV/AIDS when he was two months old. English parents adopt and love him like their biological son. At 8, Mark, asks why he is black when his ‘parents' are white. They explain everything and even accept to escort him on a visit to Africa, the ancestral home of his late parents.

On the way, fate knocks; the boat capsizes and all those on board perish except Mark. An orphan for a second time, he spends two days on a strange island in Africa but is rescued by Malaika (Mbowa Tony) a magician islander. They go hunting together; do some magic, tour lands and mountains eventually becoming inseparable friends.

A conflict develops when Mark decides to return to England but realises that he has no other family there. Malaika plans to help him board a ship that crosses Africa to England. But on the night of the 7th day, Malaika who cant stand the thought of separating from his boy leaves Mark asleep and disappears into the forests. Mark wakes up alone. Malaika is nowhere. Eventually, a crying Mark is left behind.

In his predicament, all princes and princesses of Africa welcome Mark so lovingly and knight him a prince as well. And on that evening, not only does Mark decide to be a big prince among the princes and princesses with a big task of helping in rebuilding Africa but also, fully understands that he will never be an orphan again.

Renowned composer Maggie Walter produced the music for the script directed by Barnabas Frank.

Ivan Mutabazi the light and sound engineer of the team was behind the effects that reflected the rising and setting sun. A projector in form of a white curtain would flash a hunting scene, forests, or African girls dancing. All types of instruments and props – xylophones, drums, traditional guitar, calabashes, pots and much more livened the show.

The auditorium was crammed with kids from all walks of life who had prior to the performance nourished on plates plentiful of food. As the performance progressed, they clapped and cheered joyfully.

Mr. Raymond Ray Barnett, the President Ambassadors of Hope, said the family show was a stage rehearsal for an international show to premier in Vancouver in December.

Children who get into a choir, are trained to sing and dance before performing in churches in Europe. The raised money is then used to help other millions of children in Africa and abroad whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. They are educated up to university.

As the celebratory performance ended, it was clear that the NGO that operates in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan has given life to the lifeless.

The Director Ambassadors of Hope Africa Children's Choir-Uganda, Ms Robinah Lubwama, appropriately quoted Psalms 41:1, "Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble."

Published in Daily Monitor, July 15, 2004

A lot to learn from “One Night Stand”

While people will go back and forth on what Christian drama is, One Night Stand, is a model for love gone sour. The play centres on the life of Sebastian (Moses Isingoma), 40, a ship captain, who neglects his wife. Rhoda (Barbara Nansikombi), in her late 30's. She cannot do without marital intimacy, and because her husband is married to his job and away all the time, she gives in to temptation. Her alleged 'one night stand' with Sebastian's younger brother and lawyer, Kombozi (Albert Mubiru) is what drives the play.

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C) once stressed that drama is the imitation of life, that mankind learns through imitation, that learning something is the greatest pleasure of life, and that all human happiness or misery takes the form of action. It seems the playwright, Mr Kenneth Kimuli, who also plays Sebastian's porter, had Aristotle's words in mind when he penned One Night Stand. The viewer feels the tension, knowing that Rhoda, who has previously experienced constant miscarriages, is pregnant with another man's child.

Will Eseza (Florence Kabugo), a close neighbor and friend to Rhoda with whom they share top secrets drop the bomb?

Other characters include Kabogoza, who trades gossip, Obote (Abel Kabugo), plays the villain while Kateeba (Jeff), Sebastian's wormate is the peacemaker. The team helps to develop the plot with scintillating action until the very climax.

"On the whole, the play spells out the trials and tribulations women face in marriages," says Kimuli. "It is not just to be seen, but to be experienced as well."
Performed by Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) drama team, One Night Stand will be showing at the national theatre starting this Thursday, at 2p.m. Entrance fee is Shs3,000 and Shs6,000 for students and adults respectively.
There will also be a VIP show on September 17, for Shs10,000.

The play is directed by Ms Florence Kabugo.

Published in Daily Monitor, September 8, 2006

Uganda is still bananas

Farce, comedy, tragedy, is the sure way to summarise 30 Years of Bananas by Alex Mukulu. It’s a play written at a time when the republic was really 'going bananas' -thanks to its past leaders.

The lead character, Kalekeezi, is a Rwandese refugee in Uganda who has survived over five turmoil-clad regimes and whose satirical insight into what the 'Banana Republic' has endured and lost since independence raises many questions than can be answered.

Under the stewardship of Alex Mukulu, the Golden Drama Team attempt to show that little has changed as the country remains muddled in social and political quagmire.

The play takes us down memory lane from 1962 when the Union Jack is lowered to the post-colonial era of poverty and starvation to the point where people begin "searching for civilisation because they want to be civilised."

The production is alive with rapid-fire action and witty dialogue: "Nationalism is tribalism under a microscope," the viewer is told, while president Idi Amin is presented as the one who seemed like a "satellite in space picking all that was being said below him."

The audience is told, "1980 is the year in which Paul Muwanga shut everyone's mouth" while Tito Okello Lutwa is presented as a hyena hater because "a hyena is cowardly."

Then sets in president "Obote's journey to drunkardness" and the economic war after Amin's ultimatum to the Asians to "decide in 90 days whether they were yellow or black."

The playwright paints a gloomy picture where everybody has come to believe that "man eateth where he worketh."

The 'national team' is symbolically depicted as a bunch of confused players juggling two balls. The point is that one ball, two teams and two goal posts work better.

The props, costumes and lighting were impressive while the sound and electronic effects did not take the place of words.

Kalekeezi's voice is pleasing to the ear, the enunciation perfect, plus he has this bodily vitality and natural charm that makes watching him magnetic -perhaps because the role is played by the veteran actor and director of the production -Alex Mukulu.

However, the director employs too much music to muffle the serious themes that drive this drama. This, plus, the intermarriage of several languages: Luganda, Rutooro, English stresses action that the hitherto attentive audience begin to yawn.

Though the fundamental idea is the conflict between government leaders and their subjects, the play doesn't rise to a strong climax.

After the author puts in a lot of intellectualism to give us a deep analysis of the past, comparing it with the present to prepare for the future, the result does little to purge the emotions of the fearful citizenry, especially after Museveni is shown still manning the national goal posts despite his twenty years of mismanaging the affairs of the state -just like those before him.

As the curtain was drawn, people hurried home without lingering to discuss the play because "poetic justice" in drama was left wanting.

Published in Daily Monitor, Friday, January 12, 2007

Ugandan Theatre Needs So Much More

It all began with the creation of mankind. From the time hunters recounted their adventures by means of pantomime to when the first people expressed themselves through war chants and love dances, drama has been clearly manifesting itself.

Many years later, theatre has not only seen a tremendous improvement but also it remains an integral part of African culture in passing down traditional values while offering rich entertainment.

Since the foundation stone for the Uganda National Cultural Centre was laid in 1956 to officially usher in a new theatrical era, so many things have happened. Various theatres have since sprung up, the latest being the ultra-modern Theatre La Bonita –the new home of The Ebonies. Many actors: Alex Mukulu, Abby Mukiibi and Philip Luswata to mention three, have garnered fame and status as playwrights, directors, and actors.

Since November last year to March 2007, the Golden Drama Foundation (GDF) has been celebrating '50 Years of Drama,' a commendable event financed by Pilsner Lager, and aimed at recognizing the people and the works that have moulded the face of theatre and drama in Uganda over the past 50 years.

However, much more needs to done for Ugandans to ably compete on the global stage in regard to performing arts. It is discomfiting to find playhouses almost empty during performances. There is a need to interest majority people into supporting theatre because drama is the expression of the soul of a nation and will remain a vital force in the life of the people.

Although as early as 1642 English puritans condemned dramatists as "breeders of the plague and instruments of the devil" and banned stage plays, normalcy returned in 1662 when the government esteemed that plays and acting are "not only harmless delights but useful and instructive representations of human life."

Performers in the Western world have since been in held in high repute and productions supported by organizations and wealthy citizens. We need to rehash fine dramas by re-staging the world's most enduring plays from playwrights like Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Euripides, Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, to mention a few, in order to attract the affluent and elite into supporting the industry.

As a drama graduate, I find most local productions monotonous and outright boring, clattered with poor dialogue, mechanical acting, dragging plots, repugnant humour and basically nothing fascinating about them. Could it be a result of staging plays primarily tailored to make money? Are directors only interested in giving theatergoers what they want so that they can milk enough money from them?

I'm not sure about that although I know that in the United States, creative directors scout for and bring fresh talent to pump new life into theatres. Plays are written daily, the best playwrights awarded and specialized schools of performing arts exist in every city. The International Thespian Society is there to recognize high school students participating actively in the dramatic arts program. The motto, "Act well your part; there all the honor lies" needs to be emulated by Ugandans.

As Katharine Anne Ommanney and Harry H. Schanker write in their book, The Stage and the School, "no matter what degree of mechanical perfection plus electronic effects television and screen drama may achieve, they can never create that intangible, magnetic quality which passes from actor to audience…or become the voice and movement, mass and perspective, imagination and reality which is a play produced by living actors before a living audience."

So then, we need a change in standards of production, methods of acting, content of plays, and the ideals of conduct in order to continue expressing the dreams of humanity through drama.

Published in The Uganda Theatre Gazette, Vol 6, Issue 1, 2007, pg. 9