Skhathini High continues its dominance of Bulilima District drama competitions

Raisedon Baya

I SPENT the whole of Wednesday last week at Usher Institute in Bulilima District. The serene environment was quite a refreshing breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of the city. As we drove past several farms towards the school the silence around was a delicacy — something I would have loved to stop and savour had we not been late.

Usher Institute is a warm, hospitable school and I was there with veteran award-winning actor and theatre trainer Memory Kumbota and Cde Phil. We were there to adjudicate the Bulilima District National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) drama competitions whose 2017 theme is “Breaking the silence”. I must say the district meet was well-organised and well- attended. Nine out of 10 schools were in attendance — all very excited about their participation and what they had brought to the competition. The young actors and actresses could be seen in different places around the hall doing some last minute touch-ups — lines, costumes, props and the like. Present at the meet were Longwe, Solusi, Madlambuzi, Phakama, Maqekene, Usher, Thekwane, Skhathini, and Dombodema high schools.

I was extremely impressed by the host school — the administration’s attitude towards the hosting of the event and the school’s presentation later during the day. All lessons were suspended to allow students to witness this important district drama activity. In welcoming participating schools to Usher, the deputy head of the school encouraged schools and students to be serious about drama/theatre arts as it was now an integral part of the new curriculum. The idea of letting the whole school watch the competition was a good way of showing how important the activity was and also a way to develop future theatre audiences.

When the competition started and the schools came on stage I was glad to see the effort and talent in schools. I expected to see sketches, rough story ideas being presented on stage but was pleasantly surprised as most of the presentations were above average — a couple of them even brilliant. As adjudicators we were there to see how the schools understood the theme and how they were using stories or drama to unpack the theme to the young audiences. We were more interested in seeing how they were using drama to advocate for communities and even individuals to speak out and open up against different forms of abuse, harmful cultural practices or how they told the amazing secrets in their communities through drama.

The stories, when they came out, were varied and surprisingly enjoyable. There was the story of a full minister who was busy terrorising a community, killing some people in the process until someone decided to speak out. Another told of rape and abuse of the innocent, then there was another about a corrupt man of God who ended up impregnating someone’s wife. Another school was brave enough to try and put the contentious issue of gays and lesbianism on stage. We saw witchcraft, love gone wrong and other common issues tackled by the schools.

The highlights of the day were two plays that were executed with such creativity that one would be forgiven to think they were products of professional artistes. The first play was by Skhathini High School. The play is basically about a young man who decides to look for his real father and is shocked at what he gets as answers. This story is cleverly told, with so much twists and turns the judges were unanimous in crowning the presentation the best of the day.

The other brilliant presentation was by Usher Institute — the host school. Their play was so well knit it would have made any professional act green with envy. They had brilliant actresses who were able to convincingly and interestingly bring the characters of their story to life. The music was soulful and properly chosen. The two plays, our winner and first runner-up, effectively showed the power of drama as both an educative and entertaining tool. It was just unfortunate that only one school was allowed to proceed to the next round of the competition. It a day well spent!