No Comments »July 2nd, 2009
I guess we should start off by apologising for being truly awful at updating our blog, the truth of the matter is that Zimbabwe simply ended up being too much fun. Between performing at HIFA, devising a new show, having High Tea at the Meikles and Tonderai breaking his arm, blogging just got abandoned. Tonderai’s broken his arm by the way. To be fair, the speed of Zimbabwean internet is measured in donkey strides per year, and that’s the broadband.
We travelled to Zimbabwe armed with horror stories about how bad ‘The situation’, was. It gave us great pleasure then to have an experience that was quite contrary to expectations.
If you don’t mind the occasional power cut and a bucket bath or two, there is a lot going for Zimbabwe at the moment. We found a resurgent economy, buoyed by the adoption of the US dollar and a people full of such strong will and hope it was infectious.
Hifa
Performing Vakomana at HIFA was a truly emotional experience for us (Denton bawled his eyes out at the end of one performance, completely frightening Tonderai). HIFA fashioned a Presbyterian Church into a theatre space for the festival by blocking the windows with black bin liners – great for getting a space dark enough, but turned it into a sauna as a result. That and the fact that a show is never considered sold out in Zimbabwe until even a mouse can’t find some where to sit made it really, really hot. Got a chance to catch the music acts as well which where simply breathtaking. Watch out for the force of nature that is Rina Mushonga.
Magetsi
We allocated three weeks to devising our new show but really, the show came together two days before the show opened. We used Harare as a filter to talk about the issues that we were burning to express – the process of returning from the Diaspora, Harare and its adoption of the US dollar and what effect that’s had on people’s lives as well as lifting a lid on the experiences of different sectors of Zimabweans during this process of change in the country. We’ve ended up with a very exciting show about an hour long – awesome after the marathon that is two gents. We like to think of it as a message/postcard from Zimbabweans to their counterparts abroad. We performed it at the Market Theatre Lab in Johannesburg along with Vakomana after two performances at Reps Theatre Upstairs and it was wonderfully received. Watch this space.
Outreach work
Working with the students at the Young Africa Skills Centre in Chitungwiza really brought a strong sense of focus to which direction we should take as a company. Whilst they found our performance of Vakomana hard work, there was an overwhelming enthusiasm about our work and their eagerness to learn. Furthermore on reflecting on the dearth of opportunities available to any young potential artists to develop their skills, (outside HIFA and Speech and Drama festival there is not very much going) we felt a great deal of responsibility as a returning Company to play our part in the development of young artists in Zimbabwe. We are now in the process of designing an annual outreach program in Zimbabwe as well as setting up more permanent development initiatives.
All in all, our time in Zim and South Africa was an incredibly enriching experience for us as a company, until Tonderai broke his arm whilst quad biking in Johannesburg. It was a good idea at the time. Testosterone hey. Oh well.