Theatre arts: unexploited industry

THEATRE arts in Zambia require immediate transitioning to align itself to the current international lucrative thriving movie industry. If accurately enhanced theatre arts can be a means of livelihood to actors just like in Nollywood in Nigeria and Hollywood in United States of America where acting has leisurely become the source of informal employment enriching the purses of the actors. Many people in Nigeria and USA opt to quit their jobs to become Nollywood and Hollywood stars, the career associated with fame and idolism. In Zambia though, this industry needs serious transitioning as it is mostly taken-up by the muse makers. Even then, they too continue to hold on to their full time jobs as theatre arts seem to fail to sustain them. Emulating Hollywood may be a farfetched hallucination, but Nigerians in Nollywood started inadequately, more so with poor sound and picture quality. Today actors from many African countries wrestle to step a foot in Nollywood. Even Ghanians, the pioneers in transitioning theatre arts in Africa are migrating to Nollywood.

For Nigeria to reach such heights, the Government created a specific Ministry to deal with the bottlenecks of theatre arts. At the moment actors from Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Ethiopia and Gambia fancy performances from Nollywood. But it is vital to take a leaf from our local soaps, Play Circle and Bupilo which the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation was beaming in those days. It is estimated that about 75 per cent of Zambian families with a television set would be glued to their TV set to follow each and every episode. This is a clue that there is a gap in this industry. Soaps in Zambia have come and gone but Play Circle and Bupilo which had an African flavour, commanded overwhelming following. One thing for sure is that this industry has been there in Zambia for long time. But due to financial constraints, the industry has continued to limp resulting in would-be actors shunning it. According to Chingola Arts Theatre (CAS) life member Ackson Tembo, Zambia has been lacking deliberate effort to delve into making theatre arts go commercial. Tembo, who served the Southern African Theatre Initiative for more than 10 years, cited lack of organization among the key players as the major reason for failure of transition. He said the country had a lot of talent and was ready to venture into the film making industry but there was lack of forecast in most of the theatre houses. This theatre enthusiast said the reward of good planning was that it was far easier to sell out oneself to the corporate world. He said good strategies were critical to the success of every business and theatre industry. Tembo said for any marketer to succeed, it was imperative to map out a way and follow the campus. The same applied in the arts World. He said the little success in the industry was due to finger pointing among the key stakeholders and accusing Government of not supporting the industry. "This is the time the corporate World can splash money to facilitate the desired transitioning of theatre arts. And I believe Public Private Partnership (PPP) can out work a miracle. The advantage with PPP is that the deal is attractive and the yield is almost instant to the two parties,” he said. Even before Independence, the country saw the need for arts and film industry. For example in Chingola one man of Western origin Christopher Robert Banham Esquire laid a corner stone of this dream by building CAS in September 1959. In 1960, Queen Elizabeth of England on May 20 officially opened the facility for theatre purposes. Though racism barred most Africans from frequenting the place, the members were later embraced in the 1970s. According to Tembo the enthusiasm was there as some theatre houses like CAS had been consistent in awarding the deserving performances annually. Despite its efforts and consistency in awarding deserving winners, CAS has mainly existed to provide educational plays, platform for young school and community drama groups, entertainment and interaction. However in this era theatre arts should exist to provide employment thereby reduce unemployment levels the country is facing. Though Tembo boasted of his childhood theatre house of producing about six plays in each calendar year, he could not state the proceeds realised from staged plays. At the end of each year, CAS holds the Banham annual awards gala with the theatre house still asking for community contribution towards the hosting of the event. Is it not a lapse! But the present CAS chairperson Clement Muyasani believes the industry was viable for growth though the destination was far. Muyasani said in the next 10 years with a changed perception, the industry could stage, sponsor itself and pay the actors without depending on the corporate hand outs.

He said time would come when annual award galas would be elite, attractive and extravagant, and the corporate World would be the ones chasing after the organisers of the event to place their ads and posters. Delving in CAS history Muyasani said during the Jubilee celebration held in 2000, the annual event was renamed after the founding chairperson Banham. Since then, the awarding has created competition among actors and had brought tremendous improvement in the plays, productions and skills. He called on CAS cast to avoid the ‘constable’ approach and take a new path for the institution to post better results. “Our efforts can be best described from the club’s achievement at the National Arts Council Ngoma Award festivals where the club had previously recorded nominations almost in all categories of drama and playwrights,” he said. It was comforting that the Ngoma Award winner in the female category Kate Lungu came from CAS. Muyasani said his theatre house would endeavour to participate and compete in the national events among them being the National Theatre Arts Festival, Mukuba Arts Festival in Ndola and the Ngoma annual Awards. CAS has been seeking an anti-dote to pacify their desire for transition and win international sell out. Muyasani said even if theatre arts were a form of entertainment, it was equally providing informal employment to the actors and with pertinacious approach many youths would opt to join the industry. He said it was essential for Government to allocate a specific Ministry to enhance the growth. Muyasani suggested that it was imperative for Government to add theatre arts in the school curriculum as it would teach children to be committed and dedicated. “Being part of the play shows children that there people who appreciate them thereby improving their self confidence and enhance public confidence. Confidence brings in creativity in a way that no sport can,” he said. He was optimistic that if theatre arts were enhanced to the level of Nollywood and Hollywood, many people would leave their current employment to join the film industry. And despite CAS being one of the best run theatre houses in the country, it was struggling to raise K39 million required to stage the prestigious Banham Awards, because play returns were extremely low. Last year’s Ngoma award winner Lungu who doubled it with CAS Banham leading actor award said the actors in Zambia were ready to be offloaded on the theatre market in the film industry.

Lungu popularly known by her Zindaba name said Zambian actors were far better than some actors in the popular screened soaps and African movies. She said what was required was basic equipment such as video cameras and microphone extensions for the start. Tembo, Muyasani and Lungu may have different views regarding the desire for transitioning of theatre arts to movie industry, but one thing for sure is that each of them would like to see growth. For theatre arts to be inviting and attractive, it is vital for the corporate World to show keen interest in sponsoring the awards to go into PPP with CAS and sign a memorandum of understanding. If the industry can receive capital injection via PPP, the results could be immediate thereby attract the elite and align itself to the current lucrative global movie industry.