The Bulawayo Theatre

Am excited. At last it seems the timing is ripe and ready for something I've thought about for some time and hoped to get off the ground. Things at last seem to be coming into focus and taking shape. Ever since I first walked into the Bulawayo Theatre, I've felt there is a huge amount of potential wrapped in the place - I just haven't known exactly how to set about tapping it and developing it. Suddenly, the timing seems good for taking things further... To give some background, the Bulawayo theatre is an 320 seat theatre with a very big stage in proportion to that. Apparently, the stage is about the same as at The Old Vic or the Wyndhams Theatre in London.

Anyway I was at a meeting there today, just the two staff members responsible for running it and me, to talk about the state of the theatre and what is/isn't happening there. It became obvious that with almost no manpower, not much that's interesting or exciting is coming out of the place and the door is wide open for me to be involved in doing just about anything I want really. Not many places where you get that handed to you on a plate...Amazing hey! But in addition, suddenly the timing seems right for taking that challenge. So, watch this space for new developments and ideas. So far, I am thinking of running something similar to The Lounge, but whereas The Lounge is more about music, poetry, hip hop & spoken word, this would be for finding and supporting theatrical talent - writers, actors, directors etc. I'm also starting by challenging people that I know from all my networking, to come up with some new scripts (in particular one-act plays) and then I'll work towards pulling together some productions of the new work. I was chatting over a beer with a friend the other week and we came up with the need for somehow generating something of a theatre fringe in Bulawayo. I'm keeping my eyes open for a good space to make into a performance space and this is with a view to then holding theatre & performance events that are more of a fringe feel. The intention is for lots of room for experimentation and new collaborations. In particular there is a need for new examples of collaborations where people work together from across divides of gender, skin colour and age. These things are real issues here and I intend to continue tackling them head-on because we can do better than this and I want to see reconciliation and partnerships where there is a history of disunity or disinterest. I know theatre (and the arts in general) can (and does!) bring that about. The great thing about developing a fringe is that performances don't have to immediately be on the scale of a fully-fledged production for the main stage at the theatre and it can be more

experimental.

I was in a play at the theatre myself a year ago and somehow I think that I'm not going to escape from needing to be adaptable and flexible too - I've never directed or particularly wished to...but I may find myself in the role of producer, director, actor all at once in the coming months! And believe me, it'll be nothing to do with wanting all the glory for myself!