Zabalaza Festival opens doors for new theatre works

Carla Lever speaks to Director and Zabalaza Festival curator Mdu Kweyama

What is the Zabalaza Theatre Festival and how did it come about?

The Zabalaza Festival is basically a development programme for theatremakers.

We scout plays from all around the Western Cape and bring excellent work to the Baxter in Cape Town to be professionally produced every March.

We ask people to show us 10 minutes of their idea and we give feedback; after that we follow up with them until the play is complete.

The festival came about through trying to close the gap between mainstream theatre and Township theatre.

The Baxter Theater Center opened those doors. Because of Zabalaza, about 50 new theatre works, many of them in indigenous languages, are created annually.

What's your role as festival curator?

As a curator, my main role is to help decide which shows are going to be part of the festival, decide which show is in which venue, create a festival schedule and direct the opening and the closing ceremonies. It’s a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun!

Zabalaza runs in the Western Cape, but can community groups from other provinces participate?

This is my second year working for Zabalaza. When I came in, there were some shows coming from other provinces but we would need more funds to expand to other provinces.

Then we could have more people helping with development and provide more employment.

What were your favourite moments from this year's festival?

At the opening of Zabalaza we always put snippets of all the shows together for the audience so that they have an idea of what to expect.

For me directing that is amazing, seeing all these different pieces, with different themes coming together to become one big show that showcases all the talent we have around us, is very powerful.

What does it take in terms of organisational and personal commitments for a festival of this kind and scope to happen each year?

It’s a full time job all year around. Late nights, dealing with over 100 participants from all around the province…it demands a lot from the Zabalaza team.

Why is it important to ensure this kind of diversity of story and experience is given space and institutional backing on mainstream stages?

Having a big institution like the Baxter Theatre giving space to young people to tell their stories in their mother tongue is amazing for our industry.

No one can tell your story as truthful and authentic better than you.

By staging these plays Baxter gives a voice to young people to be heard, which is very important.

Urban theatre is often stereotyped as mainly white and elitist, but storytelling is a universal feature of our human interaction. What are some small steps that we can all take to ensure that South African theatre spaces are for everyone, and can reflect everyone's experiences? Mainstream theatre spaces should find a way of collaborating with groups from diverse communities to stage their stories and market them.

The more people are exposed to these kinds of stories, the more they will come to the shows.

We often think about how enriching the experience is for community theatre groups, but perhaps the real opportunity for enrichment is given to city theatre audiences.

As much as we need these diverse stories, however, we also need diverse audiences to come to these spaces so that we can break the stereotype. I’m not sure which comes first.

Perhaps people don't realise that Zabalaza is a year-round project, with the search for and development of new talent beginning almost immediately once the final show has closed. How can interested people take part and develop their stories for stage?

A call goes out annually around July for anyone who is interested in staging a production at the Zabalaza Theatre Festival. I’d encourage people interested in being involved to check the Baxter website in a few months’ time.

Now that the festival has happened for 2019, what are you currently working on? Outside of Zabalaza but still at the Baxter I am busy directing The Goat or Who Is Silvia by Edward Albee. It has an amazing cast, too: Jennifer Steyn, Lionel Newton, Paul Savage and Sihle Mnqwazana. If you want to see it, book at webtickets!

● Nal’ibali is South Africa’s reading-for-enjoyment campaign. Aimed at helping children to fall in love with books and reading, Nal’ibali is supporting adults and caregivers in championing children’s literacy in their communities through its FUNda Leader volunteer network and FUNda Sonke loyalty programme.