Umkhathi takes theatre to schools

Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
UMKHATHI Theatre Works last Friday held a mini festival for Gwanda primary schools, where pupils exhibited theatre skills that they were equipped with through a Schools Theatre Project run by the group.
The project is funded by the Zimbabwe Culture Fund Trust and has produced many artistes since it started some years back. The mini festival was held at St Christopher’s Primary School in Gwanda Town and among the schools that took part at the festival were Mount Cazalet, St Christopher’s, Sabiwa, Switsha and Enyandeni. While other schools presented what they had learnt through the project, St Christopher’s failed to present anything.

In an interview at the festival, the project coordinator Joseph Ngubo said there was a need for schools to take interest in theatre in arts.
“The problem we are facing is that of lack of interest by most of the schools. Only a few have displayed some interest,” he said.

Ngubo said in their evaluation of the project, they had noted that the problem of lack of interest started with the teaching staff at the schools. Most schools dedicate much time to choral music and give less attention to traditional dance, poetry and drama.

“We want to take our project to a higher level. If possible, we would like to take our project to colleges, so that we develop interest among teachers,” said Ngubo.

He said some schools needed to improve their costumes so that they could be taken seriously and stand a chance to get some sponsorship to support their theatre programmes. Ngubo paid tribute to the Matabeleland South provincial office of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe for working hard to improve theatre projects in the province. He also thanked the Culture Fund Trust for its support through funding.