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The competition, running for its second year, is a partnership between Plan Zimbabwe and Intwasa Arts Festival and this year the focus is on tackling the barriers affecting the girl child in the education sector.
Over the past two weeks, there were four pool competitions held in Bulawayo and Kwekwe involving more than 30 schools.
In Bulawayo the competitions were held at Mpopoma, Gifford and Townsend High schools.
The schools that have made it to the finals from Bulawayo are Mpopoma, Eveline, Gloag, Sizane, Nkulumane, Townsend, Mzilikazi and Foundation College. In Kwekwe the schools that will be in the competition are St Jude’s High School and Fatima High School both from Zhombe in the Midlands Province.
In a statement director of Intwasa Festival Raisedon Baya commended all schools which participated in the competition.
He said some of the presentations impressed even seasoned performing artistes.
“All participating schools should be commended for the passion and commitment to the theatre arts exhibited in all pools. I want to say that the standard of theatrical expression displayed by some of the schools left a number of professional theatre practitioners green with envy. On average the standard was a gear up when compared to the 2011 competitions,” said Baya.
He however said a few schools performed badly.
“There is still a visible gap on the level of plot development, acting, and directing among the schools. A number of school presentations were mediocre. The factors contributing to these poor presentations varied from one school to another,” said Baya.
He added: “Actors wasted a lot of time on scenes that did not contribute to the development of the plot. When you have only 20 minutes to tell a story do not waste time as every second counts in determining the pace, conflict build-up and the resolution of the story. The dramatic engine needs to be kept alive all the time. Most of the plots lacked direction, characters were exaggerated, and the theme not well interpreted, save for one or two schools. Some of the presentations were disjointed and lacked edutainment value,” he said.
Baya said the talent was there in the pupils but it needed to be professionally harnessed for it to make an impact.
“A lot of work still needs to be done in schools in the area of skills training and development. Schools need to seek assistance from tried and tested theatre practitioners. The talent is abundant in kids. The passion for theatre and commitment to its development is very much alive in schools,” he said.
Online Reporter