adminexcellent example of a well conceived, well written, well directed and well acted one man play.
To many local thespians in attendance, Molusi’s performance was a theatre workshop that offered ideas and demonstrated techniques of writing and performing a one-man play.
Molusi was on an almost bare stage, with wooden trunk and rubbish scattered all over, for one hour and fifteen minutes presenting vividly a story of Itsoseng Township in post-apartheid era through a love story of Mawilla and Dolly.
Molusi as Mawilla centres most of the events happening in Itsoseng Township around the trials and tribulations of his childhood love, Dolly who has fallen into the vice of prostitution driven by the social and economic circumstances Mawilla explains vividly through several events and characters he effectively impersonates in his dialogues, monologues and very dramatic physical theatricals. He was a marvel to watch and to hear.
It was clear that Molusi has performed this play several times to many different audiences in different parts of the world for several years.
For a country that has a culture of “killing” theatre productions after few performances to few people at few places, this performance was also a good example to Zimbabwean on how to sustainable curate excellent theatre productions for posterity and for massive consumption..
Molusi’s own history in theatre is very short. He has indicated that although his mother sent him to university to study electrical engineering, he dropped out of university and enrolled into a drama school-the Johannesburg based Market Theatre Laboratory from which he graduated in 2004.
While there, he joined the Market Theatre Writers Forum where he sharpened his playwriting skills. Upon graduating from the Market Theatre laboratory, he joined the Actors Centre in Johannesburg, which specialises in producing Shakespearean plays.
In 2007 he obtained the Royal Shakespeare Company/Baxter Theatre Brett Golding Award — a one-month attachment bursary to the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. It was during his attachment to the Royal Shakespeare Company that he began writing.
In a BBC interview with Uchenna Izundu in 2010,Molusi explained why he decided to become a playwright.
“I became a playwright to deal with the demons that I had. I had a lot of personal things that I could not say to the people and wanted to talk to them through theatre instead.
For me writing is a way of healing myself where I can construct my own world and feel healthy.”
In June this year, Molusi was interviewed by Gayle Edmunds of City Express concerning the play and subject matter of Itsoseng Township.
He indicated that in 2002 the township witnessed huge public protests over water, electricity, graveyard tariffs and poor service delivery by local authorities.
At that time concerned local authorities promised to attend to all concerns raised by people. When Molusi returned to his community in 2004, things had not changed. When a childhood friend died from lack of medical attention, he decided to write the play.
In that interview he described the play as “a story of a forgotten people — a story of a people trying to hold on to hope where there is none.”
When asked about his reasons for committing himself to dealing with these issues of unemployment, community despair and hopelessness, persistent violence, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse and crime, he responded: “I have learnt from doing this play that theatre matters a lot.
I think for as long as townships like Itsoseng are not experiencing post apartheid change, I could never move on.”
Festivals are great opportunities for exchange of ideas, techniques and experiences among artists on one hand and between artists and audiences on the other hand.
Zimbabwean theatre has benefited from visiting theatre performances that are featured in many of our festivals as well as from participating in international theatre festivals abroad by theatre groups and individuals.
It is therefore critical that when excellent theatre productions such as “Itsoseng” are brought into the country, they are seen by as many people especially practising theatre artists. It was therefore quite unfortunate that this excellent production was seen mainly by a small group of theatre artists inspite of being staged on a space that could have easily accommodated more than a thousand people and accessed free of charge.
It is sad that when festivals like PAIF present excellent theatre productions free of charge, the theatre audiences that normally rush for limited theatre tickets at Hifa do not respond.
One PAIF participant claimed that Zimbabweans believe that any performing arts show that is presented free of charge is either of poor quality or will be attended by crowds with unbecoming behaviour. Another participant thought that poor media coverage of such festivals as PAIF limits the access by the public to such rich cultural products.
For “Itsoseng” which has successfully graced leading festivals such as Edinburgh Festival (Scotland) Adelaide Festival (Australia), Grahamstown Festival (South Africa), and has had sold out shows in Chicago, London, Dublin and several African countries, a performance tour of Harare should have been adequately promoted so as to attract the huge and ever-growing audiences of theatre enthusiasts.
Online Reporter