A lack of funding, or any of the other obstacles faced by cultural workers, hasn’t prevented Ithumeleng Wa-Lehulere taking theatre to the people, writes Lauren Shantall
`Community theatre is not bad theatre,” asserts the compelling Ithumeleng Wa- Lehulere – one of the Western Cape’s foremost cultural workers and community theatre practitioners. An acclaimed actor, dancer and playwright, Wa-Lehulere is also director of the Buwa Theatre Company and co-ordinator of the annual FNB Vita/City of Cape Town-sponsored Ikhwezi Community Theatre Festival.
His play, Gap-Toothed Sisters, performed at the most recent festival in Cape Town, deflates the erroneous distinction often drawn between so-called “professional” productions and their communal counterparts. “If you do good shows,” Wa- Lehulere argues, “then you will be taken seriously, but if you do bad shows, you support the notion that community theatre is poor theatre.”
Taking up the blazing torch carried by the famed musicals of Gibson Kente and runaway successes like Percy Mtwa’s Woza Albert, Mbongeni Ngema’s Sarafina, and more recently, Standard Bank Young Artist Aubrey Sekhabi’s Not with My Gun, Wa-Lehulere’s musical is a stirring comment on the abuse of women in the townships. Gap-Toothed Sisters is one of few plays – like Thulani Mtshali’s Weemen – to touch on this issue.
It received an overwhelmingly prompt standing ovation and ululations of support from prominent politicians, artists and musicians at the opening of the second Ikhwezi Festival, which was launched by Cape Town’s mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketho, and guest speakers Wally Serote and John Kani of the National Arts Council (NAC).
The festival, which ran from March 9 to 13 featuring 11 productions, daily workshops and an exhibition, is Wa-Lehulere’s brainchild. Hardly surprising from someone whose theatrical history spans his turbulent African National Congress activism (he was detained several times), a period under Kente and the late University of Cape Town dramatist Mavis Taylor, and a year-long stint with the former Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal. Wa-Lehulere then became theatre co-ordinator of the United Democratic Front’s Action Workshop, gained international repute with You Strike the Woman, You Strike the Rock, and held an official position at the Baxter Theatre before starting Buwa.
Speaking with the playwright at the Baxter, his feelings about staging a community festival there are mixed: “I have had an association with the Baxter since 1984, as an actor and writer. Then it was the only theatre that was not a white elephant. It had nothing to do with the government of the time and was part of UCT.
“Unfortunately the Baxter is now under new management that has taken it 10 steps backwards. It used to be a vibrant venue for black theatre. Now it’s very rare that you see a black face here, because the shows are aimed at white audiences.”
His point is driven home as the predominantly white theatre-goers leaving Greig Coetzee’s rerun of White Men with Weapons start to filter into the bar. “It’s sad,” Wa-Lehulere continues, “because it’s part of the learning institution. At least 30% or 40% of the Baxter’s focus should be on community theatre. It could be used as an outreach project.”
This very issue prompted Wa-Lehulere to leave his creatively stifling post and form Buwa. Inspired by the successes of the pro- active North-West Arts Council, the self- funded group operated from Observatory before moving to offices in Guguletu. In its five years of existence the company has produced numerous shows (its Down Adderley Street played to acclaim at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre and the Baxter) and co- ordinated workshops in schools and communities.
It has subsisted mainly through commissions, producing work for the Community Peace Foundation in 1994, then the Affirmative Board Foundation of the city council in 1995, the 2004 Olympic Bid Roadshow in 1996 and last year’s Arrive Alive Roadshow. It launched the first Ikhwezi Festival in 1998.
Yet Buwa, like many community groups, is wracked by a funding crisis. Wa-Lehulere has applied to the NAC for funding to take Gap-Toothed Sisters to the Grahamstown festival but still needs money to take it to schools and communities. It would indeed be a loss if the play’s powerful comment on women’s rights were to go unheard.
Refusing, as always, to be stumped by a lack of financial support, Wa-Lehulere’s “theory has always been that Buwa must create its own audiences. If there’s no money, we will hire a taxi kombi, people will pay R2 to see the show and that will cover our expenses. Rather than sitting around and complaining, we will take the show on the road.”