Six Awil graduands pull off Absurdist play, 136 Avenue!
On a chilly evening of Friday 2nd July, some 16 Fourth year students of Arts Without Limit ( Awil) College staged a well- executed graduation theatre production at the college’s Campus in Finance Park.
Simply titled, 136 Avenue, the play, according to one of the Directors, Jessica Lejowa, is a medley of three absurdist play texts comprising Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, Christopher Durang’s Baby with the Bathwater and Jean Genet’s The Maids.
The other Director is Marang Selolwane. The six- person cast of Annah Ketlaareng who played the character of Claire; Naomi Knott ( Solange); Queen Garekwe ( Ben); Lisa Phenyo Mpusetsang ( Gus); Tebogo Reteng ( John) and Lebogang Jessica Kelebamang ( Helen) – acquitted themselves diligently.
Not only did their performance – characterised by excellent props, stage visuals and symbolism – wow the audience, it also managed to get the nod from the esteemed panel of distinguished experts.
Indeed to be judged by the likes of industry experts such as Thabi Letsunyane, a TV producer, linguist and performer; Douglas Newell - a Lecturer at VAPA, University of Botswana; Tlotlego Gaogakwe - a playwright for stage and radio, teacher of English at Maru a Pula School as well as the accomplished Kat Kai Kol- Kes- an activist, researcher, performer and consultant, is indeed a feat on its own.
Yet this cast managed to pull it off and managed to win themselves acclaim and good review as they tackled absurdist themes, language and aesthetics in a live performance.
Lejowa explained that from their research, the students had discovered how Absurdism as a genre poses radical differences for performance, compared to traditional Realist approaches.
“This work is therefore a testament to the students’ first experience of being directed, of performing extended excerpts of Absurdist material, and staging multiple play texts simultaneously as one overarching product”, she said.
According to the judges, Absurdism is not an easy style of theatre, as it can leave the audience unaware of what’s happening, but the cast was able to access the script adequately and translated it to the audience.
Using three set of cages, which the director, Lejowa, explained, symbolised “being trapped”, the cast pulled a wonderful social satire that articulated themes of labour politics and crisis that challenged the audience to re- imagine itself out of the crisis morass. Of- course there was also bits and pieces of constructive criticism that the panellists dished. Kat Kai Kol- Kes observed that the performance was great and measured but was let down by the cast’s projection. He felt that the vocal performance was fatiguing.
Others felt that the technical execution could be improved.
Formerly known as AFDA Botswana, Awil College is a wholly citizen owned Film, Television and Live Performance school registered with Botswana Qualification Authority that started operating in 2015.
Awil College offers 4- year Degree programs in B. A Motion Picture Medium, B. A in Live Performance, and 1 year Honours Degree Programs in both Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance.
Some of its programs planned for the future are BFA, BA Music, BA Digital Multimedia and BSc in Computer Games.