adminEntertainment Correspondent
Bulawayo’s Amakhosi Cultural Centre yesterday launched the Plays on Sunday 2014 programme with calls for consistency towards generating interest for plays and sustenance of theatre.
Newly appointed programmes manager Thulani Mbambo said for the past nine years Amakhosi had not produced a play and that gravely affected the growth and sustenance of the theatre industry.
“What is lacking is continuity as people cannot plan without a calendar of events. That is why there are no audiences in the venues as there is no consistency in having plays,” said Mbambo.
He said Plays on a Sunday would be a permanent feature on the cultural centre’s calendar. Mbambo said some plays featured on Sunday would take a tour of Zimbabwe.
“We have been booked until the end of March and the first play is on this Sunday. We are going to Masvingo, Hwange, Victoria Falls, Gwanda and Harare as part of making our plays known,” he said.
On Sunday a play by Scrah Mudala will be showcased.
The play, Sweet Mother according to Mudala, is set in 1976 and progresses to 2014.
It is about lovers who were separated by the liberation war only to reunite in 1994 when they are married to two different people.
The two lovers, Butho, played by Ephraim Hanyane and Luba, played by Siloyiso Dlamini have an affair.
The play addresses themes such as colonialism and the disintegration of the family because of war.
“The play moves from 1976 to 2014. It is a simple love story that looks at Zimbabwe before and after independence,” he said.
Programmes coordinator at Amakhosi, Jeffery Sibanda said the cultural centre wanted to revive making of quality theatre productions.
He said the actors of the plays at the centre were handpicked from the streets of Bulawayo.
“We want to go back to the spirit of making aesthetic plays that communicate what people see and hear in everyday life and at the same time being enjoyable,” said Sibanda.
Plays on Sunday started at Amakhosi in November 2012 with a play titled Unpredictable by Thabani Ndlovu.
The initiative seeks to give space to up and coming playwrights, actors and actresses to showcase their works.
Online Reporter