Theatre… we miss thee!

I miss theatre. I miss everything about it. I miss being on stage. I miss the endless hours of stressful and draining rehearsals. I miss the pain of soaking in a book of lines. I miss being scolded by a demanding director. I miss the crazy adrenaline of opening night.

I miss the chaos backstage while changing from one scene to the other.

I miss the beautiful feeling of knowing that one “killed” it. I miss the audience rising to their feet to give you and the rest of the team a round of applause. I miss the process of debriefing.

Apart from being on stage, I also miss being in the audience.

I miss the build-up to a theatre play. I miss the anticipation of seeing household names breathing life into certain characters. I miss the entrance, i.e. paying and getting a drink and popcorn.

I miss the opening warning/notice voice urging the audience to be good sports. I miss the euphoria of emotions as a result of the story, and being fully satisfied after the play. I miss the intense debates after a play has been staged.

I miss theatre. I suspect that theatre largely went silent for two reasons: Covid-19 and the passing of David Ndjavera ‘AKA’ Uncle D. Strange how the two factors are in one sentence, considering the fact that Uncle D succumbed to the life-altering disease.

Theatre largely depends on human interaction. Human interaction is the soul of this sport, and Covid-19 attacks the very essence of that.

Even with a digital staging of a theatre play, the crew behind the scenes still need to rehearse, which on any given day can be 10 people or more. So, either way, Covid-19 and the effects thereof really did a PIT manoeuvre on the theatre industry.

It’s no secret that Uncle D loved theatre with all of his heart. Theatre was his first love. He and Keamogetsi Joseph Molapong, with the production house – Township Productions – in a collaborative theatre project, a joint venture between Township Productions and the COTA Theatre School, aggressively staged theatre plays before Covid-19 hit!

Credit also needs to go to the NTN for aggressively staging theatre plays, driven by the NTN Theatre Zone production programme. But it all went silent after Covid-19. Perhaps now with the Covid-19 situation “stabilised”, we can appeal to the new gatekeepers and influencers of the theatre space to reignite theatre in the capital. Theatre is life. We need theatre back.

I am ready to contribute as an actor, an overall custodian of the art. Until the next Loop, we say #GMTM *Need an MC? I do not post naked pictures or have 100k followers but after 10 years of MCeeing, I think I can do the job. Contact me for a quote at naobebsekind@gmail.com