Intwasa Arts Festival begins

The five-day festival, which will be officially opened tomorrow night, is running under the theme “Blooming”. The annual arts fiesta will run until Saturday.

Intwasa spokesman, Nkululeko Nkala, said there would be a variety of events such as theatre, dance, music, film, literary arts and craft. Events will be taking place at venues such as the National Gallery in Bulawayo, Bulawayo Theatre, Bulawayo Library and Rainbow Hotel.
Nkala said all these events are set to take the discerning arts lover on an arts journey never to be forgotten.

The festival kicks off today with the play Lion and The Jewel, a play adapted from a high school set book of the same name. The play will be staged twice at the Bulawayo Theatre. There is a morning show between 10 and 12 midday and another one starting at 2pm.

“This show is in line with Intwasa Arts Festival’s goal of ‘catching them young’, by taking the art to the schools and embracing that arts and culture are now part of the schools curriculum,” Nkala said.

The spokesman said there are also other events like a film symposium that will be held at the American Corner, housed at the Bulawayo Library. The event will run from 10am to 1pm and will be followed by a workshop called Social Media and the Arts at the same venue.

“Both these workshops will be conducted by top arts personnel and will school both the professionals and semi-professionals who have been invited,” he said.

Today’s events will be capped with a performance of the star studded play Stitsha, which features Nomathamsanqa Mkhwananzi from Iyasa and seasoned actors Zenzo Nyathi and Memory Kumbota.

The play originally done by Cont Mhlanga is directed by Sihlangu Dlodlo, one of Bulawayo’s prominent playwrights and producers.

Stitsha is one of Amakhosi Theatre’s best known and ground breaking plays.

According to Dlodlo, who is producing the play for the second time, Stitsha is a timeless Zimbabwean stage classic.

Dlodlo directed the same play when he was still working with Amakhosi Children’s Programme in the early 90s.

Stitsha has been produced for both stage and television. Joyce Mpofu played the lead in the original stage version, while the late Beatar Mangethe played Thuli in the television version.

In the new version Nomathamsanqa Mkhwananzi is playing the lead character, Thuli.
Nomathamsanqa recently returned from a European tour with Mother Afrika, one of the best performing ensembles to come out of Africa.