Mthatha drama for PE festival
Production set to stage play at Iphulo
AMTHATHA drama group is one of several from around the province performing at the Iphulo Performing Arts Festival in Port Elizabeth.
The Khanyiso Social Enterprise, led by veteran stage actor and playwright, Khanyiso Billy Dakada, will be staging a production called Take Yo Trunk.
The festival, which opened on Human Rights Day and runs until Saturday, features drama, dance and poetry productions.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch from the festival, Dakada said: “This production looks at the history of our past struggles as a country and how those have contributed to the current social struggles, so the play looks at various [issues] including education and career choices as well as how religion determines where we fit socially.”
However, he admitted that the play mostly takes aim at the education sector.
“We live in a country that is rich in resources yet we have so many people, especially in rural areas, living well below the poverty line, which comes to the education because there are many people from villages who would like to further their education but are barred by the high fees,” he said.
Dakada said if communities went uneducated it affected their chances of getting employment.
He said he started the enterprise because he wanted to provide young people with a platform to nurture their artistic talents.
Dakada is also one of seven producers who participated in the Jobs Creation Incubator Producers Business Support programme funded by the national Department of Arts and Culture.
Winning concepts from the programme will be showcased at the National Arts Festival later this year.
Each of the groups taking part in the Port Elizabeth festival also receive R80 000, money Dakada said they would use to promote arts and culture in rural areas through a tour of their production.
“Government still does not take arts as a priority, forgetting that it also holds the potential to create jobs. We want to expose rural school children to theatre through this tour. Also this is a production that they can relate to and be proud of,” he said.
The festival’s artistic manager, Nobesuthu Rayi, said the main was to provide a platform for local and provincial talent.
“For the duration of the festival there will be Dance and Drama Master Classes conducted by Dance and Drama Practitioners for Creative Arts Educators and youth outside school, who are Dance and Drama practitioners,” said Rayi.
Dakada’s group will perform tomorrow and Saturday. —