Q & A
Bheki Mkhwane rose from the ranks of a kierie-wielding security guard to being a successful playwright, director, actor, composer and choreographer. His collaboration with Greig Coetzee, Solomon’s Pride, won last year’s KwaZulu- Natal Vita Award for best production.
What is the most boring thing on TV?
The soap opera Generations. The theme and the setting is irrelevant to our South African situation. No black middle-class has ever lived in the times reflected by this soap opera. So, whose “generations” are they talking about? If it is about the future, then we are being fed rubbish based on other people’s cultures and ways of life. Our television programmes are presently based on Western ideas, for that reason I hardly watch television.
Is theatre any better?
No. Nobody goes to theatre anyway. The reason is that theatre practitioners, black and white, are not doing any justice to their work. Instead of collaborating to produce work that is representative of the “rainbow nation”, we simply rehash old productions that have no relevance to the present. Instead of the Civic Theatre producing The Elvis Las Vegas Extravaganza, why can’t we produce something that is totally South African? We need to produce work that will be appealing to a teenager in Soweto, or Sandton.
If you were artistic director of any national theatre what would you do?
I would initiate a programme that will take on young actors, black and white, train them and encourage them to collaborate in new works. Such productions should be produced for longer runs, even for one year. It is done overseas so I don’t see why can’t it be done here. So far, the Market Theatre and Windybrow, to a limited extent, through their festivals, help to produce upcoming directors, but it is not enough. After a run at the theatre their productions also need to be taken out to the streets for the general audience to see.
What interesting book are you currently reading?
President Thabo Mbeki’s book called Africa the Time Has Come. I picked up this book out of curiosity, wanting to find out about Thabo Mbeki’s ideas on African renaissance. I soon discovered that it was a genuine approach to what Africa is about. It was about finding oneself, identifying with Africa and admiring our diverse cultures.
Where are you going to spend your millennium celebrations?
At home in Durban with my wife and my beautiful children. I believe it will be the time to thank God for having taken us to the next millennium and not the time to pop out money and spend. There is still the future, you know.
Bheki Mkhwane spoke to Luvuyo Kakaza