So, here's an idea...

It really feels like a new season has just started. Not only does the temperature drop overnight meaning chilly mornings and evenings, but also in a non-literal way. I'm recovered from Tick Bite fever, which took me down for a few days, followed by a week of taking it easy while I ran the course of antibiotics. I've also turned a new year of being me (got really spoilt on my birthday which was lovely!) And all in all there's an air of getting back into the swing of things and wanting to make the time from now until the end of July, when I leave for a trip to the UK, really count. It's great to feel refreshed and up for it!

Oria and I were chatting about this on Monday as we met to plan and pray. It was great to do the latter, pressing in for ideas. All along this has felt like a voyage of discovery and adventure. Prayer has been central to that. I then headed to my meeting at the theatre (which I also think is the start of something) and then today Oz and I went to the theatre and one other place, to look around and brainstorm in situ together. It was a really great time of dreaming up possibilities and talking ideas.

I wrote on Monday about the Fringe theatre idea and while standing in the huge workshop/warehouse/rehearsal room at the back of the theatre we talked about that. I love this space because it has such character and when I'd had the idea for this fringe event, thought of using it as the performance space, creating a stage area within it. So we started thinking along these lines and I reckon the potential for something cool is huge. We want a cafe/bar vibe, and a playing area where there is less distance between performers & spectators as I know the main theatre auditorium can be intimidating. This will be less formal and therefore I hope conducive to a creative and dynamic vibe.

We began talking logistics and what it would take to pull it together. I now need to write up our ideas but I'm excited about the different elements we can fuse together under the banner, The Green Room which is what I want to call this event. There are ideas that I've had in mind for some time - minimal scenery and props, strong physical theatre elements, a cross-section of people and ideas, a forum for discussion and debate...as well as other funky ideas, such as Oria's idea of projecting films and pieces of inspiring theatre on one of the walls...

Another thing we decided was that we want this to be well thought out and good. Therefore we're looking at launching in October of this year, which gives time to lay good foundations and get people on board. If The Lounge is the second Friday of each month, then is makes sense for The Green Room to be on the 4th Friday so likely launch date is 23 October - watch this space!

Drama Training

Just finished 3 days training a team of guys who will use drama, rap and other interactive means to deliver a PHHE programme (Participatory Health and Hygiene Education) to kids and young people aged 4-18yrs. It was for Family Impact, an NGO. The first time I've done something like this, it's been a good experience and learning curve for me - 5hrs a day of facilitating, directing and motivating the trainers about their role. Exhausting. I have renewed respect for every good teacher or gifted director I've ever had! The material is hot off the press so it's also been a bit of piloting to see what does/doesn't work. Added to that, there's some full-on subject matter including some pretty graphic details (with images!) for the older age groups. As always I used a variety of drama games to help the process. One of the challenges has been finding a way for the facilitators to get over their own embarrassment! Nonetheless, I had to laugh after a reality check I had at around 2.30pm yesterday afternoon. What were you up to then? As for me, I was well & truly focused on describing the symptoms of diarrhoea. In very "non-scientific" terms!

Oh, and did I mention, it was as a rap? (Yes, there is a "Diarrhoea Rap" in existence...)

Nor was that even the most unpleasant part of the material!

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!

Is this camping trip worth getting sick for....YES!!

I'm currently recovering from Tick Bite Fever (as far as I know, the first tropical disease I've had) and which I most likely contracted from a tick bite in the Botswanan bush last weekend. Here's a photo-essay to show why it was still very much worth it! We went to the salt pans and stayed our second night by deserted, barren and beautiful Kubu Island in the middle of a pan the width of Portugal. The island featured on the Top Gear team's crazy adventures across Botswana, where they were the first vehicles to cross the surface of the pans. It really was breath-takingly beautiful.

Paternal visit

Great to welcome Dad to Zimbabwe for his first visit. He was here for 4 days last week and we packed a lot into that time.

We spent a morning at the music academy, which even has some links to the Guildhall school in London where Dad is a music professor.

Michael Buillivant the principal insisted on getting out a Steinway grand to demonstrate the main hall's acoustic!

On the stage and backstage at the Bulawayo Theatre: it was great to show dad around the theatre & talk ideas for it, given his own love of theatre and knowledge of performance spaces.

We had a wonderful afternoon in the Matopas National Park, only 30mins drive from my house and you are deep in the bush. These are some of the oldest rocks on the planet and it's a great place for solitude - you are unlikely to bump into anyone. We went to View of the World, an amazing vantage point over the Matopas (and also burial place of Cecil John Rhodes).

A first introduction (for both of us!) to the train museum in Bulawayo, at least 10 huge steam trains are on display and then an introduction to some of my friends and artists in Makokoba Township.

I also put dad to work, firstly on a visit to TCZ (the theological training college) to speak to students there and secondly as the percussion department for a puppet show I was doing for 90 kids!!

All in all a great visit and I'm always very grateful to know I have the backing and support of my family as I live and work in Zimbabwe!

Car

THANK YOU

Dad, Noel Tredinnick, with the car that the donations in lieu of 60th birthday gifts bought!

A huge thanks to everyone who has donated financially towards my work in general and in particular here to those who chipped in to help with the purchase of this car. It's now officially mine, largely due to everyone's generosity.

While maybe not the exact car of my dreams (!) it's awesome to have it and it certainly gets a great deal of use. I don't know what I'd do without a car and I've had a fair few stories & exploits in it already.

Not least when it gets used to cart large quantities of crazy PA equipment around, each month pre & post Lounge. I've lost count of the maximum number of people it's carried at one time, or what the most requested tune from the ipod is at the moment...

It's cool knowing that so many friends, family & family friends helped made it possible - and a special thanks to my old man for his decision to ask for donations towards my work instead of 60th birthday gifts - I was very touched by that.

Just a few snaps - don't worry I am not one of those people who gets precious about their car, although that said, you do see some impressive vintage classics around the place here - relics from a bygone era, in a wide range of conditions.

Maybe sometime I'll be sporting a(nother!) vintage classic...!

Love Skies Week

Bulawayo is known as The City of Kings and more colloquially as Blues and Skies. I gather these latter names refer to our prevailing weather conditions (fancy a visit?) The week before last was 'Love Skies week' organised by a small Zim-based NGO, Family Impact, as a week of community outreach with emphasis on fun and reaching out to those on the margins of society.

I was happy to get involved, especially as I'd heard conversations at the planning stage and was excited about the chance to hang out with all kinds of folk and demonstrate friendship and belief in the people and communities in my vicinity. Early on I had this (slightly bizarre) idea that I wanted to paint peoples nails. I'd done it before in Peckham and found it was such a lovely and easy way to bond, serve and chat to women. A bit of pampering one-to-one that expressed value and love in a tangible way.

So I went along with the intention of doing that and generally getting involved and reaching out. I found it was great.

These pictures are from two different projects I visited as part of Love Skies - a childrens' home, which was wonderfully warm and a homeless persons shelter which has around 70 residents and all live as part of a community.

To the left is a picture of Margaret, a resident at the shelter, who said it was an age since she'd had her nails done, and that it made for a great treat...

Interestingly, in a country where racial and tribal tensions are very deep, complex and real, although sometimes also very subtle, the homeless shelter was probably the most integrated community and example of co-habitation that I've seen in this country yet. Telling perhaps.

I found time spent at each was valuable. At both we ran activities like face-painting and games for the children and issues-based, interactive teaching for adults. This was as well as having time to hang out and chat.

Heartbreakingly, both centres said that they hardly ever receive visitors. In fact at the Home of Peace shelter the couple who run it asked me if I'd come back another time. It's a forgotton people in need of company and investment. I found listening to their stories fascinating and a little in terms of time and effort went a really long way. I have a feeling I'll visit that place again sometime...