Blow for theatre as audiences drop

“It is saddening to note that the numbers that are coming to watch the plays is declining to levels where it has become embarrassing.

“It wouldn’t be surprising to see theatre becoming a minority arts discipline because it’s no longer as popular as it was. In my view donor-driven plays have killed theatre,” he said.

Despite the quality of plays, Mjanana said, theatre audience continued to fall.
“We have come to a point where we are desperate to attract the audiences. One of the things that has caused all the decline is that mainstream theatre was donor driven.
“Producers would go to donors and ask for funding to do plays that pleased the donors.

This should not have happened. In fact, it was supposed to be the other way round. The donors were the ones who were supposed to come to theatre and see which plays they want to sponsor or identify the groups that they wanted to work with.

“So when donor funds dried up the mainstream theatre died and the audience declined.
“I would say in the last decade theatre audiences have been on the decline and it is no longer self-sustaining because no matter how you market the play the people that attend the show will not be enough to cover the expenses.

“Remember you need costumes, stage, venue over and above rehearsals. And you need to rehearse for at least two to three hours. In Zimbabwe we are now used to rehearsing for a play for two weeks that is not how it should be done. So even at Hifa we had appalling numbers despite the quality of plays that were showcased.

“When you see a play being showcased at Hifa usually it would have enjoyed international success for seven years but then when you see such plays being watched by a few people at Hifa, a world-class festival, that is an embarrassment.

“The people who are supposed to watch the plays are not coming anymore,” he explained.
Mjanana singled out a play called “Ogreling” (pronounced as ogaling) as one of the plays that was huge all over the world but failed to attract numbers at Hifa 2013.

“The low numbers is a combination of factors. Yes, there is the donor fatigue but you also need to look at other things like costs involved in running theatre at commercial level. However, community theatre is still vibrant because they are tackling issues that deal with the communities.

“The reason is it should start at writing level where playwrights focus on issues and not target donors. A decade ago playwrights would write with the community in mind but now they deliberately target non-governmental organisations and donors who will fund their plays. To me that has killed the naturalness of theatre.

“I hope playwrights will emulate what sungura musicians have done. When they sing their music they don’t target donors or NGOs but they sing for the people and it is up to the donors or promoters to engage the musicians to push their products,” Mjanana said.

According to Mjanana, most of the plays that were showcased at Hifa were relevant to the Zimbabwean situation and were of high quality. He, however, said Zimbabwe’s theatre was rich in talent because most people had no formal training unlike what happens in countries like South Africa where people go to colleges to study how to write plays, direct and produce.

“There is great talent in Zimbabwe and the good things much of it is self-taught. This is why I went out of my way to look for plays that resonated with the Zimbabwean audience. I also made sure there was a balance between local and international plays so that Zimbabwean actors and actress are exposed to the outside world. I also looked for plays that ran with the theme ‘What’s Next?’

But most importantly we need to support each other for the good of the fraternity,” Mjanana said.