#rammulotsi

GUEST BLOG: Anything is Possible!

“Without writers, stories would not be written, Without actors, stories could not be brought to life.”

Angie-Marie Delsante

That in essence is all you need to make good theatre, and a lot of the time you don’t even need the script, with devising theatre being one of my specialities, I know this.  Being out here in Rammulotsi, comparing everything to what I know back in the UK has certainly been an eye opener and massively humbling.

When asked about facilities and the arts in the UK, I am reminded that in spite of school and educational politics, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by fantastic resources, mostly, well certainly, compared to what is available in rural South Africa.  However, what is constant and what will always remain is the actors, and in this case, the talent of the young actors working with Dramatic Need.

When speaking to educationalists, charity workers and arts specialists, they are in awe of what we have access to in the UK, and it is difficult to explain that there are also many downsides to both education and the arts, you also feel a bit silly, trying to explain the ‘poor working conditions’ when you are in a classroom with broken tables, no resources and overcrowding!  

However what became immediately clear was that it doesn’t matter if you have access to the best facilities, resources, technology, classrooms – it’s about the people in the room, the drama studio, the classroom, the space.

Out here arts runs through the blood of the South African people, the people I have met and worked with are resourceful, creative, all singing and all dancing! They don’t need fancy lights, spaces and sound (yes it would make their good performances even better, but it is not a necessity).

I have seen true talent and amazing performances in some of the poorest schools’. The performance comes from the people, the kids, the actors, and this is why I love theatre.  In the township schools’ I have watched puppet shows and scripted performances in both English and Sesotho and gumboot dancing.  With the vaguest of briefs and limited support from their teachers, these young students create the most wonderful performances, incorporating drama, singing and dance to tell the stories they create. They harmonise naturally and are so expressive in their voices and storytelling.

Whilst rehearsing and preparing for our performance of The Children’s Monologues, I have had to think outside the box even more than usual.  Luckily, I also have access to the minds of Beth and Tatu, to ensure that this performance is the best it can be for the young people and the community of Rammulotsi. With a bare community hall which has no rigged sound or lighting, initially I didn’t have a clue how we would transform this space into the place where the young people’s stories are shared. 

At one point I mentioned to Tatu that I knew it wasn’t possible but I would have liked a mirror ball for added effect...Tatu’s thinking face overtook and he calmly says “I think we can make one” and that is what we have done, with a sponge football and pieces of old CD’s, Tatu and I spent the afternoon cutting up.  Tatu is on with the next phase of building some kind of contraption to secure it in the hall, whilst Beth mosaic's the pieces onto the ball.  A real team effort. Amazing!  

What has truly been reaffirming to me is that anything is possible.  We work within the means we have access to, but that in no way should restrict what is possible…especially in the theatre, where as long there are people…anything is possible!

GUEST BLOG: Youth Day

Naomi, our current volunteer drama facilitator at our Piet Patsa Comunity Arts Centre in Rammulotsi, Free State shares what the young people have been working on over the last month.

On June 16th (South African 'Youth Day') the young people will be showcasing their devised work. It's crazy to think that's only two weeks away. Over the past month we have explored improvisation, devising from stimulus, devising with constraint, context, theatre tactics such as synchronicity and freeze frame, and many other dramatic concepts. The group handle each new topic dynamically, with an easy adaptability and impressive imagination.

For their performance, I gave each cast the framework of a letter. Initially individually, they were each tasked with constructing a letter to anyone they liked, alive or dead, could be their best friend or someone they had never met, about anything they chose. The one restriction was that the letter had to reflect an emotion.

They have since developed these ideas in groups, using storytelling techniques, resulting in a variety of narratives incapsulating many themes.

Now with the foundation of a storyboard each group is busy rehearsing, utilising the skills we've explored over the last month and researching new conventions to include. (The short stage combat workshop was pretty intense...)

Finishing off The Children’s Monologues in Rammulotsi

After the madness of The Children’s Monologues in Rammulotsi we brought the cast and crew back together at our Rammulotsi centre to create a permanent record of their hardwork (and have a bit of a party celebration of course!)

Sadly it was also time to say goodbye and thank you to our fantastic volunteer director Vicki who had joined us on this journey...thank you Vicki - we couldn’t have done it without you.

The young people made handprints on the wall and signed their names next to it and also thanks to the amazing support of Trevor and the team at Keip bros in Johannesburg we were able to print tshirts that the young people can wear to remember this experience.

We were able to show a small video of some of the performance and we hope in the new year to be able to show them the full thing.