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I SPENT the better part of last Thursday with Albert Nyathi at RIO-SET 2015 which was held at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo for the first time. It was interesting that this platform focusing on research and innovation, with a bias on science, engineering and technology among our higher institutions of learning had an arts component to it. Almost all the tertiary institutions were competing in music, drama, poetry and visual arts. The norm has always been for academics, particularly those inclined towards science and technology, to shun the arts.
In most schools students gifted in sciences are discouraged from participating in arts activities as teachers believe the arts are beneath these students and would distract them. But not with RIO-SET. The inclusion of visual and performing art at this very important platform should be applauded and perhaps used as a good example of how the arts and sciences can co-exist. The only let down was the venue selected for the performing arts.
I was initially meant to adjudicate drama presentations from the tertiary institutions but ended up sitting on the poetry adjudication panel with Albert Nyathi. To be honest it was a blessing that I ended up on the poetry panel because watching and adjudicating nearly 30 dramas from the institutions in the environment and condition these were presented would have surely given me a headache. I am still wondering how Styx Mhlanga and Tswarelo Mothobe survived that experience.
The venue for performance art was the Nust conference hall. It was a completely wrong venue for performances. The conference hall was not built for performance. It is too huge and the acoustic terrible. I saw the majority of the actors who came on that stage struggling to project or connect with the audience and in the end the poor actors over-did things — they over-acted and over-projected, all in an effort to be heard and keep the audience interested in their presentation. However, most of their effort was in vain. The majority of the audience could not follow the presentations as the voices were continuously swallowed by the giant venue.
Since this was a science and technology event I was hoping to see how the dramas incorporated these — the venue did not allow for the use of lights, it was too big for any set to have an impact on the presentation. There would have been no difference if the plays had been presented in a stadium.
It was also a blessing that the dramas took much time as this led to the poetry segment being moved to a smaller and more appropriate venue — the Delta Theatre. As soon as everyone was settled in the theatre the mood changed as the performances became more intimate and more enjoyable. Suddenly the performers came to the party, they came alive. About nineteen poets from the different tertiary institutions took to the stage and delivered some amazing poetry. Some poets were able to use language for comic effect; others owned language and used it as both an instrument of pleasure and education.
The cleverer ones became painters. With words as paint and the stage as their canvas they painted vivid images of their understanding of the current socio-economic situation in the country, others focused on Zim Asset. Some used their imagination to lament about the decline of morality and the wisdom of self -employment and creating wealth for ourselves. The diversity of the presentation added colour and depth to everything. And we all soon forgot about the torture we had experienced earlier in the day at the huge conference hall.
I conclude this week’s piece by applauding the organisers of the expo for including the performing arts and strongly recommend the technical team to find appropriate venues and even separate these venues so that each discipline has its own appropriate venue. The separation will allow them to manage time and make the performance more enjoyable. This is also an opportunity for organisers to use the arts to simplify science and technology for the ordinary person in the street.
derick.khumalo